It seems like everyone I speak to these days is seeing a spike in requests for PTO leave, parental leave, FMLA, and the like. After a year of lockdown, it makes sense that people are now jumping at the urge to take some time off. And, if the requests haven’t started coming in yet, everyone on your team will need time off in the future, whether it’s planned vacation time or an unplanned absence due to personal circumstances. Yet, despite the ubiquity of this task, leave administration can be one of the most complex processes to manage in HR when you have a large employee population.

Stress has long been a part of working life. In previous years, one in three workers said that they typically feel stressed at work. Since the pandemic, however, stress levels have skyrocketed, as employees have scrambled to adapt to a world of remote work while also worrying about their family’s health.

In an ideal world, performance reviews would be 100% objective. Every employee would face the same yardstick and you would get a consistent assessment of their contribution.

Today, I see more and more of our clients utilizing personality assessments in their hiring and employee development practices. In fact, according to Psychology Today, about 80% of Fortune 500 companies use personality tests to assess potential and current employees to make hiring, team building, and developmental decisions.

As a recruiter, when speaking with candidates a few of the first few questions I ask are, “Tell me about your company culture?” and “What are you looking for in your next job opportunity?” Responses I often receive include, “an environment that allows flexibility,” “a team driven environment”, “a family atmosphere”, “ a place where I can learn and grow”, or “a place where I can make a difference and help take a company to the next level.” In listening to these statements, it provides me with insight into a candidate’s current company culture as well as what the type of culture that they would like to work in.

Here we are, it's November 2020 and we've been experiencing a global pandemic for nearly a whole year. Stateside, this pandemic has manifested stress and anxiety for employees and leaders alike.