With Valentine's Day and Employee Appreciation Day around the corner on March 2nd, it's a good reminder to check in on your employee engagement. Not only is an engaged culture more fun to work in, creating a culture that embodies happiness and satisfaction just makes cents! (Pun-intended.)  Effective human capital practices can and will, lead to positive financial outcomes.

As you guide your leaders and employees through the process of setting their goals for the coming year, it’s important to set a great example. Demonstrate a strong performance mindset by leading with your own plans for the coming year. Ensure all are bound in your company’s overall goals and target the HR pain points that you’ve identified throughout the prior year.

There is so much in the news today about our culture in the United States. With the recent #MeToo campaign, in which people are indicating they have suffered sexual harassment or assault, to the troubles in Hollywood, people are growing tired of not being treated with respect and dignity. We have become a society that is more sensitive to discriminatory actions than ever before and more tolerant of differences in society.  And it’s not just about gender differences anymore, it’s about every difference!

Fall is here and this is the time of year that some employers dread…Open Enrollment season. It’s never too early to prepare for open enrollment and engage your employees to make health care choices for the following plan year. Being overwhelmed during the process is inevitable, but there are ways to make sure things go smoothly.

Buzzwords in business are overused to the point of becoming fads at times. We hear phrases daily such as “culture”, “engagement”, “wheelhouse”, “synergy”, “incentivizing”, “strategic”, and the list goes on and on. When these buzzwords become so common in our workplace, it shouldn’t be surprising to hear so many managers and executives misusing these terms to suit their own agendas, while confidently speaking as experts on achieving each.

You would be hard pressed to find a C-level executive who does not think that successfully staffing their organization can either make or break their organization in the long run. Aside from some roles directly impacting company revenue, losing out on top talent to competitors typically signals the slow and inexorable decline of a business. Luckily, there are a number of ways organizations can improve their recruiting effectiveness to avoid this undesirable outcome.