How can human resources contribute to innovation? How can we turn new ideas into reality, break old paradigms, and step outside of the box with new solutions to old problems? Innovation may begin with creativity, but it is more than an idea — it takes place when great ideas come to fruition and make their mark in the world. In the past, most businesses focused on continuous improvement of their products and services to maintain a competitive edge. But in today’s economy, that’s not always enough.

As Human Resource professionals, we are fortunate to be responsible for many areas of an organization that directly impact and contribute to innovation, including recruitment, performance management, recognition, rewards, training, and employee engagement. Human Resources can also play a key role in creating an organizational structure and overall culture that fosters and supports innovation.

Recruiting can focus on hiring for innovation by identifying people who can “think outside the box” or have skills and capabilities that lend toward innovation. Performance management can serve as a valuable tool in the creation of a sustainable culture of innovation. Performance measures can give consideration as to whether or not employees are given the time and resources to experiment, generate and explore ideas, and make presentations to management. Rewards can be used to reinforce the importance of innovation and recognition can be used to encourage and inspire employees to innovate and share ideas. HR’s role in organizational design provides huge potential for enabling innovation. For example, organizational design can be used to facilitate easier exchange of employees’ ideas across boundaries and functions.

An example of a human resource driven innovation that used an out-of-the-box idea to improve the recruiting process is La Cantera Resort in San Antonio, Texas, a Destination Hotel, they have incorporated an idea made popular by Disney, the Fast PASS. In Disney’s version, guests can avoid the line and use a Fast PASS to get a ticket to ride an attraction at a specified time with limited to no waiting. This helps improve the guest experience, improves wait times, improves communication, and enhances the ability to meet the expectation of guests. At Destination Hotels, they have incorporated this concept into their recruitment practices. Special “FAST PASS” cards are given to managers who can spot people in their daily interactions (at grocery stores, restaurants, bars, the mall, etc…) providing exceptional customer service and invite them to consider an employment opening/opportunity with Destination Hotels. They can call a specific number and get a “prioritized/guaranteed” in-person interview as opposed to filling out an application during certain hours and hoping a chance to be considered. Like Disney, the approach at Destination Hotels improves the experience for the candidate and the HR function/hiring managers. It speeds up the ability to source the most qualified talent and create a match to open position needs at the resort. Destination Hotels compete on innovation.

While HR can have a significant impact on many of the key drivers of innovation, it is a collaborative process and requires many areas to come together in order to succeed. Executive leaders hold the key to the level and success of innovation in their organization. They control the strategic direction, influence the culture, and directly and indirectly control all organizational practices. Managers must know how to lead innovative teams, and individuals must know how to apply innovative thinking. Every department or function must be part of the process.  For example, Information Technology has become an enabler of innovative ideas, but it is also often the starting point for innovative products or services and Finance has a unique opportunity, through the budget development, to add innovation either as a line in the overall budget or as a percentage of every departmental budget.

Organizations need to develop practices that make it easier to innovate. For example, at the core of an organization’s culture should be an acceptance of the need to experiment and understand that this comes with the risk of failure and that failure needs to be seen as a learning experience and an important step in the process. Culture is key to sustainable innovation. The mindset and culture of the HR team have an exponential impact and influence on the entire organization. HR leaders can help enable their organizations to differentiate themselves by understanding the critical importance of innovation today and how their role can contribute by attracting and keeping the most innovative people, constantly improving their skills and creating and enabling a culture of innovation.

WageWatch offers accurate, up-to-date HR metrics, benefit survey data, market compensation data and salary reports that will allow you to stay current with the times. This information is highly beneficial in creating the best salary and benefits packages that meet or rival the industry standards. The PeerMark™ Wage Survey is the only Web-based custom survey tool that allows individual survey participants to select their competitive set for comparison purposes. Our experienced compensation consultants can assist with your organization’s compensation needs. We can help you ensure internal equity and compliance with regulations as well as help you structure your compensation programs to support your company’s business strategy and objectives. For more information on our services, including consulting, salary survey data, benefit survey data and market compensation reports, please call WageWatch at 888-330-9243 or contact us online.

Many business owners find it to be a huge challenge to attract and retain a group of talented and hardworking employees that are loyal to the company and its mission. Finding high caliber employees with advanced skills to complete important jobs within a company is a challenge that not only exists in today’s marketplace, but one that business owners have had to navigate for years. Everyone is looking for top talent, and those companies that excel in attracting and retaining this talent are the ones that will reap the rewards. In addition to a number of other factors, businesses that best retain employees offer great compensation and benefits packages through data from 2013 healthcare compensation surveys, 2013 casino compensation surveys or compensation surveys for another specific industry.

To retain talent, it is essential that loyalty is established. In order to do this, the employee must feel that their job is instrumental in achieving the goals of the company, making them excited to come into work each day and give it their all. It is also important that the work the employee puts in is acknowledged, affirming their place within the company, and offering them opportunities for growth.

While compensation and benefits packages are one of the largest factors considered by employees, it isn’t enough to make top talent to stay. The following are a few ways that you can attract and retain the best employees at your company:

• Promote open communication.When a company is completely open with employees, everyone will feel respected. Instead of allowing rumors to spread, let your employees know as soon as possible about anything that is going on in regards to the company. When possible, let your employees be a part of the decision making process. A culture of open communication is very attractive to employees.
• Provide opportunities for team building.Most employees enjoy interacting with their coworkers. By encouraging team work, employees are able to build great working relationships and establish a trusting, open environment for the company. When working together toward a common goal, employees are more motivated and excited about their jobs, often producing excellent results.
• Cater to individual work style. Each employee has a different way that they prefer to work, learn and be managed. When you as an employer take the time and effort to make adjustments for each employee’s needs, they will respect the company more and loyalty will, once again, be built. This will also help you to establish teams that will work best together based on their work styles.
• Acknowledge your talent. When an employee does a good job, it is important that you recognize them for their efforts, so they feel that they are a valued member of the team. A majority of employees leaving a company do so because they feel unappreciated. Employees want to feel that the work they are doing is making a difference, so acknowledging their work often is essential. Also, review surveys for 2013 healthcare compensation, 2013 casino compensation and other market compensation data surveys for your industry to determine what benefits and bonuses you should be rewarding your employees with.

Implementing the above suggestions will help your company to build a culture that encourages retention of employees, which in turn will attract top talent. In addition to providing a great work environment that respects employees and provides opportunities for learning and growth, it is also important that they receive a solid benefits package. At WageWatch, we provide accurate data for 2013 healthcare compensation, 2013 casino compensation and compensation information for a wide variety of other industries. To learn more about our up-to-date market compensation data, such as 2013 healthcare compensation surveys or university benefits surveys, call 888-330-9243 or contact us online.

With changing demographics and a more competitive job market, human resources are more challenged than ever before to hire, engage, maintain, and keep employees happy and motivated.  Workers want more choice and flexibility in how they approach tasks, for example, more opportunities to work collaboratively.  They look for more opportunities to change duties, for exploration, to learn, and to advance in their career in a less linear way.  It is not only desirable but essential for businesses to have motivated employees.  Today many human resource professionals are looking at how to design jobs, work environments, and cultures that motivate employees.

Job specialization is the earliest approach to job design.   Job specialization is efficient but leads to boredom and monotony.  Early alternatives to job specialization include job rotation, job enlargement, and job enrichment.

Job rotation involves moving employees from job-to-job at regular intervals.  When employees periodically move to different jobs, the monotonous aspects of job specialization can be relieved.

Job enlargement consists of making a job larger in scope by combining additional task activities into each job through expansion.

Job enrichment is concerned with designing jobs that include a greater variety of work content, require a higher level of knowledge and skill, give the worker more autonomy and responsibility, and provide an opportunity for personal growth.

Research shows that there are five job components that increase the motivating potential of a job:  skill variety, task identity, task significance, autonomy, and feedback.

• Skills
  • People will be more motivated if they are using a variety of skills in their positions, rather than one thing repeatedly.
• Tasks
  • Employees are motivated to complete tasks if they identify with them and have seen them through from start to finish.
  • When employees feel that their work is significant to their organization, they are motivated to do well.
• Autonomy
  • Employees like to be able to make decisions and have flexibility in their roles. Most employees will have lowered motivation if they feel they have no freedom or are being micromanaged.
• Feedback
  • Employees need feedback (both positive and negative) in order to stay motivated.

Quality of life in a total job and work environment is also an important part of a positive and motivating experience for employees.  The elements included in ‘quality of life’ include:  open communication, an equitable reward system, employees’ job security and satisfaction, participative management, and development of employee skill, etc.  Since a significant amount of one’s life is spent at work, jobs need to provide satisfaction for sustained interest.  Jobs provide employees not only a living but also help in achieving other goals such as economic, social, political, and cultural.

The concept of empowerment extends the idea of autonomy.  The idea behind empowerment is that employees have the ability to make decisions and perform their jobs effectively.  Instead of dictating roles, companies create an environment where employees thrive, feel motivated, and have the discretion to make decisions about the content and context of their jobs.  Empowerment is a contemporary way of motivating employees through job design.

A growing body of research on the relational structures of jobs suggests that interpersonal relationships play a key role in making the work experience important and meaningful to employees.  Interpersonal relationships can often enhance employees’ motivations, opportunities, and resources at work.

Though employees need to have some intrinsic motivation (internal motivation) to complete the tasks assigned to them in their roles, they also need to be motivated by their employers.  By designing jobs that encompass all of the core characteristics, you can help increase employee motivation, in turn improving performance.

WageWatch offers accurate, up-to-date benefit survey data, market compensation data and salary reports that will allow you to stay current with the times. This information is highly beneficial in creating the best salary, incentive, and benefits packages that meet or rival the industry standards. The PeerMark™ Wage Survey is the only Web-based custom survey tool that allows individual survey participants to select their competitive set for comparison purposes.  Our experienced compensation consultants can assist with your organization’s compensation needs.  We can help you ensure internal equity and compliance with regulations as well as help you structure your compensation programs to support your company’s business strategy and objectives.   For more information on our services, including consulting, salary survey data, benefit survey data, and market compensation reports, please call WageWatch at 888-330-9243 or contact us online.

Employee engagement levels are at their highest in years.  The Gallup Organization has been measuring levels of employee engagement since 2000.  Over nearly two decades, the annual percentage of actively engaged U.S. employees has ranged from a low of 26% in 2000 to the recent six-month high of 34% in 2018.  On average, 30% of employees have been engaged at work during the past 18 years.  Conversely, the percentage of actively disengaged U.S. employees has ranged from a high of 20% in 2007 and 2008, during the heart of the recession, to the current low of 13%.   On average 16.5% of U.S. employees have been actively disengaged over 18 years of tracking.

To better understand employee engagement levels, it helps to understand how Gallup categories the three different segments of employee engagement.  “Engaged” employees are involved, enthusiastic, and committed to their work while “actively disengaged” employees are unhappy at work and aren’t afraid to tell others about it; they are resentful that their needs aren’t being met and act out, potentially undermining co-workers.  The biggest group of employees are those “not engaged;” they are unattached to their work and while putting in the time, there is no energy or passion put into their work.  To summarize, the 2018 Gallup survey results categorizes employees as:

• Engaged = 34%
• Not Engaged/Disengaged = 53%
• Actively Disengaged = 13%

What is the cost of unengaged employees to an organization?  Gallup indicates that an “actively disengaged” employee will cost their organization $3,400 for every $10,000 of salary, or 34%.  For example, if an average salary is $60,000 per year, the cost for each disengaged employee is $20,400 ($60,000 x .34).  For a company with 1,000 employees, 13% are actively disengaged, for a total of 130 employees.  In this example, the total annual cost to the organization is $2.65 million (130 employees x $20,400).  This monetary loss to the organization is only for the actively disengaged employees and does not represent the loss among employees who are in the “disengaged” (53%) segment.  However, it is compelling to understand the cost for the most “actively disengaged” employees, knowing that the cost of total employee disengagement would be higher.

After computing the cost of disengagement, the focus shifts to increasing engagement.  Based on attributes measured by Gallup in their employee engagement survey, employees place the greatest importance on a role and organization that offers them:

• The ability to do what they do best
• Greater work-life balance and better personal well-being
• Greater stability and job security
• A significant increase in income
• The opportunity to work for a company with a great brand or reputation

How do organization increase engagement within their organization?  Some time-tested methods include the following:

• Develop great managers, they have a tremendous impact on their employee’s experience within your organization. Build a strong manager development program to ensure employees have great bosses.
• Managers need to schedule on-going career conversation with their employees. Statistics demonstrate that employees want to have career conversations with their boss; it shows the employee that someone at work encourages their development.

• Build a learning/development culture—one of the primary reasons employees leave a job is to gain career development. Building a learning culture demonstrates to employees that the organization cares about their personal development and that there are advancement opportunities for them within the organization.
• Allow greater flexibility in the work environment. In 2016, the Gallup survey measured that 43% of employees worked remotely in some capacity.  The findings demonstrated that engagement climbs when employees spend some time working remotely and some time working in a location with their co-workers.  The greatest return exists when employees maintain some balance:  working remotely most of the time but still getting face time with managers and co-workers.
• Prioritize and demonstrate diversity and inclusion at levels. If employees feel unwelcome they are less likely to care about their position.

For an organization to prioritize increasing employee engagement, it is important to develop an ongoing measurement of engagement. To better understand the specific tactics that will increase engagement within your organization, measure engagement through employee surveys to determine what works and doesn’t work at your organization.

WageWatch offers accurate, up-to-date HR metrics, benefit survey data, market compensation data, and salary reports that will allow you to stay current with the times. This information is highly beneficial in creating the best salary and benefits packages that meet or rival the industry standards. The PeerMark™ Wage Survey is a custom-built survey tool that allows individual survey participants to select their competitive set for comparison purposes.  Our experienced compensation consultants can assist with your organization’s compensation needs.  We can help you ensure internal equity and compliance with regulations as well as help structure your compensation programs to support your company’s business strategy and objectives.   For more information on our services, including consulting, salary survey data, benefit survey data and market compensation reports, please call WageWatch at 888-330-9243 or contact us online.

While 2018 ushered in some important changes at the federal level in labor and employment law such as:

• The Fair Labor Standards Act is amended to address tipped employees and tip ownership

• The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act which impacts certain deductions and reporting provisions

• Regulatory interpretations from the NLRB which reversed course from its previous decisions

It saw its strongest “advocate” in the passing of new laws from the local and state arena.   What will be some of the continuing trends for 2019?

We believe employers should continue to prepare for the following trends:

• As marijuana use, both recreational and medicinal, become more widely accepted at state and local levels, look for more court’s and administrative interpretations with respect to zero tolerance drug policies

• Required sexual harassment training

• Increase in mandatory paid and unpaid time off including sick leave, military leave, and family leave

• Restrictions on salary history questions

• Cybersecurity requirements for the protection of employee data and employer procedures for dealing with breaches

Additionally, employers should keep their eye on minimum wage increases (both state and local) during 2019, “ban the box”, predictive scheduling and [at the federal level] the continued NLRB’s “reverse course” in the previous administration’s decisions as well as potential immigration policies.

Guest author:  Pautsch, Spognardi & Baiocchi Legal Group  (www.psb-attorneys.com)