Human Resources Archives - Page 2 of 4

Flexible Benefits – What to Know

Max Goldenberg July 14, 2022

Watch out, traditional options plans, because flexible benefits are making big strides. While traditional benefit models provide specific, flat advantage is extended to the employee by their organization, ‘flexible’ or ‘personalized’ benefits challenge this entire hierarchical structure. These flexible benefits employees with stipends, allowing them to actively pick and choose the benefits they want to engage with.

Building Custom Benefits for Your Workplace

But before we get to asking if flexible benefits might be right for your workplace, we should first figure out just what exactly these ‘personalized’ benefits look like. The most common type of flexible benefit is a benefits spending account. Instead of a direct benefit, employees receive specific stipends in their spending accounts that can be spent across a range of lifestyle benefits. A great example of this is a Lifestyle Spending Account. As opposed to hosting regular mandatory training sessions, employees with an LSA might receive a stipend to attend trainings and seminars that they find interesting or useful from a broader list. Employees might even receive stipends to build their own home office, fitness supplies, or maybe even just groceries!

What makes flexible benefits so special – and so often highly well-received by employees – is right in the name; the tremendous level of flexibility they offer. Increasingly diverse workforces have similarly diverse needs, so a ‘flat’ benefit that might be a great boon for one employee – for instance, paternity leave for a new parent – isn’t going to help an employee with no plans of having a kid. By offering flexibility and personalization in benefits through stipends, your new parent might be able to spend his benefits on childcare supplies, while the child-free employee instead books a vacation!

Flexibility and Discount Programs

Although stipends are the most common, discount programs also fall into the category of highly customizable flexible benefits. Much like how a lifestyle stipend gives employees complete flexibility to purchase new gym equipment, bird-watching binoculars, or anything in between, having access to thousands of discounts means that employees have the freedom to pick out just the savings that matter to them – no matter their hobbies, situation, or identity.

Diversity and flexibility go hand in hand; diverse workplace situations require flexible mindsets, whether it’s in accounting for the needs of both in-person and remote employees or offering benefits attractive to individuals at entirely different life stages. By their very nature, no matter how unique your industry or employees, flexible benefits can fit right in.

That’s why you might want to consider PerkSpot for your company’s benefits suite. Not only does PerkSpot offer the adaptability of flexible benefits so that every employee can find something they’ll love – it’s also a no-cost solution, being completely free to add to your organization. Whether you’re looking for a cost-effective way to beef up your benefits or just a perk that everyone can enjoy, let’s talk about how PerkSpot’s discount program could be just the thing you need.

The Importance of Pride Month in the Workplace

Courtney Shipshock June 8, 2022

Pride Month is a time for LGBTQ+ communities and allies to come together to celebrate the freedom to be yourself. With decades of struggles with prejudice and acceptance, this month is crucial. It is a time when cities hold parades, celebrations, rallies, parties, workshops, and much more to recognize the fight for equality. As important as it is to celebrate Pride Month outside of work, it’s just as important to celebrate this monumental month in the workplace. We’ve gathered a few different ways you can raise your rainbow flag and join the movement today.

A Brief History

In 1969, police stormed into the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in Greenwhich Village, New York. Customers were being removed from the bar but tensions quickly rose. Patrons began resisting arrest and bystanders started throwing bottles and coins at the officers. Following the incident, the gay community was fed up after decades of harassment and took to the streets to riot for three days straight. After the riots, the Gay Liberation Front and the Gay Activists Alliance were formed. One year later, the nation’s first Gay Pride parades were held.

Why Celebrate?

There are many reasons why diversity is important in the workplace. A few include differing perspectives, new ideas, improved creativity, and better problem-solving. As the leaders in your organization, it’s critical to showcase the stories that make people unique and celebrate the diverse voices throughout the company. It is important to remember that the first Pride was not a celebration, it was a riot led by queer people of color.

How To Recognize In The Workplace

There are plenty of ways to show your allyship and celebrate the LGBTQ+ community in your workplace, whether you’re remote or in-person. A few of our favorites are below!

Support LGBTQ+ Causes

There are dozens of different organizations and causes you can donate to. It’s important to mention, it doesn’t have to be a monetary donation. Donating your time, voice, and energy is just as important!

Update Your Company Branding

Businesses around the world have shown their allyship in different ways. For example, you can update your Zoom background, add your pronouns to your email signature and LinkedIn page, and send out some pride swag for your employees to show off.

Educate Your Employees

A lot of employees are familiar with Pride Month, but they may not know the history behind it. Use this month to sit down with your teammates for an open discussion or provide resources for employees.

Pride Month is a time to celebrate how far we have come with LGBTQ+ rights, but it’s also a time to continue to fight for equality and recognize the struggles the community has faced. This month, take the time to celebrate and recognize the accomplishments of the gay rights movement and the brave LGBTQ+ advocates and allies standing up for equality.

Additional Resources:

Providing Benefits to a Multigenerational Workforce

Max Goldenberg June 3, 2022

Having a wide diversity of ages in your organization comes with a lot of benefits. As with many other kinds of diversity, a wide range of generational representation is a driver of innovation, offering varied perspectives on issues by combining older generation’s specialist knowledge with younger professional’s innate understanding of modern technologies and changes. Benefits aside, a multigenerational workforce multiple generations represented in the workforce is a near unavoidable reality as baby boomers begin to step back from top-level positions.

But multi-generational workforces also come with their own challenges, including:

A wide range of values and beliefs can cause differences in priorities
Significantly disparate communication styles and preferences
Wide gaps in desired perks and benefits

Diverse Generations with Diverse Values

Differing perspectives and values means different needs, and what a young professional is looking for from their benefits package is vastly different from what more senior employees need; knowing the difference and being able to account for the diverse needs of multiple generations of employees is key to crafting an employee-centric benefits experience.

The benefits valued by older generations tend towards traditional cornerstones such as 401k matching and supplemental health insurance. Younger generations, such as Millennials and Gen-Z, tend to value wellness initiatives and benefits that give them time back in the day. But there’s a surprising degree of overlap between emerging benefits that workers of every age are pining for, such as flexible work options, training and development opportunities, and smaller, personalized perks, from shuttle services to discounts on dry-cleaning.

The generation gap isn’t as steep as it might appear. When you get right down to it, it’s about people. Your employees are distinct individuals with individual needs that simply can’t be standardized.

The Employee-Centric Benefits Experience

Fortunately, you don’t have to standardize at all. Instead, account for differences by focusing on benefits personalization. Employees of all ages agree that flexible work options that allow them to work on their own schedules are critical; and you can take your multigenerational benefits a step further by partnering with PerkSpot. Our breadth of potential savings is uniquely positioned to cater to diverse workforces, with thousands of discounts available across dozens of industries! We offer meaningful benefits targeted at and personalized to the unique needs of every individual employee.

And that’s the core of an employee-centric benefits experience; offering the perks that each individual really cares about, no matter how unique! By focusing on perk personalization, you can provide an employee-centric experience. Personalized offerings will help celebrate the rich diversity of your workforce – generational or otherwise. From flexible work options to regular wellness initiatives, you’ll want to target your benefits around your workforce’s distinct concerns. As you do, PerkSpot can help get started with a benefits experience centered that’s unique to your equally unique employees; Request a Demo to learn more today!

How To Prioritize Mental Health In The Workplace

Courtney Shipshock May 12, 2022

Mental health is an incredibly important part of our overall health that unfortunately is commonly overlooked. In recent years, stresses from the pandemic, inflation, along with many other contributing factors have led to further deterioration. To recognize Mental Health Awareness Month, we have gathered different ways you can prioritize the health of your employees this month and beyond.

Ensure Employees Are Taking Time Away From Work

In 2021, Americans took the fewest number of PTO days out of everyone on the planet. In 2019, research conducted by the U.S. Travel Association found that 55% of Americans did not use all of their paid time off. So why are people leaving vacation on the table and letting their health suffer from burnout? Vacation guilt and worries about work are common reasons. It’s crucial that employees are given the needed time to unplug and recharge, and a lack thereof can be detrimental to their overall health. Encourage paid time off and ensure employees are fully disconnected while out of office.

Train Your Leaders To Help

It’s important to increase awareness so people in the workplace can notice when a coworker is struggling with their mental health. Offering managers the opportunity to attend trainings focused on the subject equips them with the skills to support those with mental illness as well as help the well-being of the rest of their teammates. Each illness is different and it’s important that managers approach each employee as an individual.

Provide Mental Health Benefits

Mercer’s 2021 Health on Demand Report found that of 14,000 employees across 13 countries, 44% of employees, who didn’t have access to mental health benefits, felt unsupported by their employers. Benefits can include a wide range of offerings, from weekly meditation to discounts on therapy sessions. It’s important to provide a tiered benefit program that offers a variety of different options that can benefit each individual’s unique needs.

Fight The Stigma

A stigma causes people to feel ashamed for something that is out of their control. There are plenty of ways to fight the mental health stigma, including open communication, education, compassion, along with many others. In addition to providing options, it’s important to communicate with your employees the different opportunities available and offer a safe space for discussion. Let your employees know the importance in your workplace and encourage open communication.

The mental health of your employees is more important now than ever. This month, take the necessary steps to support, recognize, and positively impact the mental health of your employees. They will thank you!

Mental Health Resources:

SAMHSA’s National Helpline

Help For Mental Illnesses

Financial Wellness A Top Priority For Younger Generations

Courtney Shipshock April 15, 2022

Free coffee, paid lunch, ping pong tables, and office snacks are no longer going to cut it.

Financial wellness is at the top of the list of benefits younger generations are searching for. According to SHRM, “Many workers over the last decade have been frustrated by stagnant wage growth. Younger workers may be particularly focused on compensation as they pay off college loans and try to establish their savings so they can purchase homes and start families.”

Below are a few different ways you can support your employees’ financial wellness while improving overall retention and morale.

Provide Retirement Planning & Contributions

Although a traditional benefit offering for most, retirement contributions will always be an important financial benefit for employees. Employers that offer a retirement contribution or matching plan tend to have improved employee morale and loyalty. It’s also a great way to attract top-notch talent and interest in your company. In addition, a company sponsored retirement plan can help employees with little knowledge on the topic save for their future. To take it even further, offer your employees automatic payroll deductions for even easier saving.

Offer A Financial Stipend

To further assist employees with their finances, employee sponsored stipends tend to go a long way with younger generations. Onset by the pandemic, employers have begun providing reimbursements for things related to work from home environments. Examples of essentials include office equipment, high speed internet, and other role specific tools to improve productivity. Other opportunities for financial stipends are commuting, parking assistance, and professional development, among many others. Financial stipends are a great way to show employees the value their role brings to the company and reduce employee turnover.

Grant Access to An Employee Discount Program

Daily life expenses can add up, especially with the current challenge of rising inflation. A simple way to offer your employees an impactful benefit is to offer a discount program. What is a discount program? An employee discount program is a marketplace of exclusive discounts, negotiated by a team of experts, from top brands and local businesses. PerkSpot is the industry leader in negotiating, managing, and supporting member discounts programs. We’ve built our platform to help your members save when and where it matters to them by showing the most relevant and meaningful offers. From local deals to nationwide brands, there’s something for everyone.

Younger generations may be eager for financial wellness benefits, but all generations would appreciate the added monetary assistance. There are plenty of opportunities available to lend a helping hand financially, and it will only have a positive impact with your employees.

Ready to start providing financial wellness help to your employees? Get started today with a demo.

Dealing with Burnout as an HR Professional

Max Goldenberg April 7, 2022

In today’s competitive candidate market, life as an HR professional has never been quite so exhausting. Being forced to chase after candidates in the age of work from home and tremendous employee freedom has meant a difficult balancing act between providing appealing, top-quality benefits, managing cost efficiency, and negotiating employee concerns – all while dealing with the fallout of a global pandemic. It’s no wonder that burnout is skyrocketing at HR departments all over the country – but there is a better way. And with World Health Day officially starting today on April 7th, there’s never been a better time to help your department get physically and mentally healthy!

42% of Human Resources teams report feeling overburdened with projects and responsibilities. And on one hand, this is something that should be taken up with management; when HR teams are simply too small or too overworked, there needs to be discussion about expanding Human Resources or offloading responsibilities. But a second, equally important aspect of this equation is learning to deal with burnout individually. And for that, we should first understand what “burnout” really means.

When we talk about burnout, we’re talking about the feelings of dread and exhaustion that rise up when we’re forced to do demanding, repetitive work. It’s the sense of doing tasks purely out of obligation, no longer believing they have any real impact. And the first step in re-gaining your passion is to re-gain control over your schedule.

Set Boundaries

The first step of assessing burnout is setting boundaries. It’s important both personally and professionally to be able to step away from work communications; for instance, turning off Slack and email past six-o-clock. Sticking to a routine that clearly separates work from life is fundamental to having a good work-life balance. Even if you’re on-call for emergencies, emergency should never mean every night, and if they are, then that’s a conversation you need to have with management.

Build Strong Communication Habits

Fostering good communication with management and the executive team at your workplace is another important aspect of managing burnout. That’s because burnout isn’t all about stress, but also lacking a sense of agency and value in what you do. When you feel you’re doing “meaningless” work, or don’t have control over your own schedule, burnout is far more intense. Prioritizing valuable work and setting firm boundaries on your own schedule is often a necessary step in managing burnout.

Break your Routines

More than boundaries, you’ll also want to start breaking your routines. While routines can provide a comforting sense of normalcy in our lives, they can also become trapping. If you notice you’re performing the same tasks in the same way over and over again, then it’s time to find something new. Maybe it’s as simple as switching up your morning routine, maybe it’s taking a new route around town, or maybe it’s shifting into a new aspect of your department’s operations.

Discover Personal Stress Management Solutions

Finally, there’s the most traditional (but still very important!) part of dealing with burnout – personal stress management. Exercise and meditation are the two most common methods, but it’s important to find what works for you; whether it’s walking your dog, paddling down canoe trails, or simply taking five dedicated minutes to focus. By understanding your stress and mentally moving on, you can take control back from your emotions.

Properly managing burnout requires breaking negative feedback loops, getting excited about work, and learning to manage stress. While that’ll require a lot of personal initiative, there are some tools that can help manage burnout stress.

One area you can cut down on stressful micromanagement is with PerkSpot’s single stop benefits platform, which offers countless diverse benefits for your diverse employees. With a suite of discounts at their fingertips, PerkSpot provides employees with the resources they need to cope with stress and burnout – whether it’s deals on ergonomic office chairs and gym memberships or complete getaway vacations to exotic destinations at a discount, schedule a demo today to learn more about the ways that PerkSpot can be a powerful burnout-burning resource for your organization this World Health Day.

4 Ways to Help Employees Stay Grounded This Winter

Courtney Shipshock February 14, 2022

The winter months often are accompanied by decreased motivation, a lull in energy, and a lot less sunshine. During this season, it’s crucial to keep employees’ wellness at the forefront and provide opportunities to increase morale. Below are easy to implement, meaningful opportunities to help your employees stay grounded this winter.

Encourage Incorporating Movement Into Every Day

Staying active in the cooler months can be a daunting task. Luckily, there are plenty of options available to promote adding movement into your employees’ daily routine. For example, movement can be as simple as taking breaks from your desk or as complex as structuring a cycling class into each day. According to LiveStrong, one way that exercise can help boost productivity at work is through alertness. When you exercise, you are also increasing blood flow to the brain, which can help sharpen your awareness and make you more ready to tackle your next big project. With PerkSpot, employees have access to exclusive perks geared toward a variety of fitness activities that can assist in achieving movement.

Support Employees Taking Advantage of Time Off

What better time to plan ahead than during the winter season! Encourage your employees to leverage their time off benefits and spend time away from their daily work routine. Time off can range from a day here and there to a week-long vacation. Either way, time away will play a positive role in helping employees avoid burnout. In addition, having something to look forward to oftentimes will also boost your employees’ morale and keep motivation steady.

Prioritize Downtime

It can be easy to get caught up in the hustle of everyday life. Downtime during the workday provides employees the necessary time to reflect and come back to tasks with an open mind. Prioritizing employees’ downtime can include things like implementing meeting-free hours, encouraging lunch breaks, or promoting adding pauses directly to their calendar. Psychology Today found that taking breaks refreshes the mind, replenishes your mental resources, and helps you become more creative. Taking the necessary downtime to refresh and regroup is a critical factor for staying grounded this winter.

Inspire Employees to Invest In a New Hobby

With less activities taking place during the winter months, it’s still a good time for investing in a new hobby. Some examples of ways to inspire hobbies virtually or in-person in the workplace include: hosting a monthly book club, gathering for a routine meditation class, bringing teammates together for a cooking competition, amongst many others. A discount program through PerkSpot makes finding new hobbies to enjoy together simple, with categorized savings from Home & Garden to Outdoors & Recreation.

This winter, grasp the opportunity to improve your employees’ overall wellness. Not only will staying grounded improve overall health, it will lead to an increase in determination, improved wellbeing, and a happier team.

Check out more of the perks that PerkSpot has available for your employees. Let’s work together to beat the winter blues!

The Importance of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Your Workplace

Courtney Shipshock September 24, 2021

The last year and a half have brought to light what many of us already knew: we need to be making a more concerted, concentrated, and permanent effort to incorporate not just diversity, but also inclusion and equity, into our workplace. Furthermore, this needs to be implemented across every stage and area within your organization. Recruitment, hiring, and professional development are all great examples of instances in which your company would benefit from DE&I.

Remember, these three concepts, while typically grouped under one umbrella, still differ significantly.

Diversity

A diverse workplace is one that has a wide variety of ages, races, genders, sexual orientations, ethnicities, and more. Diversity is typically the first step a workplace takes. However, it must be accompanied by both inclusivity and equitability to have a meaningful and lasting impact.

Inclusivity

An inclusive workplace takes this one step further by ensuring that the organization’s diverse workforce is regularly brought into the conversation. This means that decisions and strategies are developed with input from those with different backgrounds, perspectives, and opinions.

Equitability

Finally, an equitable workplace is one that fully understands that not everyone is placed on a level playing field and works to offer support and the necessary tools to give equal opportunities to those without access to them.

How to Implement DE&I in Your Workplace

To develop a workplace and culture that understands and incorporates DE&I, review your current workforce and its demographics so you can find and fill gaps, which is the first step in creating a more well-rounded workforce. Educate your employees on the meaning of each term and what they mean personally and broadly for your organization. Actively welcome the input of every team member. Search for ways to lift up and support those in need to create a more equitable workplace. Be transparent and open about your current workplace’s state regarding DEI. Create a thought out and actionable that can be implemented, complete with measurable goals, to ensure that you hold yourself and your organization accountable when it comes to diversity, equity, and inclusion in your workplace.

Cost-Free Ways to Support Working Parents

Courtney Shipshock February 5, 2021

In 2019, it was reported that about 41 percent of workers between the ages of 20 and 54 have a child at home. Now, as the COVID-19 pandemic continues, that number becomes even more important. It also reflects the number of workers who are juggling work, child care, remote learning, and more. Whether they’re remote, contracted, or essential employees, offering support to the working parents in your organization is incredibly important. The degrees of support you can offer working parents will vary from company to company. It depends on several different factors, including how many parents you employ, what your budget is, and more. However, there are still several options you can provide working parents that fit your budget—keep reading to learn more!

Assess Gaps in Support

To figure out where your organization can start offering better support to working parents, you need to first understand what kind of support you are—and aren’t—offering now. Look for gaps in your company culture, ongoing business processes, and benefits that make it more difficult for working parents to find success in their roles. Additionally, it’s important to understand what type of support your employees are actually looking for. From there, you can more accurately address the needs of your working parent employees.

Offer Flexibility

As a human resources professional, you know the difficulty of searching for, securing, and managing benefits that meet your diverse workforce’s needs. But that shouldn’t get in the way of offering support to the working parents at your organization. Start at the beginning by offering significant flexibility in the aspects of employees’ day-to-day routines.

Work closely with working parents to come up with a schedule that works for them. In addition, try to place less emphasis on the regular “9-5” working day. If your organization relies on strict hours or scheduled time tables, give employees the opportunity to edit their scheduling preferences based on their child-care needs. Above all, remember that an attitude of compassion and empathy is absolutely vital—working parents are juggling two full-time jobs as they care for their children and fulfill their professional obligations. They’ll appreciate your efforts to meet them where they are by providing flexible support.

Promote Vacation Usage

The pandemic seriously impacted the way employees took their vacation days in 2020. In fact, according to a recent survey, 92 percent of Americans said they canceled, postponed, or didn’t book a vacation due to the pandemic. As a result, many employees’ vacation days were left unused. We know that historically, taking breaks from work, whether it was for a mental health day, a vacation, or a stay-cation, was momentously helpful for an employees’ work-life balance and wellness.

While travel isn’t as much of an option these days, it’s still important to encourage and promote the usage of vacation time in your organization. Why? We know it provides a much-needed break. But in addition, it can give working parents the opportunity to spend time with their families and mentally recharge with some of their favorite self-care activities. How can you do this? Send out regular reminders for employees about how many vacation days they have remaining. Teach managers how to notice the signs of an employee, especially a working parent, who looks and feels stressed or burnt out. Take the lead yourself by using your own vacation time. Then, share with coworkers how you were able to relax and recharge during your break!

Encourage Family-Friendly Culture Events and Support Systems

For many working parents, it can feel uncomfortable to bring up their children during working hours. Combat this discomfort by creating an environment that allows working parents to feel comfortable and even encouraged to share about their life outside of work. Is your organization one that often holds company events (including remote ones, given the pandemic)? Brainstorm options that are family-friendly and fun for all ages to participate in. Take PerkSpot, for example. Our holiday celebrations included a magician who performed over Zoom, and parents were encouraged to invite their children to join. If your company relies on virtual communication tools, consider creating a channel or forum where working parents can discuss ideas for remote learning, funny stories, and ways to keep children engaged during working hours.

Offer Financial Aid on Child Care and Children’s Products

Even before the pandemic, a significant portion of working parents’ income went to child-care costs. In fact, the average American couple spends 25.6 percent of their net income on child care alone. These days, financial stress is at an all-time high. It’s important to consider what your organization can do via additional benefits that would provide support for working parents. Discover the cost-free PerkSpot solution—offer your employees exclusive discounts on more than 30,000 products and services. This includes child care from the nation’s top providers, children’s toys, food, clothes, and other important baby gear.

Both working parents and your organization as a whole will benefit from providing the type of aid we’ve listed above. Offering child-care support alone can decrease job turnover by more than 60 percent! Plus, it can inspire improved job satisfaction and loyalty, not to mention a more productive workforce. Give the working parents at your organization the help they need, both during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond. If you’re interested in offering exclusive discounts to working parents and your entire workforce, get in touch!

HR Trends We’re Seeing in 2021

Courtney Shipshock January 15, 2021

As expected, HR trends began popping up in late 2019 and early 2020. Yet, none of them could’ve accurately predicted the shift that would occur in our nation and around the world as the COVID-19 pandemic hit. Changes to company processes, culture, and HR were almost immediate, forcing employees and leadership to adapt right along with them. This year, we’re using lessons learned in the last year to predict what HR trends will look like in 2021.

Home as the New Office

Among other things, 2020 was the year of proving a remote workforce, or other adapted versions of it, was possible. In 2021, expect this HR trend to not only continue, but flourish. Despite its challenges, remote working has provided more flexibility and ways to save time and money for employees. Plus, it makes the employer more attractive to potential job candidates. Though we can’t predict when things will return to “normal,” whatever that new normal may be, surveys from Gartner and PwC show that remote working and collaboration is here to stay, with over 80% of leaders reporting they’ll permit remote work to continue past the pandemic and 78% of CEOs surveyed saying the same for remote collaboration among employees.

Stronger Emphasis on the Value of HR

The coronavirus changed virtually everything about how employees worked—and lived. As a result, eyes turned to Human Resources departments for guidance on new benefits, work procedures, and more. Now that we have a handle on the situation, we expect HR leaders to step up more this year. Permanent changes to benefits, communication methods, and recruitment will all likely take place in the new year. We will look to HR to lead the charge on those changes.

Personalized Benefits

As many companies implemented new ways of working, employees were all experiencing severely different situations. Some dealt with lay offs or furloughs; others juggled working and providing childcare or remote learning support for children; others still experienced difficulties in managing their physical and mental wellness. As a result, we expect the trend of personalization to be applied to benefits that meet employees wherever they are. This concept of personalized benefits provides individual aid that helps each employee, no matter their situation. As an employee discount provider, we found the benefit that we provide uniquely offers this aid. With PerkSpot, employees save on remote work tools, childcare, mental and physical wellness products, plus discounts on everyday items that were crucial for those dealing with difficult financial situations.

Integrating Purpose Into Business

As many companies shifted to remote working, leaders grew concerned about productivity and engagement levels dipping. This concern grew from the lack of presence of coworkers and a strict work environment. In 2021, one way to combat these concerns is to emphasize and integrate purpose back into your business. A PwC survey found that 79% of leaders believe purpose is central to business success. As HR leaders, it’s up to you to emphasize the importance of purpose to managers and employees alike, reminding them that their work is crucial and matters to those it impacts, whomever they may be. Speak with leaders to ensure closer ties between company strategy and company values. Regularly communicate these ties to managers and employees.

Upskilling for Employees

Upskilling is a new concept that has the potential to take center stage in 2021. Plus, it can cover a number of different areas. In fact, a recent survey from TalentLMS found that 42% of companies increased their efforts to upskill employees after the coronavirus outbreak, and 42% of employees pursued training opportunities on their own. As companies expand to incorporate new technologies, rely on employees to roll with the non-stop punches, and ask the workforce to more independently focus on individual projects and responsibilities, upskilling can significantly help with these changes. We predict that 2021 will be a year that emphasizes the importance of upskilling employees within the workforce to expand skillsets, provide new opportunities, and fill higher roles within the organization.

2020 was full of changes to the way we work, communicate, interact, and engage, and many of those changes came swiftly and without any warning. As we enter the new year, we hope we’ll have a much better idea of the changes coming and can more accurately begin shifting our HR strategies and plans to account for them.