The MIT Sloan Expert Series recently presented a webcast with Andrew McAfee ?and ?Erik Brynjolfsson, co-authors of the new book Machine, Platform, Crowd: Harnessing our Digital Future, Beth Comstock, vice chair of GE, and Sandy Pentland, MIT professor and expert of group dynamics in a digital world. A crucial theme of the new book is that unsettling, disruptive change is becoming the status quo. Suddenly, companies we th...

If your organization’s culture sits on either end of two extremes, you don’t need an engagement survey or a high-priced consultant to confirm your reality. You can feel the energy when things are amazing, and you can smell the stench when things are rotting away in your business. But what if things are somewhere in between? What if you’re unsure if things are heading in the right direction? Or what if y...

I remember teachers always impressing upon students the importance of being able to write clearly and cogently. I was a strong writer, and banging out a quick five paragraph essay posed no problem for me, only minor inconvenience. I knew that not everyone was as adept at writing as I, but I also recognized that other people were far better at math and science than I. It was not until email became a widely-used tool for b...

Yeah, I said it. In my darkest moments, I’m a bit of a skeptic. And I think unlimited PTO might just be a scam to not pay out accrued vacation and sick time. With me? Against me? As with most things, the truth probably lies somewhere in the middle. Here’s 5 things I know about vacation/sick time and the connection to the concept of unlimited PTO: Unlimited PTO is limitless in its attraction as a...

Worldwide, women are paid 23% less than men who do the same jobs. This gender pay gap may be ardently disputed, but its existence is well documented and indisputable. The inherent problem with the pay gap is not only the disparity in earnings between the genders, but also the fact that a lifetime of economic inequality pushes women into poverty. Globally, unmarried women live in poverty at a disproportionately higher rate t...

It’s not surprising that an organization’s culture often is compared to a garden. After all, culture and cultivate share the same root word. The key to creating a great culture, then, is obvious: Cover it in manure, soak it with water, and pray for sunshine. OK, it’s probably better to plant the right seeds in the best soil, nurture the garden with love, and celebrate your fruits, vegetables, and blooms...

The latest Gallup results indicate that employee engagement is a dismal 33%, a disappointing increase of only 3 points over the past few years. Gallup found that disengaged employees cost the country somewhere between $450 and $550 billion each year. That’s not good business and it’s not sustainable. I recently attended Appirio’s Worker Experience Tour in Chicago to learn more about how they defined and...

Labor Day is on the first Monday of September every year. It was originally organized to affirm the dignity and worth of workers. Labor days are celebrated annually at different times around the world to celebrate workers and their contributions to the economies of their countries. Labor Day began in Canada in 1872, when the Toronto Trades Assembly organised the first significant workers' demonstration to support...

There's this old idea that non-competes and most types of NDA/IP agreements are either flimsy or negotiable. While that may true in some cases, my experience is that you can get sleepy/lazy related to how you consider these as an HR Leader. My experience as an HR leader recruiting high level candidates with non-competes/NDAs/IP agreements is as follows - they mean nothing until they do, then in a giant pissing conte...

Last week, SilkRoad presented a webinar, Employee as Consumer: Building a Differentiated Experience Through the Lifecycle, with HR Daily Advisor. We talked about the consumerization of HR, the creation of a meaningful employee experience throughout the lifecycle, and how design thinking, talent activation, and employer branding play into it. At the end of the session, Jennifer asked: How do you create an experience that...