Initially conceived of as a means to fight discrimination and thereby protect against legal risks, then as ethical measures, social and ethnic diversity policies are increasingly viewed as performance drivers. What are the major challenges to this particularly sensitive aspect of diversity? Social and ethnic diversity as a performance factor Beyond the legal and ethicalRead more…

How do leading companies leverage social media networks to attract talent and boost recruitment campaigns? Starbucks: Promoting the work environment on Instagram Former head of employer branding Jeremy Langhans (now with Expedia) started using Instagram to attract job candidates in 2011. A firm believer in Instagram’s engagement potential, Langhans had in-house recruiters post pictures ofRead more…

Every year, the Great Place to Work Institute publishes its rankings of the best companies to work for. This marks an occasion to reconsider the three dimensions of employee wellbeing: trust in management, a sense of pride in one’s work, and a positive work environment. The annual stock market returns of Fortune’s 100 best companiesRead more…

It’s difficult to anticipate every change that will affect your business. Fortunately, HRDs have a key advantage: talent. HRDs need to identify, motivate, and develop talent, the key team members awarded strategic positions. The challenge is shifting from a model of managing an organizational skillset to a model of managing talent. Talent management is basedRead more…

Women are better collaborators and better managers than men. They are more creative, have greater integrity, and work harder for results. These are just some of the findings from a 2012 Zenger-Folkman [1] study on women’s leadership. While the validity of such generalizations is debatable, the study’s findings nonetheless serve as a reminder that thereRead more…

According to a 2011 Deloitte global survey, merely 35% of employees expect to stay with their current companies. What’s more, the younger the employee, the higher the risk of defection. A 2012 PricewaterhouseCoopers study reveals that 38% of people born in 1980 or later are actively looking for new jobs. What does it take forRead more…

Each year, companies spend on average over $1,000 per employee in return for 32 hours of traditional training. However, 75% of managers report that programs have no impact on their performance. This comes as no great surprise given that 90% of knowledge and skills are acquired through experience, not classroom training. 1. A new contextRead more…

The bleak economic outlook of recent years in Western countries has cast a heavy shadow on corporate morale. Companies are experiencing a wave of pessimism that prevents them from moving forward. It is up to business leaders to foster the return of a positive work environment. A pessimist is somebody who complains about the noiseRead more…

The two things managers hate most are firing and doing performance reviews,” notes business writer Kevin Kruse. “And the two things employees hate most are being fired and performance reviews”! However, the annual review process is not about to disappear any time soon. So how can managers make this essential management tool less painful andRead more…

A 2012 study carried out by renowned recruiter Gerry Crispin involving the 100 American companies most admired for their HR practices shows that 70% of these companies do not provide unselected job applicants with any feedback. The reasons recruiters give for this include lack of time or method and being uncomfortable communicating bad news. However,Read more…