Andie Burjek, Author at Workforce

September 20, 2019June 29, 2023

Balancing the 3 Types of Work-Life Balance

I did a candidate interview for an open position recently — during vacation on the beach.

Go ahead and fire up the comments about how my priorities are out of whack. About how I need to take care of myself.

I provide this nugget as a visual to the following reality. There are three types of work-life balance in the world. Two you can choose, one you must earn. All come with a cost. As an HR/talent leader, you should have a point of view on each because odds are they all exist to some extent in your company, but one probably defines your culture.

Let’s break down the types of work-life balance you must choose from:

You have zero work-life balance and zero flexibility. Not only are you working long hours but you’re also expected to be present in the office on the organization’s terms, not your own. You have zero flexibility about when you can leave and you have your smartphone next to your pillow at night.

This situation is relatively easy to find. Just change jobs a couple of times, don’t have boundaries about what you’ll accept and you’ll find the company and boss combination that can provide this quickly. NOTE TO THE KIDS: Sometimes you have to put in time in this situation to pick up the deep experience that can get you to a better place.

You have maximum work-life balance.Congrats! You have found a company and boss that respects your need for time away and even has an unwritten policy that they won’t reach out to you in the evening or on weekends. You come in at 8 a.m. and leave at 5 p.m. It feels good not to have to worry about the chaos after hours. Your time is your time. You found someone who respects that, so if it’s important to you hold on with all your might.

There’s just one little problem: If you hear a ticking sound, it might be the clock counting down on how comfortable you are. You see, progress on earth has rarely been moved forward by respecting labor’s need for an 8-to-5 schedule with a 90-minute lunch, so the tradeoff is that your manager may be mailing it in and putting you and your team at risk long term. Also, just know that by wanting the perfect 40-hour work-life balance, you’re opting out of the corporate version of “Game of Thrones.”

Of the three types of work-life balance in the world, two can be chosen, and one must be earned.

You get more done than the others, or you don’t get promoted or become unemployed. I know it’s harsh. But the ticking clock is real for many who feel great about their work-life balance. It’s all fun and games until you’re on the market as a candidate whose biggest accomplishment was achieving balance.

You have no flexibility and maximum flexibility all at the same time. Most of us would agree that a feature of great work-life balance is being able to leave work when you need to — a late lunch with a friend or an event at your kid’s school. If you have this ability, you agree this is tremendous, and for many of us, it’s the best part of any work-life balance conversation.

For the most part, it’s earned. You can’t put up walls and say you want a 40-hour week to get this flexibility. You have to earn it. The tradeoff for being able to leave any time you want is being indispensable, which in corporate America means your boss — who is likely a complete Type A — can ping you at 9:30 p.m. and get a quick answer.

It’s that access and iteration pace that alpha leaders want out of their people. If you’re looking for work-life balance, that’s the bad news. But if you’re looking for max flexibility about when and where you work and if you can go to the Thursday afternoon soccer game, it might be the type of work-life balance you seek.

As an HR leader, you’re in a tough spot. Odds are that you have jobs at your company with work-life balance flexibility in all three of these categories. But at the end of the day, you’re a performance coach as an HR leader.

You don’t define work-life balance alone at your company as an HR pro. That’s a team sport. But only you — the gifted HR leader who understands potential and life expectations — can customize career coaching for the individual employee in a way that matches their ambition.

That’s it, gotta go. Have another candidate interview coming up. Going to do it in the sun, by the pool. Then I’ll probably hit the beach.

September 17, 2019June 29, 2023

Technology and the Talent Shortage

Little seems to have changed in the past year for the staffing industry. There is still more demand for talent than there is supply, the gap continues to widen, and there is no end to both complex issue in sight.

“If anything, the skills shortage is having a dampening effect on the industry, because it’s even more extreme,” said Barry Asin, president of Staffing Industry Analysts headquartered in Mountain View, California. Clients are seeking out their services more than ever but they just can’t fill the roles fast enough.

Yet there is a subtle difference from last year as staffing agencies make some innovative changes to adapt to the new normal. The biggest investments are around agency-hosted reskilling programs to fill a variety of talent needs. At the high end, agencies like Adecco are creating or acquiring coding bootcamps to train promising candidates for hard-to-fill STEM roles — in 2018 Adecco acquired digital retraining firm General Assembly for $412 million.

Other agencies are more focused on training for lower level labor jobs that come with specific skill requirements, said Steve Bercham, chief operating officer of the American Staffing Association in Alexandria, Virginia. For example, last year staffing firm Hamilton-Ryker launched TalentGro, which uses virtual reality to train forklift operators. The technology has led to a 40 percent increase in successful placement of forklift drivers. “These skills can be learned quickly, which helps agencies fill these roles,” Bercham said.

Digital Transformation: Reality or Hype?

Virtual reality is one of many innovative technologies that staffing agencies are adopting to meet client needs. Many others are focused on streamlining sourcing, said Vinda Souza, vice president of global communications for cloud computing company Bullhorn in Boston. “Sourcing is their top priority,” she said. Bullhorn’s 2019 “Recruitment Trends” report found 57 percent of agencies plan to spend more in tech this year, with 31 percent focused on digital transformation efforts to achieve these goals.

While most believe that artificial intelligence and automation solutions will help the staffing industry in the long run, almost half question their ability to deploy and use these tools effectively. “Only 5 out of 10 staffing processionals understand what artificial intelligence and machine learning are,” Souza said.

This suggests that these digital transformation efforts will take a lot of time and will likely begin with simple automation tools that eliminate manual tasks but don’t optimize decision-making. Early movers are already using tools like catboats to engage with candidate, automated résumé screening tools, and job board posting tools like Jobiak’s AI-based recruitment marketing platform that links job boards to the Google for Jobs ecosystem.

Staffing agencies are also hiring their own AI experts to drive innovation in this space. Bullhorn recently added its first head of artificial intelligence to support development of Cleo, its AI platform. “It is on us as an industry to get to the next level of AI so that we can do predictive sourcing and improve the candidate experience,” Souza said. Bullhorn hopes that adding senior AI talent to its team will help them get there first.

Money Matters

No matter how good the sourcing and recruiting technology is, the lack of available talent means companies need to be practical about who they are looking for and what they can offer. “For roles that are always in demand, wages need to go up,” Souza said. Bullhorn’s survey shows 78 percent of staffing professionals believe employers must increase pay if they want to compete for qualified candidates.

Employers should also be open to exploring new talent pools, including candidates with a criminal record, Bercham added. The American Staffing Association is participating in the Getting Talent Back to Work pledge, an effort led by the Society for Human Resource Management to provide employment opportunities to qualified people with criminal backgrounds. “So many companies avoid these candidates for fear of liability,” he said. A big part of the initiative is to educate companies about how the court system and policies makers ensure these criminal histories can be set aside.

“Now is the time to quash the stigma of incarceration,” said Richard Wahlquist, ASA president and chief executive officer. “Employers need to embrace greater inclusivity when recruiting and hiring and give qualified individuals a second chance at success in life — particularly when the U.S. labor market is the tightest in history.”

It’s one of many ways employers and staffing agencies are opening their minds to new talent pools, and where candidates can come from.

“There is qualified talent out there that employers don’t give the time of day,” Souza said. The challenge for staffing agencies is figuring out how to convince employers that these are the right people for the job.

September 16, 2019

Mental Health Parity Law Successes and Challenges

The Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008 was passed to ensure that insurers and health plans offer mental health and substance abuse benefits comparable to coverage of medical and surgical care. It has heralded some positive trends, but there are still areas in need of improvement, experts say.

Other than the 2008 act and its precursor in 1996, there has been no legislation in America regarding mental health care, said Mary Kay O’Neill, partner at Mercer.

Also read: The Mental Health Parity Challenge

Until recently, “We didn’t have the resources or cultural language to talk about this,” she said. “How we talk about behavioral health now is completely different than seven year ago.”

Tom Sondergold, vice president, global HRIS, Benefits and Mobility at Walgreens Boots Alliance, said that while his organization has always strived for parity, having the law on their side has helped a lot. The Mental Health Parity Act has highlighted that there aren’t enough providers, he said.

“The parity law has allowed us to have a little bit more weight in working with our carrier partners to make sure they strive to secure more providers,” he added.

Employers should not assume that their insurers or plan administrators are in compliance with parity, said Henry Harbin, a psychiatrist with over 40 years of experience in the behavioral health field.

Employers that have been sued for parity non-compliance include Microsoft Corporation, Marriott International, Indiana University and Boeing Corporation.

Self-insured employers are regulated under the parity law and a liability target. Financial and quantitative requirements — for example, that behavioral health copays must be comparable to medical copays — have been reasonably in compliance with health plans and employers, he said. But non-quantitative requirements are where most litigation is happening for failing to comply with the law because there aren’t numbers or data to directly compare, putting self-insured employers at risk.

These non-quantitative treatment limitations include areas like reimbursement rates and admissions standards to the provider network. While it’s generally clear if the health plan is complying with the quantitative parity requirements, with non-quantitative requirements, it’s harder to tell if the health plan is complying with the law.

August 28, 2019August 28, 2019

What Sex Discrimination Will Look Like if the DOJ Legalizes Sex Stereotyping

Last week the Department of Justice (on behalf of its client, the EEOC), filed a brief asking the Supreme Court to conclude that “sex stereotyping by itself is not a Title VII violation.”

What might this look like if the DOJ gets its wish?

Consider the following story (as told on Reddit).

I’m a 21 year old female. I feel like I should say these thing about myself because these are usually what people ask or say when they find out I rarely shave my legs. I’m straight, I’m very feminine, and I just don’t like to waste my time or money on shaving my legs. Also I’m not a hairy person at all! …

[T]oday I had to go into the office to grab some materials and my boss was there in his office so I stopped to say hi before I left out. …

My boss then proceeded to tell me that a few people complained I didn’t shave my legs and they said it went against company policy that I wasn’t being hygienic. I was even more shocked.

I cannot fathom a Title VII under which an employer can enforce a workplace rule prohibiting hairy legs against women but not men. Yet, that’s the world in which we might live if the Supreme Court legalizes “sex stereotyping.”

The DOJ argued in its brief that “sex stereotyping is actionable only to the extent it provides evidence of favoritism of one sex over the other,” and that it “does not excuse the plaintiff from the fundamental requirement of proving that the defendant treated members of one sex less favorably than similarly situated members of the opposite sex.” Otherwise, says the DOJ, “countless sex-specific policies would be per se unlawful as based on sex stereotypes, “ such as a “dress code that required men to wear neckties.”

But isn’t that the very point of prohibiting sex-based stereotypes at work. The stereotype itself is the “evidence of favoritism of one sex over the other.” It is the proof that the employer “treated members of one sex less favorably than similarly situated members of the opposite sex.”

Also read: #MeToo Hasn’t Killed the Office Romance, Just the Inappropriate Ones

An employer that prohibits women, but not men, from wearing neckties is acting on a sex-based stereotype that a necktie is men’s attire, and not women’s attire. Similarly, an employer who requires women to shave their legs, while letting men grow it au naturel, acts on a sex-based grooming stereotype for no reason other than gender. The application and enforcement of a sex-based stereotype to the detriment of one sex over another is the “evidence of favoritism of one sex over the other.” No other proof should be necessary.

I am hopeful that the Supreme Court does right by LGBTQ employees and holds that Title VII’s prohibition against sex discrimination implicitly covers LGBTQ discrimination. If, however, these cases go the other way, I pray that the Court does not take the DOJ’s bait and rewind women’s rights by five or six decades.

August 26, 2019April 11, 2023

3 Steps to Navigating Effective Wage and Hour Compliance

restaurant industry employees, wage and hour compliance for employers

Restaurant operators face many unique challenges — labor management being a top one.

In addition to today’s tight labor market, operators must also manage high employee turnover, complex scheduling as well as ever-increasing regulations around hour, wage and tip reporting requirements.

It’s no surprise that the restaurant industry continues to be a major target for Fair Labor Standards Act and class-action litigation. This type of litigation has proven to be costly in recent years as claims can be triggered by any number of employee complaints, including pay and hourly discrepancies.

In 2018 alone, the U.S. Department of Labor collected more than $42 million in employee back wages from the food services industry. This amount will only continue to increase as attorneys are now spending enormous resources on TV, radio, billboards and social media marketing campaigns to attract and inform hospitality employees on compliance violations.

Because much of the wage and hour legislation is new, and not coming off the back of federal law, there is little case history or precedence. And while there is a risk that employers do not pay their employees correctly under these new rules, the greater risk is that they do not have sufficient processes and auditable history in place to demonstrate compliance when challenged. This leaves restaurant operators vulnerable.

To avoid costly and time-consuming litigation, here are three steps restaurateurs can take now to better manage wage and hour compliance.

1. Begin internally: Start by educating managers on the statutory requirements for scheduling and paying employees, which can vary from city to city and state to state. For example, San Francisco, Seattle and the state of Oregon have started to implement “secure scheduling” or “predictive scheduling” ordinances. These rules require employers to provide schedules to employees up to two weeks in advance and extra pay if the schedules are changed. This creates a burden for employers who are not accustomed to being locked down so far in advance.

Once managers are up to speed on the current legislative landscape, conduct a thorough wage and hour audit to identify any existing or potential violations. The most common violations we see are the misclassification of employees as exempt vs. non-exempt status, the improper calculations of overtime wages for tipped employees, failing to maintain valid tip pools and the misuse of the federal tip credit.

The violations mentioned above are fairly easy to prevent; it simply takes commitment. Therefore, the last step should be to make compliance a companywide initiative by assigning responsibilities to someone internally or through an outsourced HR relationship. As the complexity of managing a workforce seems to grow exponentially each year with the addition of new legislation, continue to evolve internal processes and train managers to help ensure future compliance.

2. Enlist technology: In addition to scheduling requirements, operators are also required to manage employee breaks. For instance, in California, if a meal break starts just one minute later than required, the employer must pay an additional hour of pay to the employee. In New York, employers must pay an additional hour pay (called spread of hours) if the daily work schedule spans greater than 10 hours, regardless of the number of hours worked.

As pay and scheduling requirements vary depending on the location of the business, it’s nearly impossible for operators to manually manage multiple locations on their own. Restaurant-specific technology, with legislation and business rules built in, can enable operators to proactively manage compliance as well as provide an auditable history should claims of noncompliance arise. Utilizing technology can also help operators significantly reduce payroll errors as well as support and drive scheduling and time and attendance compliance efforts.

3. Educate employees: The expansion of restaurant locations and low unemployment has made it more difficult to find labor. These labor challenges often have a negative impact in the areas of training and enforcing best practices, areas that impact wage and hour compliance. Once you have finalized your company’s wage and hour-related policies — and have the technology in place to automate compliance — the final step is to effectively communicate these policies to your employees. Educating employees regarding their compensation, rights and obligations and encouraging them to come to management with any questions can help to significantly minimize future wage and scheduling claims. Policies can be communicated directly during daily shift meetings and through monthly training classes as well as in the employer handbook, which should be updated regularly.

With the daily demands of operating a restaurant, many lack the time needed to effectively manage wage and hour compliance. By following these tips, operators can significantly reduce their risk of noncompliance as well as more efficiently manage their business.

August 26, 2019

Is a Vacation During an FMLA Leave Inconsistent With an Employee’s Serious Health Condition?

A few months ago I wrote about an employee fired for taking a fishing trip while out on an FMLA leave. In that case, the court upheld the termination as lawful. Recently, however, the Supreme Court of Massachusetts considered a similar case and reached the opposite result.

Richard DaPrato, an IT manager for the Massachusetts Water Resource Authority, took an approved FMLA leave of absence to have a tumor removed from his right foot. During the last few weeks of his leave, DaPrato took a previously scheduled vacation to Mexico with his family, a trip he took every year. According to DaPrato, he limited his activities during his trip based on the limitations imposed by his foot surgery.

When the employer learned of DaPrato’s Mexican vacation, its HR director launched an immediate investigation, which included obtaining video of DePrato lifting luggage out of a car at the airport. DaPrato maintained that he did nothing that was inconsistent with the limitations set forth in his FMLA medical certifications. Nevertheless, the company fired him for misrepresenting his disability.

Also read: Does the FMLA Protect Organ Donation Surgery as a ‘Serious Health Condition?’

DePrato sued for FMLA retaliation, which resulted in a $1.3 million judgment.

On appeal, the court affirmed, and had this to say about whether and when an employee on FMLA leave can take a vacation.

We clarify today that an employer may validly consider an employee’s conduct on vacation — or, for that matter, anywhere — that is inconsistent with his or her claimed reasons for medical leave, when the employer has such information at the time the employer is evaluating whether leave has been properly or improperly used.

Here, DaPrato took FMLA leave to allow his foot to recover fully from surgery. Such recovery could take place in a warm climate as well as in a New England winter. That being said, vacationing while on FMLA leave may take either permissible or impermissible forms. An employee recovering from a leg injury may sit with his or her leg raised by the sea shore while fully complying with FMLA leave requirements but may not climb Machu Picchu without abusing the FMLA process. Careful consideration of the reasons for the medical leave and the activities undertaken, including the timeline for rehabilitation and recovery, are required to determine whether FMLA leave has been abused.

What can employers learn from this case? Don’t make a knee-jerk decision to fire an employee who does something recreational during his or her FMLA leave. Gather the facts and make a reasoned decision over whether the activity is, or is not, consistent with the medical reason(s) for the leave. Fishing while recovered from hernia surgery might be a tough sell for the employee. Convalescing on the beach while recovering from foot surgery, however, might be a different story. Without all of the information and facts coupled with a careful deliberation of their consistence or inconsistency with the FMLA leave, however, you might have a difficult (and costly) time justifying a decision if challenged in court.

Also read: Which Mental Health Service Does the FMLA Not Cover?

August 1, 2019February 25, 2022

7 Tips for Managers to Help Employees De-Stress

The CareerCast stress report analyzes 11 factors that represent the most common stressors including deadlines, public scrutiny and physical demands.

In companies both large and small, workers can be heard talking about how they need a break or how they need to have a mental health day.

According to a 2017 report from the American Psychological Association, work stress is the third most common stressor in Americans’ lives. What’s contributing most to that work stress, according to a 2017 Paychex study, is missing out on time spent at home.

Employees are stressed for a multitude of reasons including workload, lack of support, lack of control in decision-making processes, unclear performance expectations, ineffective time management skills, and failure to implement boundaries on time away from work and use vacation time granted to them.

There are many ways managers can help employees cope with such stresses, though. Here are seven tips to get them started:

Look and Listen. As a manager it is important to pay attention to your employees. When you observe your employees in action, do they appear to be overwhelmed? Are they agitated when speaking with you? Do they express concern or anxiety over a project or deadline? What words are they using to describe their workload? Has their demeanor changed?

If you notice that an employee’s mood has changed and he or she appears more stressed than usual, it’s time to initiate a conversation on how you can help.

Provide Clarity. Managers have a broad view of the department’s productivity and goals, as well as what each employee is working on at any given time. Managers can plan projects and set appropriate deadlines for work.

Keep in mind that employees may need guidance on reassessing to-do lists and understanding priorities, direction on how the work is to be completed, and what assistance is available to get work done. Don’t be afraid to get in the trenches with your employees and work side-by-side to complete an important task.

Foster Partnership. Personality conflicts can be a contributor to stress, and managers play a significant role in fostering teamwork and mediating disputes. It is critical that managers address conflicts both timely and effectively to avoid escalation. HR can provide tools and guidance on how to properly investigate, document, and coach employees to resolve their discord.

Acknowledge Humanity. Employees are people. They have responsibilities and stressors outside of their work. It is critical for employees to recharge after the workday and workweek.

Enable employees to have a healthy work-life balance by providing them the opportunity to connect with family and friends and to rest and take care of themselves. Managers should encourage employees to limit checking emails after business hours and to take earned vacation time. Supervisors should also be trained in managing employee leaves of absence, knowing what leaves employees are entitled and supporting employees to take leaves to care for themselves or family members.

Encourage Exercise. Urge employees to take their breaks, stretch and move around for a few minutes several times a day. A change of scenery can help employees gain a fresh perspective on the task at hand and clear their minds for more creative thinking. Physical activity can aid in alleviating tension and increasing blood flow. Even better, have employees take a break together to foster teambuilding and comradery.

Also read: Consider Fresh Air and Relaxed Hikes to Combat Work Stress

Provide Training. Empower your employees with access to resources that enable resiliency. Employees themselves can be trained on stress management, time management and conflict resolution to hopefully minimize the incidence of anxiety and depression.

Promote Benefits. Managers should be the raving fans of the company’s benefits programs, especially those related to mental and physical well-being.

An employee assistance program is a useful tool for employees experiencing stress or needing to cope with difficult situations. Managers are not professional counselors and should not act as such.

Additionally, ensure that the medical plans provided to employees include access to outpatient and inpatient mental health treatment, medication and counseling. Many medical insurance companies are now offering teledoctors for individuals who have difficulty seeing a physician face-to-face, as well as perks and discounts to gyms and fitness-related services that employees may not be aware of.

Criminal Past Less a Predictor for Workplace Futures

At Nutrition Solutions, most employees are formerly convicted felons.

Not exactly the type of employee one would expect to find at a trendy lifestyle meal preparation company. But then again, founder and CEO Chris Cavallini was arrested 17 times before he was 18 years old.

Now leading a $10 million company, Cavallini gives others opportunities to move forward despite pasts including felony convictions, homelessness or substance abuses.

Still, Cavallini won’t just hire any convicted felon who applies for a job.

“We look for how has that person has taken responsibility for what has happened in their past and if they are ready to do whatever it is they have to do for it as long as they need to do it to create a better life for themselves and their families,” he said.

With unemployment at historic lows and a large amount of the workforce gravitating toward sharing economy jobs, there are currently more job openings than job seekers, noted Marco Piovesan, CEO of InfoMart, a global background screening company.

That leads employers to consider hiring nontraditional candidates such as ex-offenders, who demonstrate lower turnover rates than their peers, he added.

Some 75 million Americans — about 1 in 3 adults — have a criminal record. According to the Society for Human Resource Management, nearly 700,000 people are released yearly from prison with 75 percent remaining unemployed for a year.

With employers desperately seeking to fill vacant positions, a criminal past may not tarnish a job candidate like it once did. Several initiatives from HR’s leading association as well as the current administration are closing the gap between fulfilling a prison sentence and finding fulfillment in gainful employment.

The Getting Talent Back to Work initiative led by SHRM and Koch Industries to end noninclusive hiring practices rolled out after President Donald Trump signed the First Step Act into law in December 2018.

SHRM’s initiative has led hundreds of individuals and companies to sign a pledge to seriously consider qualified formerly incarcerated people for jobs.

The initiative includes a toolkit providing employers guidance in compliance issues, background checks, interviewing and assessment, screening, risk analysis, insurance, negligent hiring, hiring incentives and understanding criminal background report language.

Nearly 75 million Americans — about 1 in 3 adults — have a criminal record.

While significant uncertainty about hiring workers with criminal records exists among some senior executives, only 14 percent of HR professionals and 26 percent of managers are unwilling to work with or hire someone with a criminal conviction, according to a SHRM and Charles Koch Institute study.

“As employers, we acknowledge people make mistakes in life, come back from it and want to do better. They need to be able to have a livelihood,” said Dale Pazdra, a Barry University adjunct HR professor and Coral Springs, Florida, HR director.

“Be open-minded, but protect yourself and your company by deploying the same mitigation strategies you would with a more traditional hire and weigh the gravity of the offense against the nature of the job,” said Piovesan.

Some ex-offenders commit a repeat offense and are reincarcerated despite immediate employment upon release, noted Tammy Cohen, InfoMart founder and chief visionary officer.

Compliant background checks ensure specific types of ex-offenders are restricted from working in positions catering to vulnerable populations, Cohen added.

It also ensures fairness in hiring decisions, she said, adding, “the EEOC is against the use of bright-line rules such as refusing to hire anyone with a criminal conviction and instead encourages employers to complete individualized assessments.”

EEOC guidelines encourage recency and relevancy related to offenses, Pazdra said. A “whole person” approach includes work history, education, references, and physical requirements to ensure a good hire, he added.

Cavallini said for formerly incarcerated felons to be successful after release, they must reconfigure their belief system, priorities, values and social circle.

His company’s second in command spent time in solitary confinement.

“If they can make it through that, they can make it through any workplace adversity,” Cavallini said.

At Nutrition Solutions, all employees must do two weekly boot camp style workouts with a personal trainer to build discipline and channel aggression, and also write reports on how leadership lessons taught in the book “Extreme Ownership” — written by two U.S. Navy SEAL veterans — apply in their lives.

“We’re paying our team to do things to make them smarter, more efficient, effective, mentally resilient, disciplined, and more valuable to the company,” said Cavallini. “They’re willing to do whatever it takes because they don’t want to go back to that dark place in life.”

July 26, 2019July 1, 2019

Trust — The Biggest Workplace Benefit?

Employers are a trusted source of information. Trust could even be the most important unnoticed benefit in any workplace. For years I have strongly believed that trust is a key ingredient to any successful workplace, and two recent studies confirm it in ways that surprised even me.

First, the Edelman Trust Barometer has followed trust around the world for 19 years. The 2019 survey included more than 33,000 people around the globe, and it shows some significant changes from previous years. The summary report says “Trust has changed profoundly in the past year — people have shifted their trust to the relationships within their control, most notably their employers.”

Around the world, 75 percent of people say they trust “my employer” to do what is right. Compare that with the percentage who say the same about NGOs (57 percent), business (56 percent), and the media (47 percent). But that’s not the most interesting finding.

People want leadership from their employers, too. Seventy-one percent of employees say it is “critically important for my CEO to respond to challenging times.” The general population agrees — 76 percent say they want CEOs to take the lead on change instead of waiting for government to impose it.

Edelman’s final conclusion? Employee trust is incredibly valuable to the organization. “Employees who have trust in their employer are far more likely to engage in beneficial actions on their behalf — they will advocate for the organization (a 39-point trust advantage), are more engaged (33 points), and remain far more loyal (38 points) and committed (31 points) than their more skeptical counterparts.”

Also read: Building Trust Through Storytelling

That conclusion mirrors MetLife’s 2019 “U.S. Employee Benefit Trends Study.” This survey, in its 17th year, follows workplace and benefits trends. This year MetLife concludes: “Our research reveals that trust — primarily in an employer’s leadership and their commitment to employees’ success — is the most significant driver of employee happiness at work.”

Why does employees’ happiness matter to the business? The survey shows happy employees are more satisfied with their job, and are loyal, engaged, productive, impactful and successful.

Trust and happiness seem like abstract concepts, but building them is entirely within our control. MetLife identifies these five drivers of happiness at work:

Employee trust in their company’s leadership.
Employers’ commitment to employees and their success.
Culture where employees are encouraged to share ideas and individual opinions.
Workplace where co-workers feel like family or friends.
Benefits customized to meet employee needs.

People trust their employers more than they trust nearly any other organization or entity. Trust is also the biggest driver of happiness at work, and when they trust you, employees are more committed to your success and will work harder. Let’s use this moment to do great things!

Every organization should be taking specific steps to foster even more trust. This could mean:
Making your leadership more accessible and transparent.
Taking a more vocal stand on current issues and events, including their impact on your local communities.
Showing how your organization is committed to employees and their success and taking specific action to give them more of a voice.
Fostering a greater sense of community and connection at work.
Helping your people unite around your organization’s mission.
Focusing on helping individuals to understand their sense of purpose and how they fit in your organization.
Showing your commitment to your employees’ health and financial security by making it easier for them to understand and take advantage of their benefits.

And if you can, do it all. The results will be great for your people and your organization.

Also in Benefits Beat:

Communicating Your Benefits Vision to Your Executive Team

How HR Benefits By Getting Political

Benefits Offerings Shouldn’t Be a Puzzle to Assemble

July 24, 2019August 3, 2023

Employers Find Strength in Diversity

Amy Cappellanti-Wolf, chief human resource officer for global cybersecurity and defense company Symantec — Amy Cappellanti-Wolf

Amy Cappellanti-Wolf is the chief human resource officer for global cybersecurity and defense company Symantec. Cappellanti-Wolf has extensive experience in the consumer and tech sectors, having worked companies such as Pepsi, Disney and Cisco Systems. Cappellanti-Wolf spoke with Workforce Editorial Associate Bethany Tomasian on diversity as a driving force for a successful business operations model.

Workforce: How does diversity fit into Symantec’s business strategy?

Amy Cappellanti-Wolf: I believe that diversity is an important business driver. Symantec is located in more than 42 countries around the world, and if you’re going to be a global company you need to have an employee population that reflects the different geographies of your customers. You need different ways to operate and go to market and you aren’t going to be able to do that with a homogeneous employee base. You need people that bring different perspectives and experiences into the business. Diversity is a critical enabler for the business to be successful.

Workforce: Can you describe Symantec’s initiatives to overcome diversity barriers regarding women and minorities?

Cappellanti-Wolf: Our first part of our three-pillar approach is centered around amplifying the work that we do and creating a platform for it. That affects our employees and potential employees in the marketplace, as well as our customers and partners. Our CEO Greg Clark signed the diversity pledge for CEOs to show that we are committed to creating a diverse work environment. The second pillar is about taking bias out of the system. We did this when we introduced Textio to our system. Textio allows you to look at job descriptions and ensure that the language is gender-neutralized. We don’t want words of phrases that might not be attractive to a diverse set of candidates. That change allows everyone a level playing field when they look at these jobs. The third pillar surrounds inclusive leadership and that starts at the top. You need a company where people have a voice and they know that what they say counts because different voices bring different solutions. Diversity is an outcome of good inclusion practices.

Also watch Cappellanti-Wolf talk about enterprise transformation at the 2019 Unleash conference in Las Vegas

Workforce: What advice would you offer other companies and startups regarding HR?

Cappellanti-Wolf: I would tell them to start with diversity now. Be clear about the three to four things that you want to do and focus on those, rather than launching 1,000 different ships. Leadership teams have a responsibility as officers of the company to drive this type of strategy so that it becomes a way by which you do business. I would tell startups to plant the mindset early by not to hiring the likely suspects: friends from college or previous colleagues. Bring different perspectives into the room. If you start at the beginning, it will become the operating model of business as it grows.

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