Talent Edge Weekly - Issue #78

Covers vaccine mandates, CHRO trends, the impact of pay transparency on the gender pay gap, AI-based coaching platforms, and attracting and retaining working parents.

August 08, 2021

Welcome to this week’s issue of Talent Edge Weekly—the weekly newsletter for human resources practitioners, bringing together insights about work, the workplace, and the workforce from various sources.

If you find value in this issue or any of its resources, please share them with your network by using the social media icons at the top of the newsletter.

Have a great week, and I look forward to sharing more ideas in next week’s Edge!

Brian 

Brian Heger is a human resources practitioner with a Fortune 150 organization and has responsibilities for Strategic Talent and Workforce Planning. To connect with Brian on Linkedin, click here.

THIS WEEK'S CONTENT

  • How 20 Companies Are Adjusting Their Return to Office Dates and Vaccine- Mask Mandates Due to Delta Variant | BrianHeger .com | I summarize how various firms are answering: Do we adjust the timing for bringing workers back to the office? Do we mandate vaccinations/masks for workers who return to the office?

  • CHRO Trends 2021 Report | The Talent Strategy Group | Covers 7 trends in the CHRO Fortune 200 marketplace--ranging from CHRO turnover to gender representation--with implications for current and aspiring CHROs.

  • Will Pay Transparency Close the Gender Pay Gap? The EU Thinks So | The Conversation | Describes how the European Union (EU) has introduced new binding measures for member states regarding pay transparency and intended to accelerate closing the gender pay gap.

  • Coaching at Scale: AI Democratizes Leadership Development | Josh Bersin | This 15-page report covers a growing area in coaching that provides a scalable approach to developing all employees: AI-based coaching platforms.

  • The New Strategic Road Map for Attracting and Retaining Working Parents | MIT Sloan Management Review | Discusses how uncoupling work from geography can help firms realize that geographic diversity attracts and retains workforce diversity, such as working parents.

    THIS WEEK'S EDGE

    As Covid-19 cases surge because of the more contagious Delta variant, firms are reevaluating their return to office plans. Two immediate questions they are asking are: Return to Office Date. Do we adjust the timing for bringing workers back to the office? Vaccination Mandate. Do we mandate vaccinations and/or masks for workers who return to the office? Since firms have taken various positions on these topics, I have summarized how 20 organizations are responding.  My selection for including an organization on this list is based on a sample of what I have read over the past week. For example, as noted by the first entry on the list, Amazon pushed back its return-to-office date for tech and corporate workers from September 7 to January 3, 2022. It will not mandate vaccinations for employees. Instead, the company will require unvaccinated employees to wear masks in the office. Since these organizations may change their views as new information about the Delta variant becomes available, please note the information contained here is as recent as August 8, 2021. I urge you to use this reference as a starting point for your own research.

    The Fourth Edition of the Chief Human Resources Officer report reviews trends in the CHRO marketplace and introduces the Fortune 200’s new CHROs from 2020. The analysis of CHROs illustrates seven trends in the CHRO marketplace with implications for current and aspiring CHROs. A few insights include Trend 1. CHRO Turnover Declines. The Fortune 200 welcomed 27 new Chief Human Resources Officers in 2020, a turnover of nearly 15 percent and a 25 percent reduction from the previous year. This trend implies organizations are now replacing their CHRO every 6.67 years, improving the previous year’s average tenure of 4.9 years. Trend 4. CEO Turnover Drives CHRO Turnover. An incumbent CHRO is over 3.5x more likely to experience turnover when a new CEO is placed. Trend 5. Female CHROs representation continues to increase. Over three-fourths (78%) of the Fortune 200 new CHROs were female. This trend has resulted in an overall Fortune 200 CHROs female representation of 70 percent—the largest overall female representation in the CHRO role since this report’s inception. You can also check out HRO Today’s CHRO study that examines publicly available compensation data of a segment of Fortune 500 HR Leaders.  

    Pay transparency refers to how open employers are about what, why, how, and how much employees are compensated. As noted in a previous post, a World At Work survey found that while 67 percent of firms view pay transparency as increasingly important, only 14 percent are giving it more than “moderate” attention. And with the gender pay gap continuing to widen, many are calling for pay transparency as one solution. This article describes how the European Union (EU) has introduced new binding measures for member states regarding pay transparency. It is intended to accelerate closing the gender pay gap in Europe, currently 14.1 percent. Among the measures proposed: 1) employers must share the criteria by which they set pay, 2) employers cannot ask about a candidate’s previous salaries, 3) employees may request information about pay averages in their firm for workers doing the same work or work of equal value. 4) larger employers will have to publish information on internal pay gaps and, where pay gaps exceed 5 percent, employers will have to assess the reasons behind them. While pay transparency alone will not solve gender pay inequity, it could be one of the various solutions.

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    Few would dispute that “coaching” can help employees improve their performance and develop effective work relationships. However, multiple factors make “human-based” coaching less scalable across organizations. This 15-page report covers a growing area in coaching that provides a scalable approach to developing all employees: AI-based coaching platforms. With consent from the employee, these technology platforms monitor employees’ observable digital behaviors, communications, and online interactions and provide real-time developmental suggestions. For example, “if you are a people leader, the AI looks at how much time you spend with your direct reports, how quickly you respond to each of them, what tone you use with each, and how much recognition you give them. Then, when you go into a meeting with one of your team members, it emails you suggestions to improve your interactions.” Behavior change is measured and reported directly inside the coaching tool, with immediate insights if a behavior improved. As digital interactions increase in organizations, AI-enabled coaching has the potential to transform aspects of learning and development. Page 6 shows distinctions between human and AI-based coaching.

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    Various reports show many workers are placing greater value on their wellbeing and overall quality of life. And as mentioned in this article, “for some working parents, this has meant re-evaluating and recommitting to their choice of where to live. Parents’ preference for community stability competes strongly with career mobility once kids become part of the equation.” Said differently, the expectation that workers will uproot and move from the places they love for new work uniquely complicates the career choices of working parents. As working parents increasingly have options to pursue jobs without leaving their community of choice, the authors recommend five strategies for how firms can attract and retain working parents that may not want to move from their desired community. One recommendation is for firms to embrace greater flexibility when adding locations, such as hub-and-spoke or flex-space models. For example, this past November, Deloitte leased 35,000 square feet from WeWork for employee office space. By uncoupling work from geography, firms can realize that geographic diversity attracts and retains workforce diversity, such as working parents, while making economic sense for the company.

    MOST SHARED RESOURCE FROM LAST WEEK

    Research: Why Rejected Internal Candidates End Up Quitting | Harvard Business Review | Shares a study that found how internal job applicants who apply for– but do not get awarded the job– are nearly twice as likely to leave their organization, except under two conditions.

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