Behind compensation, lack of career development and advancement opportunity is the leading cause of voluntary attrition. 

This is why, if you’re concerned about keeping your employees, nurturing internal mobility is a good idea. 

But that’s not all the benefits.

In this article, I’ll help demonstrate the ways internal mobility can benefit your organization and how to nurture it.

• What is internal mobility?
• The benefits of internal mobility
• How to nurture internal mobility

What is internal mobility?

Internal mobility refers to the movement of employees within an organization from one position to another. It can take many forms, for example promotions, lateral moves, job rotations, or temporary assignments, and can involve a change in department, team, or location.

It can also involve an employee taking on a new role or responsibility within their current department or team.

Internal mobility can be initiated by the employee themselves or by the organization. It’s an opportunity for employees to grow their skills and advance their careers within the company.

The benefits of internal mobility

Internal mobility can bring a number of benefits to both organizations and employees. 

By providing workers with opportunities for career growth and development within the company, internal mobility can help improve retention rates and reduce the costs associated with hiring and training new employees.

Encouraging internal mobility can also lead to increased productivity, as employees who are given the opportunity to take on new challenges and roles learn transferable skills, are likely to be more engaged and motivated along their career path, and may even collaborate better with other departments internally. 

Additionally, companies that support internal mobility and promote from within are often seen as good places to work, which can help to attract top talent and enhance the company’s reputation as an employer.

Here’s a quick list of benefits with a little bit more detail to help encourage you to promote internal mobility in your organization:

1. Improved retention: internal mobility can help improve retention rates by providing employees with opportunities for career growth and development within the company. This can help reduce turnover and the associated costs of hiring and training new employees. Lack of internal mobility and career advancement opportunities are one of the top reasons employees leave organizations; we can do better. 
2. Increased productivity and collaboration: team members who are given the opportunity to take on new challenges and roles within the organization are likely be more engaged and motivated, leading to increased productivity. Additionally, they’ll likely build relationships across the organization, easing collaboration, especially when times are rough or emotions run high. 
3. Enhanced reputation as an employer of choice: companies that support internal mobility, and promote from within, are often seen as good places to work, which can help to attract top talent and enhance the company’s reputation as an employer.
4. Fill skill gaps and improved decision-making: when employees are given the opportunity to take on new roles and responsibilities, they may be exposed to different parts of the organization and gain new perspectives and experiences that can build skills and inform their decision-making because they’re better informed about how the organization operates as a complete system (the so-called “T-shaped” person I’ll discuss below).
5. Greater innovation: Internal mobility can help bring new ideas and approaches to the organization as employees from different departments and teams interact and collaborate with one another. Someone from marketing might have a great idea for a feature in a software product, or a support agent might know what bothers customers most and has a great idea for how to improve the UI.

Fill skill gaps and enhance decision making with T-shaped People 

Internal mobility is one of the best tools for filling skill gaps within your organization and give people the information they need to make better decisions.  

Employees who have varied experiences are more well-rounded in their view of the organization, and are able to contribute at a higher level with more organizational awareness and cross-functional impact understanding which contributes to better decision making.

These well-rounded individuals are often called “T-Shaped people.”

A “T-shaped person” is a term used to describe an individual who has a depth of knowledge and expertise in a particular area (represented by the vertical stroke of the T), as well as a range of skills and knowledge in other areas (represented by the horizontal stroke of the T). 

The concept of the T-shaped person was originally developed by David Guest in the 1990s as a way to describe the ideal candidate for a team-based organization.

T-shaped individuals are seen as valuable assets to organizations because they have the ability to work effectively on their own as well as collaborate with others across knowledge areas. 

They have a specialized skill set that allows them to contribute to a specific area of the business, while also having the adaptability and flexibility to work on cross-functional teams and contribute to other areas of the organization. 

This combination of depth and breadth of skills and knowledge makes T-shaped individuals well-rounded employees able to take on a variety of tasks and challenges. The decisions made by T-shaped employees are typically contextually-aware and consider the needs of teams across the organization rather than just their individual team.

When I’m assigned to drive a large cross-functional change, I look for T-shaped people to lead the effort because I know that their collective organizational awareness and expertise will produce the best, most effective, and thoughtful outcome.

What are the different types of internal mobility?

There are several different types of internal mobility, each with varying features. It’s likely someone will experience multiple types of internal mobility over the course of their employment. 

Promotions and upward mobility

A promotion involves an employee moving up to a higher-level position within the same organization. 

This can be within or outside of the employee’s current department or job family. For example, a professional services project manager might become an engineering operations manager, or a technical support agent may become a project engineer.

In both cases, employees are moving into a different department and job family. In the case of the project manager, becoming an engineering operations manager was an opportunity to lead a large, experienced team. For the support agent turn project engineer, interaction length and depth changed from transactional to relationship-based and outcome-oriented work. 

These moves are very exciting for the organization as, with each move, the employee brings along the knowledge, skills, experience, and relationships from their prior role into their new role. 

Better yet, if the promotion role serves, leads, or supports the prior role, the person that has been promoted will have a significant understanding of those they serve. 

Lateral moves and transfers

A lateral move involves an employee switching to a different role or department within the same organization, but at the same level as their current position.

The most common lateral move I’ve seen is moving from upper levels of customer-facing support organiazations to implementation or professional services teams.

In the case of this move, the systems are the same, the work is similar, but the context and cadence of the work changes from being reactive and transactional to predictive and relationship-based. 

Support agents make the best implementation specialists because they already know the product, tools, organization, and leadership and have a good understanding of what the customer needs. 

Transfers within an organization help to build relationships across departments, fill skill gaps, and place people in positions where they utilize their unique skills to make the most impact.

Job rotations

A job rotation involves an employee temporarily switching to a different role or department within the same organization, typically with the goal of gaining new skills and experiences. 

Job rotations are typically within a defined program, where employees rotate between different job roles over time to develop different skills and expose them to different parts of the business, which can lead to increased productivity and innovation.

Job rotations can take many forms, including short-term assignments or longer-term placements, and can be initiated by either the employee or the organization.

Temporary assignments or project-based mobility

A temporary assignment involves an employee taking on a new role or responsibility within the same organization for a limited period of time.

Temporary assignments are an incredible way for employees to try out a new role or even fill in a gap to improve help overall organizational performance. 

Personally, I’ve experienced tremendous growth by participating in temporary assignments at my current org. 

I was once pulled from my normal role as a program manager to be an engineering manager while someone went on sabbatical. I’ve also jumped in to run a professional services project rescue, and was pulled into merger and acquisition integration on a temporary basis at first.

Each temporary assignment taught me a significant amount about the organization, my management style, and how to influence and get things done even if I don’t have all the answers.

The challenge is typically a little daunting at first, but the feeling of figuring it out and contributing in a new way always outweighs any fears.

Pro Tip: Every employee needs to take vacation over the course of the year. What other people in your organization might be able to step up and learn a new role or contribute differently as a temporary assignment? What projects are coming up that might be a good opportunity for internal mobility? 

Temporary and project-based assignments to cover employee vacations are an excellent way to challenge and grow employees, even if a promotion, transfer, or job rotation is not immediately available. 

Recently, to avoid layoffs and fill skill gaps, Zapier launched a secondment program that enables underutilized recruiters to apply their skills in other areas of the business.

How to nurture internal mobility in your organization

To nurture internal mobility in your organization, start by creating a culture that values and supports it. 

This involves offering training and development opportunities, encouraging open communication, establishing an internal job posting process, offering mentorship and coaching, and recognizing and rewarding employees who pursue internal mobility. 

It’s also important to provide employees with clear career development paths and internal mobility programs to encourage them to take on new challenges and roles within the organization.

By fostering a culture of growth and development, you can create an environment that supports and encourages internal mobility, helping employees to advance their careers and grow with the company.

Here are a few ways you can help nurture internal mobility.

Provide learning and development opportunities

By offering employees the opportunity to learn new skills and gain new knowledge, organizations can help prepare them for new roles within the company.

This can be internal or external training, a temporary assignment on a different team or project, or even a temporary assignment serving as a leader. 

I’ve seen great success in people stepping into these development opportunities, even if they return to their historical role at the end of the temporary assignment. 

Related read: How To Create A Learning And Development Strategy In 7 Steps

Encourage open communication

Encouraging open communication between employees and management helps create a culture of transparency and collaboration, making it easier for employees to learn about new job opportunities and express their interest in them.

Build an environment where employees can talk with their leaders and peers about their career aspirations, learning goals, and steps to get there. 

This may sound a bit out of line, but I find it’s super important for managers to be invested in the growth of their employees as people, not only as employees of that specific organization.

The managers I’ve respected most genuinely cared for my well-being and overall career development. They created space for me to talk about what I want to do with my life, even if that meant not working at that same company. 

This has everything to do with leadership and how you approach your employees; be intentional and if/when you do talk with your team about their aspirations, consider sharing a story of how you have partnered with a mentor or manager in a similar way. 

Establish an internal job posting process

Creating a system for posting and advertising job openings internally makes it easier for employees to learn about and apply for new roles within the company.

Many organizations post roles internally at first, with a standard waiting period before posting publicly.

This way, internal employees have an opportunity to submit their applications before the inbox begins to overflow with applications. 

In partnership with your talent acquisition team, determine how to conduct internal recruitment and determine how internal candidates should be treated if they apply for an open role. Do they automatically get a hiring manager interview if they meet or are close to the requirements? 

In organizations I’ve been part of, any internal candidate for a role was automatically placed for a hiring manager video interview if they were close enough to the requirements (say 70-80% aligned). 

This way, even if the internal candidate doesn’t get the job, they’ve networked with the hiring manager and received feedback about what they can do to prepare for a new role in the future. 

Pro tip:

Managers, if you’re considering selecting an internal candidate, consider the skills you can teach vs. the knowledge that is required to be effective in the job.

For example, it’s hard to get experience as a product owner without being one; but the best product owners I’ve seen were promoted via internal mobility, and their deep knowledge of the product, market, and customer needs made them the best at what they do. 

In the case of the product owners, internal candidates already had at least 70% of the knowledge to do the job, and teaching the rest was simple given the relationships and existing awareness of the organization they already had.

Establish mentorship and coaching programs

Providing employees with the support of a mentor or coach can help them develop the skills and confidence they need to take on new challenges within the organization.

Mentorship programs are one of the best tools to build leadership and support diversity among leadership teams.

In my company, I facilitate a formal mentorship program twice a year with up to 100 mentees learning new skills from top leaders in the organization. 

Over time, we’ve observed that those who engage in mentorship, both the mentor and the mentee, are more likely to experience career development.

Related read: How To Start An Effective Mentoring Program In 6 Steps

Recognize and reward people who pursue internal mobility

By recognizing and rewarding those who take on new roles or responsibilities within the organization, companies can encourage others to follow suit. 

Mentors can help with this by connecting their mentees to opportunities they’re aware of within the organization and suggesting next steps to achieving the mentee’s goals. 

The mentor is not to do anything specific for the mentee, but they can guide the mentee in their own actions and make connections to opportunities for the mentee to pursue. 

A quick note on mentorship vs. sponsorship. To sponsor an employee is to advocate for them behind closed doors. Mentorship doesn’t include advocation on behalf of the mentee, but gives the mentee tools and a few connections to advocate for themselves.

Get buy-in

To effectively leverage internal talent mobility and reap the rewards, everyone in the organization needs to be informed and on board for promoting internal employee development. 

This can be achieved by educating people across your organization about its benefits.

A great way to do this is by sharing success stories of those who have benefitted from internal mobility, including their experiences and the impact it has had both on the employee’s career and the organization as a whole.

Provide clear and transparent job architecture

How are people supposed to move around if they don’t know what opportunities are out there?

In my organization, the requirements of each job are clearly spelled out and career paths are defined. This information is shared transparently across the organization.

Every employee can see the requirements and job descriptions of every role, and can chart the path towards competence and preparation for their next role in the organization, no matter what it might be. 

This takes a bit of work to setup at the outset, but knowing what’s there, what’s next and what other options are available is immensely valuable!

Keep mobility top of mind

Ultimately, each individual is responsible for their own career development. Managers can coach employees to seek new opportunities within the organization, but each individual must be self-motivated to take on new challenges and grow towards their unique career goals. 

That said, team members can benefit from training sessions about career mapping, upskilling, finding internal opportunities, and reskilling to new roles. 

Also, career advancement and career mobility should be top of mind for all managers when conducting performance reviews.

Managers and employees alike should always be on the lookout for learning opportunities that can help existing people prepare to meet business needs by shifting into new positions, working on new initiatives, and building the internal talent pool. 

Leverage internal mobility platforms

The most prepared organizations leverage tools to encourage internal mobility. A popular example is an internal talent marketplace.

These are highly connected, intelligent, and transparent talent management systems within your organization.  

They’re designed to make it easier for talent to move around an organization by connecting them to new growth opportunities based on their skill sets, interests, and the needs of the business.

Related read: How to build an internal talent marketplace.

Let’s get movin’!

By nurturing internal mobility, you can improve retention rates, increase productivity, enhance your reputation as an employer, improve decision-making, and foster greater innovation.

You’ll also get the warm fuzzing feeling that comes from watching people grow in their careers!

Have you moved around within an organization? That’s internal mobility! Share your experiences with me in the comments and we can learn together. What’s worked? What could have been done better? I want to know! 

Also, if you found this article useful, subscribe to the People Managing People newsletter to receive all our latest expert articles on talent management and development.

Further reading:

• Putting Employees In The Driver’s Seat Of Career Development
• How To Identify And Develop High-Potential Talent In Your Organization
• How To Go From Manager To Coach

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We hire people for skills, but skills decay over time, and the skills needed to remain competitive are constantly evolving.

Currently, there’s a significant gap between in-demand skills and employees with those abilities, especially in industries such as manufacturing, IT, and healthcare. 

Running a skills gap analysis is among the most efficient methods to identify and address these problems.

Here we’ll go through

• What is a skills gap analysis?
• Why conduct a skills gap analysis?
• How to conduct a skills gap analysis

What is a Skills Gap Analysis?

A skills gap analysis is a method companies and organizations use to track and measure the gap between the abilities and competencies they require and the skills their workforce currently has.

Leaders and HR departments evaluate current employees’ skill sets to gauge their work performance and determine whether they have the necessary capabilities and knowledge to reach strategic goals and keep up with emerging trends. 

Hence, a skills gap analysis is an excellent way for employers to understand their workforce’s potential and gaps that could hinder business longevity in the long run. 

It gives them tools and insights to implement proper recruitment strategies, learning and development programs, and upskilling opportunities.

It’s recommended to conduct a skills gap analysis every three to six months, or when your strategy changes because skills develop and transform increasingly fast. 

This is even more important for large organizations that must continuously improve their strategic workforce development to stay ahead of their competition. 

Why Conduct a Skills Gap Analysis?

Skills requirements change fast in nearly every industry globally. This is the principal reason companies must keep track of their workforce’s skills inventory. 

Employers, hiring leaders, and recruiters must know what abilities and knowledge their employees possess and whether they’re at a sufficient level to stay competitive and perform their jobs effectively.

The World Economic Forum (WFE) found that 1.1 billion jobs are liable to be radically transformed by technology in the next decade, which means many employers will have to address drastic skills gaps in the coming years. After all, every five years, an employee’s abilities and knowledge are about half as valuable as they were before. 

That explains why upskilling and reskilling should be regular practices, and why an increasing number of people will have to adapt their competencies or adopt new ones during this decade.

But it’s imprudent to design upskilling programs without knowing in-demand skills for a specific industry and what abilities a company’s workforce lacks. 

Effective L&D programs and employee training aim to address skills gaps and improve employees’ ability to perform their jobs well. The goal of a skills gap analysis is to inform a company’s decision-making here and where to focus their money, resources, and time. 

But it also gives them insights into how to use the maximum of their employees’ potential and align it with the latest labor market and industry trends and requirements.

Even though companies should conduct skills gap analysis regularly to get real-time data, some prefer to run it once per year. 

In that case, the following are the most common reasons that should nudge that decision.

• Experiencing a significant decline in business performance and failing to meet financial goals.
• Introducing a new software, tech platform, or process.
• Forecasting a market disruption (e.g., automation) that could hinder business performance.
• Wanting to track the loss or addition of abilities and competencies due to workforce movement.
• Pivoting or updating the business model or strategy and requiring data on the workforce’s skills inventory.

The Most Prominent Benefits of Skills Gap Analysis

Here are the key advantages companies get from conducting a skills gap analysis. 

• It allows you to tap into your workforce’s skill sets—a skills gap analysis will help you understand how many employees possess the in-demand abilities and knowledge necessary to meet strategic goals and objectives. It will also guide you on what capabilities are missing in your company and what resources and steps could help you close the gap. 
• It enhances employees’ learning and development journey—other than giving insights into your workforce’s missing skills, a skills gap analysis lets employees know what capacities they must acquire to stay efficient and be more productive. That will also prepare them for potential future roles and projects. 
• It reinforces strategic workforce planning—among other things, strategic workforce planning ensures you hire the correct number of people with adequate skills and competencies. But that is hardly possible without data on what abilities and knowledge these people should have.
• It can boost your hiring efforts—knowing what skills and abilities your future employees should have comes from the data a skills analysis provides. That helps you be more intentional in your recruitment efforts and target a more compatible audience.
• It helps reduce costs—recruitment inherently means spending time and resources, which isn’t always necessary. A skills gap analysis gives you data you can use to augment the skills of your existing workforce and promote internal mobility instead of hiring externally. 
• It helps foster high-performing teams—ensuring employees acquire the skills necessary to be competitive and efficient improves team performance and productivity. That also boosts employee morale and satisfaction. 
• It helps develop future-proof L&D programs—a skills gap analysis is vital for understanding what skills your employees lack that will be critical in the future. Thanks to that knowledge, you can build L&D programs around relevant learning content, ensuring they don’t become obsolete.
• It helps you gain a competitive advantage—the outcomes of accessing data from skills gap analysis are crucial for meeting your business objectives and being ahead of the competition. Knowing your workforce’s strengths, potential, and weaknesses is a remarkable competitive advantage that ensures a good employer value proposition.

How to Conduct a Skills Gap Analysis

1. Decide Your Plan and Scope

The first step is to identify the scope of the challenge lying ahead. The foundations of an effective skills gap analysis depend on thorough planning, making this a crucial stage.

To determine the workforce’s skills shortages, you must first decide who will oversee this process, when you will conduct it, who you’ll include in the evaluation, and how it will unfold. Start by identifying who the analysis should encompass and who will roll it out.

The following two are the most common levels a skills gap analysis assesses:

• Individual—you can pinpoint the skills and abilities each job role requires and how they compare to a worker’s current skills inventory.
• Company or team —you can also determine whether your team or a company as a whole has the necessary capabilities and knowledge to complete a project, or you must turn to external recruitment.

Concerning who should oversee skills gap analysis, senior team leaders are more suitable for individual assessments, while HR or external consultants are better for team evaluations. 

Choosing an outside professional helps maintain objectivity and ensures hiring managers, team leaders, and HRs can work on their tasks. 

The next step is to decide on the form of the skills gap analysis. Various methods are available for assessing employees’ proficiency in different areas, such as performance reviews, skills assessments, surveys, employee interviews, exit interviews, skills management platforms, and pre-employment tests. 

However, you can also opt for 360-degree feedback, behavioral assessments, and job knowledge evaluations and tasks. For example, running skills tests after employee interviews can help you determine in what career growth opportunities to invest.

2. Identify Critical Skills

Even though it’s borderline impossible to predict market changes and fluctuations, you can forecast what your company will require and use these insights to guide your skills gap analysis.

Here you should consider two crucial questions: 

1. What skills your company currently perceives as valuable?
2. What abilities do workers need to continue to perform their jobs well?

Many employers foster the macro and micro-skills approach.

The former represents the unique way a person operates and includes abilities such as critical thinking, problem-solving, and leadership capability. 

The latter is a person’s additional capacities, and they typically depend on their whole operating system. Hence, those are rather technical skills and have a pre-defined learning formula (e.g., code testing). 

Because of that, you must continuously observe in-demand industry trends and understand whether your employees should adopt new micro-skills or improve the existing ones. On the other hand, soft skills are always revered and necessary, regardless of the sector or company. 

For instance, your skills gap analysis can focus separately on these two types of skills. Aim to identify what macro skills your company should start fostering over the following five years and what micro skills would benefit your business now. 

You should also encourage your employees to share their affinities and what skills they would like to improve or obtain. Involving your workers in the process will also show them you care about their career progress and development.

3. Assess Current Workforce Skills to Identify the Gaps

Evaluate your workforce’s current skills, abilities, and knowledge to identify the skill sets they possess and their proficiency level. 

These insights will help you understand whether you should hire new workers or whether training is enough to help your staff obtain the missing capabilities.

But how do you tap into the current abilities of your workforce? Skills assessments are typically the easiest and most effective method. 

Focus on determining whether your employees have the in-demand skills and the necessary knowledge to use the latest technologies and perform their daily tasks. 

Create assessments tailored to your company’s and industry’s needs, such as job simulations.

You can also use psychometric tests to analyze soft skill levels, such as emotional intelligence. Combine these insights with employee feedback and performance reviews to clearly understand your workforce’s limits, potential, and opportunities.

4. Act on the Data to Close the Gaps

The results of your skills gaps analysis will guide your next steps. The information you compile should reveal if your business lacks expertise in a specific area and then you can prioritize upskilling and/or recruitment in areas that are of the most concern.

This is where you can leverage your learning and development team to help you decide the most efficient and cost-effective method(s) of upskilling your current workforce.

Summary: The Best Practices in Skills Gaps Analysis

It’s more challenging than ever to keep up with fast-changing in-demand skills and competencies. That often leaves companies with significant skills gaps that lead to revenue losses and productivity decline. 

But, despite not being easy to forecast the exact abilities an industry will need in the future, it’s possible to determine what kind of competencies your company values and compare them to current trends and demands. 

A skills gap analysis embodies these efforts and can guide workforce planning, L&D program design, and recruitment processes. 

Before conducting it, you must determine whether you want to identify skills gaps on a company or team level and the technique you’ll use to gauge your staff’s skills inventory. 

Some of the best practices for a skills gap analysis are skills assessments, employee interviews, job-related tasks, surveys, 360-degree reviews, and analyzing performance reviews.

The goal is to determine what knowledge and capabilities your company lacks to meet its strategic objectives and ensure the stellar work performance of all its employees. It should also help you understand whether you should close the gaps by recruiting new workers or training and reskilling your existing staff. 

The outcomes of a successful skills gaps analysis are increased productivity, better L&D programs, empowered employees, competitiveness, and reduced costs. These are vital for fostering a future-proof workforce that uses the maximum of its potential and helps you stay ahead of trends and competition. 

Further resources:

• Skills gap analysis template (from Talent LMS)
• How To Create A Learning And Development Strategy In 7 Steps
• What Is Succession Planning? How To Develop Your Next Great Leaders

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It’s incumbent upon us as leaders and human resources professionals to do everything possible to take advantage of our internal talent pools. 

Regardless of the maturity of your talent processes, there’s a tried and true approach you can lean into to help round out your 2023 talent strategy: the talent review.  

As an HR Business Partner and HR Leader, the talent review is one of my favorite processes in our annual HR cycle. In my experience, this is often some of my executive leader’s favorite processes as well.  

I recall from my last talent review cycle a fired-up VP of IT stating that “focusing on talent is one of the most impactful things I can do as a leader within our organization.”  

I couldn’t agree more! Collaborating with leaders across the business on their talent strategies is one of the most important aspects of my role and, based on industry trends, a focus on talent could be the single most impactful thing we do as leaders in 2023.

In this article, I’ll take you through

• What is a talent review?
• How to conduct a talent review 
• Talent review best practices

What is a talent review?

Talent review is the process through which your organization’s leaders assess their talent based on both their performance and their potential. This is a critical process, contributing to your overall talent strategy, that helps paint a vivid picture of:

1. What you have today from a talent perspective
2. What capabilities you’ll need as you move into the future 
3. Any gaps you need to fill.

Why conduct a talent review?

The primary reason for conducting talent reviews is to get a deeper understanding of your talent slate. This enables many benefits for your organization, including: 

• Understanding the critical priorities faced by your organization and ensuring that you have the right talent needed to meet current and future business needs 
• Gaining a deeper understanding of who are your high-potential colleagues, allowing you to both concertedly develop them and put them in places to bring the most value to your organization 
• Mitigating future talent risks by developing a strong internal bench of talent while simultaneously understanding what talent you need to ‘buy’ externally.

In short, this process is critical in ensuring you have the talent needed to meet the ongoing needs of your business.

What should a talent review include?

A mature talent review process should accomplish the following:

1. Assess your talent based upon the performance and potential 
2. Identify high-potential employees within your organization 
3. Identify successors for critical roles (generally all leadership positions, plus other critical/at-risk skill sets)
4. Jump start the process of developing our talent by aligning on development next steps for critical talent.

Who should perform a talent review?

As strategic partners to the business, HR practitioners often play an enablement role to the leaders they partner with. This is the best way to think about the talent review process.  

In order to be successful, talent reviews cannot be viewed as ‘just another HR thing.’ Your talent review process essentially should be HR-facilitated, but business leader-owned.

This means your business leaders are accountable for:

• Championing/communicating the value of the process 
• Ensuring participating leaders are held accountable for fully contributing to the process (pre-work, talent review meeting, action items) 
• Actively leading and participating in talent review meetings 
• Leveraging the results of the talent review to enable talent strategy (i.e., develop specific talent, look to bring external skills/competencies, etc.).

Your HR/Talent Management team should be accountable for the following: 

• Defining the process 
• Creating tools/resources/other materials needed to execute 
• Educating leaders on the process and tools 
• Helping facilitate the leader-lead talent review sessions 
• Collaborating with the leadership team to create development plans for critical talent and refine talent strategy to ensure future success of the organization 
• Challenging leaders to think critically/accurately rate their employees based upon defined criteria.

How to conduct a talent review

Before going into how to conduct a talent review, a word on cadence.

If possible, you should aim to meet once a quarter to talk about your talent. This will keep your data fresh, talent conversations top of mind, and overall afford you more flexibility and opportunity.

However, depending on your organizational needs, bi-annually, or, minimally, annual talent meetings will also suffice.

1. Define and communicate your talent review process

Unless you already have an existing talent review process you can dust off and use as a starting place, your first step will be to define and educate your leaders around your new talent review process.  

Considering the following which you’ll need to define: 

How will you rate your talent? 

How your organization defines “performance” and “potential” is the cornerstone of how you’ll rate your colleagues through your Talent Review process.  

Presumably, your organization already has a well-established performance management process (if not check out this great read to help get you started). 

You do not want to reinvent the wheel: your talent review process should seamlessly integrate into all your HR processes, so your best bet is to be consistent with how your organization already defines performance via performance reviews/your performance management process.

Potential is a bit more intangible and can be a bit more poetic to define. Organizations such as Korn Ferry have put extensive research into potential that you can lean on.  

Korn Ferry’s model includes 18 qualities that are strong indicators of potential, for example leadership traits, learning ability, and capacity for problem-solving. 

How you define potential at your organization is going to be a personal decision based on the unique complexities and needs of your company. However, I’d encourage you to consider two things as part of your definition:

(1) Promotability—does the leadership team believe an individual has the ability to be promoted into high-level roles?  

(2) Readiness—how soon will an individual be ready for their next move?  Are they ready now (literally could assume the role now if it was vacated)? Will they be ready soon (within the next one to three years)? Or will it take some time to prepare them for future opportunities (will take three-plus years to develop towards the role)?  

What is your approach for succession slates?  

Formally documenting your succession is essential in helping you understand who you need to develop to get ready in case someone vacates their role.  

Further, this gives you clear visibility into what gaps you have that you need to work to close. 

The best practice for succession slates would be to have a succession plan for all critical roles in your organization. 

From my experience, this includes 

1. All leadership positions
2. Any other roles that are business critical where we’d need to have a plan in place to mitigate disruption if an incumbent left the position
3. Any niche/hard-to-fill positions.

Who is in scope? 

While the best practice would be to include your entire organization in the talent review, this may not be practical based on the size of your organization or other constraints.

If you do need to be choosy about which audiences are in scope for your review, make sure to clearly communicate those participants who are in scope.

What tools will you use? 

How you capture this information will vary based on the tools at your disposal. Many human resources information systems or talent management systems offer tools designed to help support your talent review and succession planning processes. 

If you don’t have an HR tech solution capable of assisting, there’s nothing wrong with leaning on Excel, PowerPoint, or another simple solution to document this critical information.  

One of the prevalent tools used to support the talent review is the 9 box. This simple but effective tool provides a neat framework to rate colleagues based on their performance and potential. This creates a common language for your leaders to leverage when calibrating their teams.

How will you communicate?  

Once your process has been defined, it’s essential that you clearly communicate this out to all leaders who will contribute to the process. 

Remember, talent review should be business leader owned, HR facilitated. This means it’s critical that you educate your leaders on the process, the frequency of the review, key definitions, etc. so that they can take ownership.  

2. Have your leaders do their homework 

Part of your communication approach will include the expectations of your leaders as they prepare to attend live talent review meetings.  

Generally, this expectation would be that leaders rate all of their colleagues against the performance/potential definitions you’ve communicated and prepare bullets/talking points to help justify their ratings. 

Additionally, they should identify if they have any successors who could take their role if they vacated their position and what kind of development those successors would need to be ready now to assume their position.

3. Host Talent Review meetings 

Usually, talent review meetings work their way up the leadership hierarchy, starting first with meetings with lower-level leaders and working their way up the executive leadership level.  

The best practice for talent review would be to host live sessions of all the managers reporting up to a business leader. This allows the leadership team to collaborate on how they rate their employees, collect feedback from each other to gain additional perspective, and discuss how best to leverage the entire team’s talent to accomplish business needs. 

There’re many ways you can approach these types of discussions, but the simplest approach I’ve found is to give each leader a moment in the spotlight to highlight their team. Another approach is to discuss colleagues based on job level/pay grade.

This is a great way to ensure that you’re calibrating employees correctly against peers with similar expectations. Either approach, or a hybrid leveraging both, can be appropriate. When in doubt, let the leader of the group decide what works best for them. 

One thing to be prepared for as a facilitator of a talent review is the passion that leaders have for their people.

I’ve seen many a heated and contentious debate about how employees end up getting rated through the process. As a facilitator, it’s essential that you both challenge participants to think objectively about their colleagues and encourage them to disagree respectfully to ensure a transparent and healthy dialogue.

4. Analyze your data (but avoid analysis paralysis) 

Take time to collate and analyze your data. This information will provide your executive leadership team with crucial insights into the current state of talent within their organization.

The focus of your analysis should be around ensuring you have both the quality and quantity of talent needed to meet your business objectives. This allows your executive team to hone both their talent and business strategies.  

But avoid the analysis paralysis trap! Once you’ve completed your Talent Review meetings, you now have an amazing amount of rich talent data at your fingertips. This data however provides no value unless you take action against it.  

A few things I would recommend to help avoid falling into the analysis paralysis trap:

1. Set yourself a deadline to report to leadership—without a definitive deadline set,  it’s easy to go deep down the analysis rabbit hole. Promised deadlines for reporting out to leadership forces your hand and prevents you from spending too much time overthinking the data.
2. Limit the scope of what you’ll initially report on—limiting your focus is a great way to ensure you don’t let perfection get in the way of progress. Try focusing on only certain demographics first; perhaps one business segment, one layer of leadership that’s currently a priority, or another group that needs extra support. You can always go back and go deeper into the data over time. 
3. Ask for help--if you don’t know where to focus your time and energy, don’t be afraid to ask your customers (the business leadership team)! Soliciting your leaders’ feedback on what’s most important for them regarding realizing their business goals is a great way to limit your scope and focus your attention on what truly matters.
   

5. Create meaningful, outcome-oriented action plans 

Leaders and HR professionals should leverage the data to create pointed, outcome-oriented development plans for colleagues.  

This could include (but isn’t limited to) employee-specific plans for development opportunities like

1. Stretch assignments to help develop new skill sets 
2. New roles to ensure we’re putting our brightest talent against our biggest and most complex organizational challenges
3. Mentorship opportunities to network and develop through social learning
4. Formal learning and development opportunities like coursework or development programs.

Talent review best practices

Let’s take a look at some best practices you can employ through both the development and delivery of your talent review.  

Map back to your talent strategy 

If you’ve read any of my other articles for People Managing People, you may have noticed that I’m a talent strategy zealot. 

Like all HR solutions, it’s essential that your talent review process helps further your strategic talent goals. This ensures that all of your talent review processes will work seamlessly with your other talent-related processes.

Before launching your talent review, it’s always worth a gut check to make sure that the efforts you’re putting in are going to enable your overall strategy. Try asking yourself questions like:

• What critical business imperatives must we meet? How will our talent review process enable these critical imperatives?
• What competencies, skills, behaviors and values are we trying to spark across our organization?  What leadership mindsets or key behaviors are we trying to drive? Do our high-potential employees/leaders identified through talent review exhibit these key traits that we value? 
• Are there underrepresented demographics within our employee and/or leadership population? How can we leverage our talent review process to accelerate our DEI efforts?

If your talent review isn’t helping address key questions akin to these, it’s worth going back to the drawing board to ensure everything you do meticulously maps back to your talent strategy.  

Be agile

There still seem to be a lot of naysayers around agile HR transformation. It seems like too often we hear that “agile only applies to Digital and Tech teams” or “we aren’t ready for agile” or “Why fix what isn’t broken” (hint—it’s probably broken).  

Whether HR leaders are ready to hear it or not, we aren’t always as innovative as we think we are. Agile methodologies have the ability to dramatically enhance your HR solution delivery.  

I’d encourage you to consider the following agile principles as you embark on your organizational talent review journey.  

1. Co-develop with the business—developing in partnership with the business leaders, who will use your talent reviews, helps ensure that you incorporate their wants and needs into the process. In agile, customer satisfaction comes first and this is a great way to make sure your customers (the leaders who will use the process) buy into and adopt your new Talent Review process.

2. Create Simplicity—agile processes are all about creating simplicity, releasing minimum viable products (MVPs), and ensuring that you meet your customer’s needs and deliver quickly. Don’t let your need for perfection get in the way of quickly delivering something great for your organization.

3. Iterative Development—iteratively developing your talent review process increases your ‘speed to market’ and allows you to collect feedback and make refinements to ensure its efficacy and effectiveness in the future.

Avoid biases and stale talent data 

Whether it’s recency bias, confirmation bias, the halo/horns effect, or a litany of other biases that can impact leaders decision making, it’s essential that your Talent Review process remains free of all biases.

The purpose of assessing our talent is to ensure that you have a completely objective picture of your talent pool, who to invest in, and where you need to develop or bring in talent. You’ll never be able to get a clear picture of this if your data is riddled with biases.

So how do you avoid biases in your review process? Here’re some tips:

1. Share common biases with your managers—one of the simplest ways to counter biases is to merely call your leaders’ attention to the biases that exist. Even your best people leaders are human and will have their inherent biases. Giving participants in the process insight into the biases that might trip them up prior to them assessing their talent can help them take a step back and go eyes wide open into an unbiased talent review.
   
2. Clearly communicate process and definitions—A clearly defined process, with explicit definitions of what it means to be high performing and high potential, is critical to ensuring consistent execution of your talent review. There should be no ambiguity in the process, and it should be clearly communicated to all involved parties to ensure that leaders across your organization are all applying the same lens when assessing their people. 
   
3. Collaborate!--having leadership teams work together to assess their people is a key mechanism in ensuring consistency in how your employees are assessed. This is why I strongly recommend hosting talent review meetings regularly with your leadership team: hashing this information out live allows managers to understand the logic being applied to others and establish consistency. This also allows managers to provide feedback to their peers about their experiences working with each other’s employees.
   
4. Avoid stale data—just because an employee was rated highly in years past doesn’t mean they get a free pass when you repeat the process, and the same goes if they have been a mid-tier performer. Talent data is highly fluid and should be viewed as living and breathing. Eliminating biases and taking a fresh look at your talent helps ensure you aren’t plagued by stale data that can hold back your overall talent imperatives.

Leverage technology to scale your processes 

While it’s possible to get by without technology support, large and growing organizations will especially benefit from technology solutions designed to help support your talent review process. 

As Quantum Workplace suggests, “find a tool that: 

• Helps you capture talent data throughout the year
• Promotes ongoing collaboration and discussions among leaders
• Provides a real-time snapshot of your entire talent pool
• Educates you on talent development best practices”

My recommendation is to keep with the agile approach discussed above. Start with a simple process and get your bearings.

Once you have established an approach that works for your organization, you can then refine it further by examining what type of technology solutions are available to help you streamline.  

It’s a competitive world 

It’s always good to start a new year with introspection, and the talent review process is a great way to do that at your organization. As I mentioned above though, aiming for a quarterly cadence is ideal.

Talent reviews have an important part to play in identifying and developing your top talent. As Emily Rose McRae, who oversees Gartner’s HR Future of Work and Talent Analytics work, recently shared via an interview with CNBC: 

“The talent shortage that we talked about throughout 2022 hasn’t gone away,” McRae says. “So, you’re in a situation where it’s harder to get headcount, and you have a desperate need for talent.”

With competition so fierce, you can’t afford to let high performers go overlooked and leave for a rival.

There are many tools in your toolbox when it comes to talent—I’d encourage you to make sure that the talent review process is one you lean into. 

Some further resources to help you develop talent in your organization:

• How To Start An Effective Mentoring Program In 6 Steps
• Why And How To Build An Internal Talent Marketplace
• How To Identify And Develop High-Potential Talent In Your Organization
• Putting Employees In The Driver’s Seat Of Career Development

Subscribe to the People Managing People newsletter for regular articles from myself and other talent and leadership experts.

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This time last year, I was living in a cabin in the woods, leading virtual workshops with scant internet access and ample technological challenges. Despite my extensive virtual event planning efforts, sometimes the internet would just… kick out.

Not ideal.

But, working within the confines of this conundrum led me to develop a list of best practices. I set my mind to perfecting the aspects of my virtual events that were within my control, so that when the forces outside my control inevitably attempted to derail me, I was narrowly able to avoid defeat.

Today, I’m excited to share these best practices with you.

If you’re a virtual event planner, moderator, event coordinator, or host, I’m confident that these 10 tips will help you deliver a top-notch virtual event… whether from the far reaches of remote wilderness, or a bustling, internet-hardy metropolis.

What is a Virtual Event? 

Virtual events are similar to in-person events, except that groups are meeting within an online forum. Despite the fact that people aren’t meeting face-to-face, virtual events can still offer many of the same features as physical events, including team building, networking opportunities, sponsor booths, and even keynotes on a digital “stage.”

Why Host a Virtual Event?

Virtual events have exploded in popularity since the pandemic. And while travel restrictions have been lifted and they’re no longer a necessity, there continues to be a demand for virtual (or at least hybrid event) options. 

94% of event organizers have virtual events planned for the upcoming year, and 48% are planning on increasing the number of virtual events they hold next year.

Why?

Some of the benefits of virtual events include:

• No travel expenditure
• Expanded global reach (regardless of time zones)
• Highly scalable
• Audience can watch content on-demand
• Immediate, real-time audience insights
• Can be attended – or hosted – from the comfort of your own living room!

10 Tips to Host a Successful Virtual Event 

If you’re at the beginning stages of the virtual event planning process, comb through the following tips to make sure your virtual conference, webinar, tradeshow, livestream, or networking event runs smoothly.

1. Begin with a Goal in Mind

Why are you hosting this virtual event in the first place? Do you want to raise awareness about your brand? Gather leads for a new paid offer? Create a networking opportunity?

Understand your goals up-front so that you can develop your event strategy accordingly. Use those same metrics to measure your achievements post-event.

2. Pick a Platform

Your virtual event platform can make or break your event. While it’s possible to livestream straight from Zoom or Instagram, there are many platforms that can help you create a truly immersive digital experience for your guests. 

Begin your search by understanding your number of attendees, the features you’d like to include in your event (i.e., networking opportunities, breakout sessions, keynotes, webinars, etc.), and your budget.

Next, check out our handy list of the best virtual event platforms on the market today, including pros and cons, pricing, overviews, and screenshots from each:

• 10 Best Virtual Event Platforms for Digital Engagement in 2023

3. Decide on Timing

One of the biggest bonuses of going virtual is that attendees can watch a replay even if they miss the live event. That being said, I recommend having an understanding of the time zone that applies to the majority of your target audience, and choosing a time that works for them.

There’s something to be said for the magic of watching an event unfold in real time. Having a lively, engaged audience will also bring out the best in your speakers.

4. Promote, Promote, Promote

Are you on social media? Share posts, stories, and videos, and include the event landing page in your bio links. Do you have an email marketing list? Send out the invite to everyone in your database.

Will your event have guest speakers? Leverage their networks to enhance attendance! Consider providing them with graphics that they can easily share on their social media platforms, or a one-page PDF with bulleted highlights of the event so they can easily incorporate the info into their own posts. 

5. Include Everything You Need and Nothing More

Humans have short attention spans. This is true in face-to-face interactions, but even more so online. You’ll be competing for attention with the neighbor’s cat, texts from mom, email notifications, the Amazon delivery person, and on and on.

Create your content and then spend time editing. How can you streamline? Are your slides clear and concise? Include all the pertinent information and trim the rest.

6. Don’t Allow Hate, Moderate!

It’s an unfortunate truth that human beings aren’t always kind… especially when they’re able to hide behind a screen.

Consider having one or two moderators present during your event experience. These moderators can comb through the chat, make sure that everyone is being respectful, and even remove attendees if someone demonstrates inappropriate behavior.

7. Get the Audience Involved

Guests are not passive observers. They are valued participants! Encouraging their participation in the event will not only make them feel more engaged and connected to you, but will provide you with valuable insights gleaned from them.

Consider adding gamification, polls, and surveys. Ask your moderators to keep track of FAQs in real-time. Add networking opportunities and breakout sessions to connect audience members with each other as well.

8. Consider the ‘What Ifs’

My rule of thumb for virtual events is this: Assume that there will be a technical issue at some point.

Better yet, assume that this technical issue will take place in the first 5 minutes.

I know – it’s a bummer. But in my experience, it’s true.

Knowing this allows you to plan ahead. Here are some examples:

• Ask your presenters to meet 20 – 30 minutes ahead of time to check that their tech is working
• Have multiple mic and headphone options available
• Restart your computer before beginning
• Have a second device handy with all relevant apps and tools downloaded 
• Appoint another team member to jump in and entertain guests (or manage a gamification activity) should a presenter need to pause

9. Follow Up Post-Event

One of the most valuable aspects of a virtual event is the ability to drum up new leads and grow your network. Spend time developing your post-event strategy. How will you connect with attendees? What products do you want to highlight?

Send out correspondence within 48 hours of the event. Connecting while the event is still fresh will allow you to benefit from the momentum you built during your time together. 

10. Record What You Learned

It’s easy to jump from one finish line to the starting line of another project. But that’s how we lose valuable insight. Instead, take time post-event to chat with your stakeholders. What went well? What went wrong? What could have been improved?

Many virtual event platforms capture metrics for attendance and engagement. Go over the numbers, celebrate your wins, and identify your weak spots. Consolidate the data into takeaway notes that your team can use when you’re planning your next virtual event.

Learn More About Virtual Event Technology

Your event management software plays an integral role in how your content is delivered, how professional the speakers sound, and how easy and enjoyable it is for your guests to log in and engage. 

For this reason, we’ve done our homework and researched many of the best virtual event technology tools, so you don’t have to:

• 10 Best Virtual Conference Software for Digital Events

To learn more about virtual event management and engaging a digital workforce, don’t miss these articles from our subject matter experts:

• The 7 Best Remote Team Building Activities
• 15 Virtual Meeting Etiquette Guidelines in 2023 
• 5 Challenges to Managing Remote Employees and How to Overcome Them

Before you go, subscribe to our People Managing people newsletter to stay up-to-date on the latest insights from industry experts! 

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In our Office Snacks series we interview members of our community to delve into their varied buffets of experience and come away with juicy insights and ideas.

Join us in our next installment below as Jessica Winder, SVP People at Refine Labs—shares her wisdom with us.

Hi Jessica, we’d love to get to know you better, where are you based?

I have to start with the fact that I’m a proud born and raised Texan but I currently live in Las Vegas. Never ever thought this would be a place I call home but it’s growing on me, slowly but surely. 

How did you get to where you are today?

Hard work and perseverance, never taking no for an answer, and always being willing to learn. I actually just finished my Project Management certification last week. I am to always keep expanding my knowledge. 

What’s been the most impactful lesson you’ve learned over your career so far?

Speak up! Even when your voice shakes, or you have to give an unpopular opinion, say it with your chest! Fear shouldn’t stop you from showing your authentic self.

How does your typical day look, do you have a set routine you stick to?

No set routine, in general my day is normally a mixture of meetings and project focus time. I’m not a morning person so I normally wait until 2 pm to start working on an important project, which is also when most of the company is preparing to sign off since they are on the East Coast and I’m on the West Coast. 

How do you describe your job to others?

My job is to make sure the company culture is inclusive and welcoming to all team members, while also making sure policies and procedures are in place for employee health and safety. I consider People Operations to be the backbone of the organization.

What’s your favorite part of your job?

Without a shadow of a doubt it’s my team and the strong relationships and trust I’ve built with my Senior People Business Partner and Talent Advisor. 

What’s your biggest challenge and how do you work to overcome it?

Getting around the perception of “HR” being there to only “hire and fire” and making sure the department is seen as a strategic value adds to the organization’s long-term success. 

The way I’ve overcome this perception is through action and adding value to the leadership team. This was most recently showcased in the development of a new round of training for career progression for employees. We have also leaned into stay interviews and how we can form retention strategies for key employees. 

What do you think is the biggest misconception around HR?

Well I’m known for saying we should burn traditional HR to the ground because it’s outdated and focused on compliance and risk management instead of people.

Unfortunately, most employees don’t trust HR because of a lack of leadership and innovation within the profession. I dare to adopt a different way of thinking, to leave a safe, ego-focused viewpoint for an expansive, radical ecosystem of views and actions. Progressive HR (also known as People Operations) is the way forward!

The key differences between traditional and progressive HR:

• Inclusivity is the top priority
• Embrace technology and people analytics for effective storytelling
• Creating policies that empower employees to do the best work of their lives.

What would you like to see companies do differently regarding their people?

Everything! The foundation has to be an employee engagement and psychological safety to speak up and be heard even if that means disagreement with leadership.

How can organizations create psychological safety?

Psychological safety refers to employees’ sense of security and trust in their work environment. It’s an important factor that can influence employee well-being and performance, as well as the overall culture of an organization.

Here are some ways that organizations can create psychological safety for their employees:

1. Foster open communication: encourage employees to speak up and share their thoughts and ideas without fear of retribution. This can be achieved through regular check-ins, feedback sessions, and other opportunities for employees to voice their concerns.
2. Support diversity and inclusion: create an inclusive culture where all employees feel valued and respected, regardless of their background or identity. This includes promoting diversity in hiring and leadership and addressing discrimination and bias.
3. Offer resources for mental health: provide access to mental health support and resources, such as counseling services or employee assistance programs, to help employees cope with stress and other challenges.
4. Encourage work-life balance: help employees find a balance between their work and personal lives by offering flexible work arrangements and promoting the importance of taking breaks and vacations.
5. Establish clear guidelines and expectations: communicate expectations and guidelines for behavior and hold all employees accountable. This can help create a sense of fairness and predictability in the workplace.
6. Encourage open feedback: create a culture where employees feel comfortable providing honest feedback, both positive and constructive, to their colleagues and leaders. This can help improve communication and build trust within the organization.

Which are your most-loved tools that help you with your job?

I’m a major advocate for Lattice, which we use for engagement, performance reviews, growth plans and one-one-one meetings with management. I highly recommend it! 

What’s been your most successful initiative to date and why?

Our employee resources groups (ERGs) have provided a sense of community and new found engagement for all team members. As of right now we have 4 ERGs specifically for Black, Women, Neurodivergent and Parenting employees. 

(Read up on employee resource groups and how to create one).

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received?

Show up and show up! Don’t be shy. 

What do you think is the biggest challenge companies face in the current labor market?

There are several challenges that companies may face in the current labor market, including:

1. Talent shortages: In a competitive job market, it can be challenging for companies to find and attract top talent. This may be particularly true for certain industries or roles with a high demand for skilled workers.
2. Retaining top talent: Once a company has hired top talent, it can be challenging to keep them, especially if other companies offer similar or better opportunities.
3. Managing diversity and inclusion: Companies increasingly recognize the importance of diversity and inclusion in the workplace, but achieving it can be challenging. This may involve addressing issues such as discrimination and bias, as well as creating a welcoming and inclusive culture for all employees.

Lastly, and most importantly, what’s your favorite office (home or otherwise) snack?

My go to snack is Red Bull and sour gummy worms—don’t judge me, lol

What’s your favorite office snack?

Work in People and Culture? Want to share your ideas?

Applications to be interviewed are open to anyone (yes anyone!) so don’t hesitate to fill in the form for an opportunity to share your knowledge and ideas.

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We’re passionate about the world of work and how we can make it better. For this to be achieved, we need ideas from a wide array of people from different backgrounds and experiences. 

In this interview series, we pick the brains of experienced leaders, business owners, managers, and individual contributors to get their thoughts on how we can collectively build better workplaces.

Join us in our next installment below as Rupa Patel, VP, Strategic Alliances & Consulting Relations at Cleo shares her insights with us.

Hi Rupa! We’d love to get to know you a bit better, tell us a bit about your backstory.

As cliché as it may sound, I’ve always been driven to make the world a better place. This mission has been foundational to my educational and professional paths. 

After finishing my undergraduate studies at The University of Georgia, I entered a public health program at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, where I was able to bring the worlds of altruism and realism together in a joint MPH/MBA program—learning how to improve the world from a practical standpoint. 

Using the practical application of public health, I have spent my professional life working in various health benefits and health tech organizations working directly with prospects, clients, employees, and influencers.

Throughout my professional life, I’ve been able to carry out my mission in two ways: on a micro level, by being a people person dedicated to making my team cohesive and successful, and on a macro level, by applying my public health background to help clients and employees around the world to thrive. 

If we were to ask a friend to describe your personality to us, what would they say?

When I surveyed my friends journalistically, they said that I’ve “always got their back” and I’m often “loyal to a fault, often putting [myself] second.” They also described me as “creative, collaborative, and empathetic,” but also “a force to be reckoned with”—all in a positive context, of course!

Thinking back to your career journey, what’s an interesting story that stands out? 

I am the proud mom of two beautiful girls and the wife of the most supportive husband. These humans, and other loved ones that we consider family, are my motivation. 

In 2018, my professional world stopped for them. I was newly pregnant with our second daughter and, simultaneously, my mother-in-law was diagnosed with a rare cancer. 

I had been busy traveling from city to city, state to state, racking up miles as I focused on my professional growth and success. But my family needed me and I needed to be there for them—my employer at the time was not equipped to support me so I could support my family.

So, I put my career on hold to become a full-time caregiver—hopping between well-baby visits, chemo appointments, and preschool volunteering. 

The two years I spent caregiving were the hardest of my life. However they were also the years that were most fulfilling. They helped me realize that there was a colossal need for a shift in the workforce, from thinking of employees as mere employees, rather than as whole people who participate in the partnership of work. 

What’s the most impactful lesson you’ve learned over your career thus far?

Stop and listen.

Rather than just come to the table with solutions, stop and listen to the stakeholders. Understanding the full scope of concerns, obstacles, goals, expectations, and everything in between will not only help formulate a more seamless path forward, but also a more meaningful, trustworthy relationship between all the parties. 

Incidentally, this lesson is not only massively helpful for careers, but on an interpersonal level with your spouse, children, and loved ones, too!

Thanks for giving us some insight into who you are! Let’s jump into things. When you hear the phrase “build a better world of work,” what comes to mind?

Direction, communication, and diversity.

Having a clear direction on goals, be it corporate or cultural, is essential to the success of any organization. It ensures that people know what direction to row the boat in and how their organization will support them in doing so. 

We all strive for good communication with our partners, children, and friends, but it’s essential amongst colleagues and leadership teams, too. Open communication—which means that people are free to be honest about where they’re at—not only builds trust but also acknowledges employees as people. It establishes a solid footing of respect, regardless of title or job role. 

Only through hiring and working with people from diverse backgrounds and approaches to problem-solving can we get a wider aperture on what the future of workforces can be. 

Additionally, as leaders, we have to realize that with diverse people comes diverse work/life needs. The people who work for us are whole people who we get to borrow from their families and loved ones for a set amount of hours in a week. 

Recognizing an employee’s individual and diverse circumstances from a work/life management perspective helps to ensure that the partnership between organization and employee is rooted in mutual respect—which, of course, produces better outcomes.

For you, what’s the main blocker you see as standing in the way of building a better world of work?

If companies continue to undermine the fact that their employees are whole people there will be no way that they’ll ever be innovative in the long run, and it certainly won’t build a better world of work. 

What’s one thing within our control that we can practically do to build a better world of work today? And, how do you recommend going about it?

Owning mistakes, pitfalls, and weaknesses will always help an organization improve the next time and have a greater probability for success and growth. When accountability is present and the recognition—and remedy—associated with a misstep is communicated, the stigma is lessened.

It can encourage teams to continue to think creatively, be innovative, and assess at every step to ensure they are working towards the most effective, efficient, and impactful path in connection with  the organization’s mission. 

Can you share one thing you’ve experienced, seen, or read about that is leading us towards a better world of work?

There’s a huge shift happening within company cultures, benefits, and methods of supporting employees. 

From flexible work schedules, to increased paid time off for parental and caregiving leave, to additional resources for mental health support, employers are thinking more creatively and holistically about how to support all employees and their unique family dynamics. 

I’m curious, thinking about building a better world of work, is there a company and/or leader who stands out to you as someone we should follow? If so, what are they up to?

Christine Pabst, Director of Employee Benefits at American Electric Power, is a true standout. Christine is constantly thinking about and implementing innovative ways to support her employees across the country. She’s also a supermom of two teenagers and a cancer survivor!

How can our readers follow your work?

Follow me on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/rupa-m-patel/ or at www.hicleo.com. 

Add your voice to the conversation

Join our interview series and share your ideas for how we can build a better world of work!

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Whether you’re an entrepreneur running a small business, or a W-2 employee who wants to claim a tax deduction for your side-hustle, understanding the ins and outs of business expenses is an important part of running a business and minimizing your tax burden.   

Keep reading to learn all about business expenses, which expenses are deductible and non-deductible (with examples), as well as everything you need to know about tracking and reporting business expenses.    

Please note that this article only applies to U.S.-based businesses and that it’s intended only as a guide and does not constitute financial advice. Please consult a tax professional or use an authorized IRS e-file provider to ensure that your financial reporting complies with IRS regulations.

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) provides detailed guidelines on which expenses can be claimed to reduce a business’s tax liability in Publication 535 (2021), Business Expenses. You can consult the full list of IRS publications for more information.

What Are Business Expenses? 

Simply put, business expenses refer to the costs incurred in the process of running a for-profit business. Often referred to as “deductions,” calculating your business expenses and subtracting them from your company’s revenue can significantly reduce your tax burden.

However, not all business expenses are created equal. In order to qualify as tax-deductible, your expenses need to be considered ordinary and necessary costs associated with operating a business in your industry, as outlined in the Internal Revenue Code (IRC).

Keep reading to learn which business expenses are deductible and nondeductible, with examples of each.

Deductible Business Expenses 

As we’ve mentioned above, a business expense needs to be considered “ordinary and necessary” to be tax deductible—but what does this mean exactly?

• According to the IRS, an ordinary expense is an expense that is considered “common and accepted” (i.e. not unusual) in your trade or industry. Essentially, this means that this is an expense that would be incurred by most businesses in your industry.

• The IRS defines a necessary expense as one that is “helpful and appropriate” in conducting business in your industry. 

While not restricted to indispensable expenses (without which it wouldn’t be possible to do business), most business expenses you might consider unavoidable in the course of normal business are likely to qualify as necessary expenses. (Note that expenses like fines are considered avoidable, and thus not “necessary” or deductible).

When writing off expenses, it’s worth keeping in mind that while some expenses are fully deductible, others are only partially deductible, and others can’t be deducted in the same year as they were incurred. 

Additionally, certain expenses (e.g. capitalized business assets) must be written off over several years using depreciation (or amortization for intangible assets). 

It’s also important to keep in mind that which expenses are deductible depends on the structure of the business. This means that the allowable deductibles and financial reporting requirements will vary between sole proprietorships, partnerships, limited liability companies (LLCs), and corporations (s-corporations, and c-corporations). 

Understanding the relative tax benefits and the administrative burden — and associated costs — of each of these business structures can be instrumental to setting up your business in a way that balances tax efficiency with your available resources. 

Examples of Deductible Business Expenses 

The most common business expenses you can write off as deductions include payroll expenses, employee benefits programs, utilities, property and equipment leases, asset depreciation, and other operational expenses.

Below are more examples of permissible deductible expenses:

• Advertising and marketing costs
• Bank fees (e.g. credit card processing fees) 
• Charitable contributions
• Commissions (supplemental wages)
• Depreciation 
• Employee education expenses 
• Employee benefit programs (retirement plans, education plans, etc.)
• Employee training expenses
• Entertainment expenses (subject to rules)
• Equipment maintenance and repair
• Equipment rental
• Furniture
• Gifts (subject to rules) 
• Home office expenses (subject to rules)
• Insurance premiums
• Interest paid on certain business loans, business credit cards, and mortgages on properties bought by the business (or sole proprietor).
• Legal and professional services fees
• Licences, permits, and other regulatory fees
• Office supplies and equipment
• Payroll or wages
• Rent or lease on office space or place of business
• Maintenance and repair
• Meals 
• Membership dues (business-related dues only, e.g. union and other professional organizations)
• Mileage (business-related)
• Business-related software and subscriptions
• Taxes (Certain federal, state, local, and foreign taxes, including real estate taxes, taxes on leased property, state- and locally-imposed income taxes, foreign income tax withholdings, employment taxes, self-employment taxes, excise taxes, sales taxes, franchise taxes, fuel taxes, occupational taxes, and state or local taxes paid on personal property used in your trade or business.)
• Business travel expenses
• Supplies and materials 
• Utilities like water and electricity
• Wages paid to independent contractors 

Non-deductable Business Expenses

Unfortunately for business owners, not all of a company’s expenses are tax deductible. 

Examples of Non-deductable Expenses 

Below are examples of business expenses that are not tax-deductible:

• Anticipated liabilities (or reserves for anticipated liabilities)
• Certain legal fees (e.g. those incurred in the process of acquiring an asset)
• Club dues and membership fees (with certain exceptions)
• Demolition costs or losses
• Educational costs incurred in meeting the minimum regulatory requirements to conduct business
• Government fines (e.g. late filing fees)
• Illegal activities (e.g. bribes and kickbacks)
• Lobbying expenses
• Personal expenses (unless the expense is partly for business purposes)
• Political donations. 

Why You Should Keep On Top Of Business Expenses

While writing off your business expenses is the best way to reduce your tax liability, it’s crucial that you keep meticulous records of all your transactions. The IRS may decide to audit your records to check whether your reported deductions match your actual expenditures.

Tracking business expenses for tax purposes can be a challenge even for established businesses with full-time accountants — or even whole accounts payable teams, let alone small businesses. 

But even if you’re a one-person team, don’t fall into the trap of waiting for tax season to balance your books. Trying to catch up on all your accounting when it’s time to file your tax return is a nightmare — avoid this at all costs.

Aside from saving you a lot of time and stress, there are several other reasons it’s a good idea to review your business’s income and expenses on a regular basis:

• When too much time passes between making a transaction and recording it, it can be easy to forget the exact details and circumstances of the transaction, not to mention lose important evidence like paper-based receipts.

• Having accurate data about your revenue and operating expenses to date allows you to plan for your future expenses, stay within budget, maintain positive cash flow, and build a reserve to cushion any nasty surprises.

• Continuously tracking your business expenses makes it easier to project your business’s profitability (or lack thereof) and make strategic adjustments to stay the course or drive growth. Plus it makes it easier to raise funds if you want to obtain a loan or attract investors.

In addition to reducing your administrative burden come tax season, timely record-keeping can do wonders for employee morale. 

Running a tight ship when it comes to business finances means faster turnaround times for reimbursements of expenses like travel costs—not to mention this makes it easier to ensure that your expense claim policies and procedures are being followed before non-compliance can cause problems. 

How To Report Business Expenses

Business expenses are reported in your business’s income statement, which should record all of your revenue and expenditure. You’ll typically record your expenses by category in your income statement. These categories include direct costs, indirect costs, depreciation, and interest.

Direct costs or cost of goods sold (COGS) such as labor costs, cost of materials, the overhead of business premises, storage, etc. These are deducted from your business’s total revenue to determine your gross income or gross profit.

Indirect costs such as marketing expenses, executive compensation, and general expenses are deducted from your gross profit to determine your operating profit (also known as net profit). 

Depreciation and amortization are used to expense tangible and intangible business assets, respectively, over the course of several years. These assets include property, furniture, computers, equipment, machinery, vehicles, etc. (tangible) as well as patents, trademarks, intellectual property licenses, software, etc. (intangible). 

Interest is the final expense deducted from a company’s income to calculate its taxable income.

For starters, you’ll need to decide on an accounting method to use when reporting your income and expenses. The two basic accounting methods are cash and accrual:

• Under the cash accounting method, you’ll report income in the same tax year that you received it and usually deduct and/or capitalize expenses in the same tax year. 

• Under the accrual accounting method, you’ll usually report income in the tax year you earn it, even if you only receive actual payment in a later year. Similarly, you’ll generally deduct and/or capitalize expenses in the tax year that you incurred them, regardless of whether you paid for them that year or not.

For detailed information about the different accounting methods (and periods) recognized by the IRS, consult this PDF of Publication 583 (revised January 2022). To see recent updates, check out About Publication 583, Starting a Business and Keeping Records.

How to Track Business Expenses

Tracking and reporting business expenses is a bit more complex than claiming deductibles from your personal income. This means that businesses and self-employed individuals need to keep detailed records of all their income and expenses to calculate and report their profits accurately.

Here are some tips and best practices for tracking your business expenses:

• Keep your business finances separate from your personal expenses. Having a separate business bank account makes tracking your business expenses so much easier. 

• If an expense is partially for business purposes and partially for personal use (e.g. your home office or the bill from your cellphone service provider) you can calculate the usage split and claim the business-use portion. 

(Keep in mind that claiming home office expenses may impact your home sale tax exclusion down the line). 

• Keep all your receipts and digitize them. To make it easier to not lose them, take photos and store them online as soon as possible after paying for them. Categorize them by types of expense. Most modern accounting software lets you snap a photograph and upload it directly. If you’re using Excel or Google Sheets to track your expenses, you can simply upload these photos to a cloud storage folder (e.g. iCloud, Google Drive, or Dropbox). 

• Keep your invoices and receipts organized. Ideally, sort them into folders first by month and then by expense category. This makes it easy to find the details and evidence of each transaction later.

• Keep detailed notes. Even if you think you’ll remember all the details of each transaction, make notes that include the date, expense category, and what the expense was for, e.g. entertaining a client, gas for the company car, etc. 

If you’re claiming business mileage on a personal vehicle (or an employee’s personal vehicle), you should keep a detailed log of business mileage.

• Review your records as frequently as possible. Even if you’re using software that automates much of the process, it’s a good idea to check in on your records frequently, verify that they’re accurate, and re-categorize any transactions that have been mislabelled. 

• Create a formal workflow for tracking expenses and reconciling your records. Map out which tasks need to occur daily/immediately (e.g. uploading receipts), weekly, monthly, quarterly, bi-annually, and annually.   

• If you haven’t already, think about investing in expense reporting software. In addition to making it easy to record expenditures, store receipts, and automatically categorize transactions, this software lets you view your finances in dashboards and charts and makes it easier to generate reports

For more information about tracking business expenses, check out IRS Publication 583 (01/2021), Starting a Business, and Keeping Records.

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Working in human resources can be a rewarding experience but it’s important to understand where a career in human resources can take you or if it’s even the career for you!

Various human resources job titles are available and there are plenty of ways to climb the career ladder.

To learn more, check out our list of HR jobs below.

Entry-Level HR Job Titles

Please bear in mind that sometimes terms are used interchangeably, and quite loosely, so what really matters when it comes to role and career advancement is what you spend your time doing and how much autonomy you have.

Note also that salaries vary depending on location and years of experience in a role.

HR Assistant

An HR assistant’s primary job is helping HR directors and managers accomplish HR-related tasks. Their daily work tends to be administrative and includes documenting grievances, compensation, absences, terminations, performance reviews, and benefits information. They can also play a role in recruiting, hiring, and employee training.

HR Intern

Working as an HR intern is a great way to get your foot in the door when it comes to a career path in human resources. Interns learn the ropes by playing a variety of roles in the HR department. This includes: maintaining accurate employee files within an organization’s information systems, helping organize and screen resumes and job postings, and supporting the department with executing company policies.

HR Generalist / HR Representative

HR Generalist/HR representative’s responsibilities vary a great deal, covering a wide span of tasks including dealing with benefit plans, compensation, recruiting, onboarding, employee relations and handling employee relations issues.

Many employers require a bachelors degree or higher, and taking an HR certification can also put you in good stead.

HR Specialist

As the name suggests, a human resources specialist is someone who specializes in a particular aspect of the HR function e.g. compensation, benefits or leave. 

For example, a Leave of Absence Specialist would help facilitate leave quests and accommodations for absences such as Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), Workers’ Comp, Military Leaves, etc. They’d advise managers and employees on terms of leave and manage case files in accordance to state and federal regulations.

Mid-Career HR Job Titles

HR departments offer many opportunities to advance up the corporate ladder. Some mid-level HR positions include:

HR Manager

An HR manager plays many different roles and is normally competent in several areas, including overseeing recruiting new employees and developing those underneath them.

HR managers support the relationship between management and the current employees, and should have the following four competencies:

1. Communication. Effective HR managers must be able to communicate with everyone in the workplace.
2. Analytical and Critical Thinking. An HR manager must provide sound judgment and make decisions in various areas.
3. Relationship-Building. HR managers must create a cohesive department that works collaboratively to achieve shared goals.
4. Leadership. HR managers are responsible for creating strategic plans for their department and must be able to justify the elements of a strategic plan to management as well as direct the activities of the HR department.

HR Analyst, People Analyst or Workforce Analytics Manager

The role of a People Analyst or Workforce Analytics Manager is to benchmark HR data and provide actionable insights to drive business decisions.

A people analyst would collect data points like retention, sales quotas, closed support tickets, performance reviews, etc. in order to review HR processes and suggest improvements.

As an example, this might mean looking at the number of roles filled within a given time frame, the onboarding process, and the productivity of those new hires. A People Analyst would gather these data points to track success and support an HR team’s needs.

HRIS Manager

Many organizations utilize Human Resource Information Systems (HRIS) to automate and sync data in order to support core HR functions and needs like payroll, benefits, and performance management.

As an HRIS manager, you’ll be tasked on implementing, maintaining and optimizing the HRIS and other forms of HR software. 

Other responsibilities include managing and processing employee data, generating reports, and ensuring data systems are compliant with any regulations.

Senior HR Job Titles

Higher levels of within an HR team include:

HR Consultant

Human resources consultants focus on effectively utilizing personnel to achieve the goals of a company. They devise strategies to make the most effective use of personnel within a company.

HR Business Partner

An HR Business Partner (HRBP) are experienced HR professionals who work closely with management and leadership on talent management. HRBPs maintain strong business literacy and help facilitate HR-strategy as it integrates with your organization’s business objectives. 

As an HRBP, you’ll also monitor and report on the organization’s workforce, including temporary employees or vendors, facilitate HR tools, and provide guidance on organizational structure.

HR Director

HR directors oversee a region, or multiple locations, or serve as the highest-ranking member of HR within a single company (though not always). They are responsible for building annual budgets and often make decisions about buying software, systems, and negotiating benefits offerings for the company.

Other senior HR titles include recruiting director, chief diversity officer, and chief human resources officer.

Vice President of Human Resources

The VP of HR works with the executive team concerning business objectives and is responsible for understanding how the HR-focused programs and services drive company revenue. They also try to integrate people into the full scope of business operations and evaluate how staff benefits the overall business.

Chief Human Resources Officer

An organization’s Chief Human Resource Officer (CHRO) is responsible for strategic leadership and management for an organization. This includes succession planning and talent management, along with training and compensation. 

The CHRO would develop comprehensive recruitment and retention plans in order to meet needs for the organization. A CHRO also works directly with executive leaders at an organization in order to comprehensively combine human capital management with business objectives.

Traditional List of Human Resources Job Titles

The above list of role is by no means extensive and rather fluid. Other role you might come across include:

• Employment Manager
• Recruiter
• Recruitment manager
• HR Analyst
• HR Coordinator or Staff Coordinator
• Employee Relation Manager
• Executive HR
• Associate Executive HR
• HR Administrator
• Assistant HR Administrator
• HR Technical Supervisor
• Employee relations manager

Trending HR Titles

Current trends in human resources titles include:

• Chief Human Capital Officer
• Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO)
• Chief People Officer
• Chief People & Change Management Officer
• Director People Analytics
• Director People Systems
• Director Workforce Analytics
• Director Reward & Recognition
• Head of HR Compliance
• Senior Manpower & Compensation Specialist
• Employee Experience Architect
• Employee Experience Designer
• DEI Manager
• Chief DEI Officer

Is HR Management a Good Career?

HR management is a great career choice for anyone who enjoys working with people, and it can also lead to a wide range of career paths.

If you think HR might be the career path for you, subscribe to our newsletter. We’ll keep you in the loop with fresh articles, podcasts, how-to guides, tool reviews, updates, deals, and product exclusives to help you on your journey.

Further reading:

• Key Human Resources Responsibilities: Creating Happier, Healthier Workplaces
• How To Approach Human Resource Management In SMEs
• Essential Human Resources Skills Employers Look For
• Top 20 Human Resource Websites & Blogs 2023

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You’ve likely heard about bias and, more pertinent to hiring, unconscious or implicit bias. 

You’ll also likely know that bias is a bad because it hampers our decision making and causes us to make hiring decisions that are wrong for both the organisation and the candidate.

Bias takes many forms and, spoiler, alert, we’re all biased in some way. Here I’ll take you through the different types of bias and how to minimise bias in your hiring process.

We’ll cover:

• What is bias?
• What are the types of bias?
• How to minimise bias from your hiring process

Let’s dive in.

What is bias exactly?

Bias means holding beliefs about an individual or group based on preconceived notions (stereotypes). Unconscious bias is when we hold these associations outside of conscious awareness and control. It’s perhaps why you think you like a specific candidate more than another, even though they don’t have anywhere near the right qualifications.

For the purposes of this article, I’m going to tackle unconscious bias, also known as implicit bias, as I would like to assume that anyone reading this is already attempting to dampen their conscious biases (or explicit bias) when it comes to hiring and is attempting to be impartial. 

If you aren’t then this article can still help you start, but there is a lot more work you need than someone who is looking to counteract their subconscious. Being consciously biased means someone is intentionally discriminatory and that requires additional education, exposure to stereotype-busting situations and, more importantly, the will to change.

Focusing on unconscious bias, which is likely the more common of the two, I have some bad news. You cannot get rid of your unconscious bias! It’s something we’re all born with—an evolutionary trait to help us survive.

For example, research found that 3-month-old babies raised mainly by women have a strong preference for women over men. But, of course, these shortcuts we make are only guidelines, they change as we get older, and they’re far from always right.

It’s not all doom and gloom, however! You can still combat your unconscious biases and look to recognise when they’re at play. These are the techniques I will go over in this piece.

You’ve already taken the first step by recognising that unconscious bias happens and bringing it to the forefront of your mind that you would like to take corrective action.

Types of unconscious bias and how they present themselves

In order to combat your biases, you first have to learn to recognise the different types of bias and the likely reasons they occur. 

Here I’ll outline a few of the more common hiring biases and how they present themselves in a scenario.

Gender Bias

This one seems quite simple: having more or less favourable views about an individual based on their gender. But, depending on the culture, it can be incredibly difficult to uproot.

Even if people consciously say they want to increase the gender diversity of their team, they can still exhibit gender bias in an interview process. This can affect both genders, but it’s more commonly seen as bias against females.

For example, in Western Europe and North America, there has been a gender bias that women are not great at maths. In the UK, for example, in girls-only schools, they used to replace maths and sciences with home economics.

In 2022 a (female) member of the government had the audacity to say that “girls don’t like hard math problems”. Similarly, research by New York University found that men are more likely to be seen as “brilliant” in subjects like science and technology.

Meanwhile, in places like Iran, Egypt, and most countries in Eastern Europe (ex-socialist countries especially) the gap is nowhere near as severe and, in some places, is reversed! 

This shows that these are culturally held beliefs, and it’s not like women are inherently worse in maths and science (the irony being that the first people to work with computers were all women).

Beauty bias

This bias is based on someone’s appearance and, again, it can strike all genders and ethnicities.

It means that the assessment is not based on professional skills, but on appearance alone, and that is something incredibly subjective.

It’s quite well known that, in certain high fashion brands, you have to be “conventionally” attractive to get hired, no matter what the role is.

Even wearing the wrong nail polish at an interview (or not wearing any at all) can mean you don’t get the role, regardless of your expertise. I remember when I worked in fashion one of my colleagues had to instruct candidates on things like this.

This is why I’m wary when the hiring manager makes statements like “this person will be a good face for our brand” or “they fit our aesthetic and the impression we’re going for”. 

These are not-so-subtle hints that their bias is showing, especially so if they make a snap decision or they’re hiring someone with no discernable skills or experience.

Ageism

This is commonly seen as the perception that older employees aren’t as capable as younger ones, but I’ve seen the reverse too.

Age is not an indicator of skill or talent, so it means you may be missing out on an incredibly talented young person, or a skilled and seasoned older employee, because you’re not paying attention to the correct things—their skills and expertise.

More recently, I’ve seen this veiled in the response “I’m not sure if they’re dynamic enough for us”.

This is something often heard in early-stage start-ups, where the average age tends to be lower, and they now need to hire the “adults in the room” with the experience of being where the startup is going.

However, a lot these companies also believe that theirs is the most hard-working and dynamic environment and someone who is perhaps a fair bit older will not be suitable.

That is classic ageism because there is likely no concrete evidence the person won’t work as hard as someone who just graduated—if anything they can do more in less time.

Attribution bias

This means the tendency to explain a person’s behaviour to their character rather than a situational factor. The earliest this can occur is during a CV review where a whole host of assumptions can be made at only a glance.

It’s super common in interviews as well, where every tiny twitch and glitch may be interpreted as a failure on the candidate’s part—especially in the age of Zoom interviewing.

For example, if the candidate is late by 5 mins, it’s likely the hiring manager assumes they’re just not great at time management, regardless of the explanation.

I myself have been in a situation where I was that candidate, and the reason I was late was because a woman had passed out on the bus and I was administering first aid to her.

I had factored in to be 20 mins earlier to the interview but, by the time the ambulance came, I was 5 mins late. 

To an interviewer who would let their attribution bias colour their opinion of me, I am someone who is just lazy or can’t manage their time.

To an interested interviewer, who is willing to overcome their bias by asking me what happened and conducting the rest of the interview in good faith, I would be given the chance to explain what happened (and, of course, they can see that I am indeed first aid trained as it’s on my CV).

Affect heuristics

This is a bit of a catch-all for all the mental shortcuts you may take during an interview. For example, someone with visible tattoos cannot be a good CFO but they can make a great designer because they “must” be creative.

Sounds silly, but it can happen and I’ve seen it happen! Someone doesn’t like a person with a certain name because their ex has that name, or they said something that, according to a BuzzFeed article, sociopaths say. 

These mental leaps were useful when we were surviving as early humans, but the task of hiring and employing someone is of higher complexity and therefore requires more than just the survival instinct to kick in.

Confirmation bias

Likely the most common bias in a hiring setting. This is when you make a snap decision (it could be one of the other biases at play) and you spend the rest of the time in the hiring process trying to confirm this bias as true. 

If we take Ageism as an example, I once witnessed a hiring manager assume that a candidate who was a bit older was not “dynamic enough” and so spent the interview talking about how “hardcore” and “fast-paced” the environment is and how it would require so much from the person in the role. 

It was stressed so much that candidate actually stoped and asked, “Well won’t there be any support at all?”. As a side note, none of this emphasis was present with other candidates who were markedly younger.

We still ended up hiring the more experiences candidate, but it didn’t end up working out because the bias continued to permeate the relationship even after the hire. In the end, they were let go because “They never turned out to be dynamic enough”, even though their performance on paper was great!

Halo effect/Horn effect

This is where you overly focus on the positive (for the halo effect) or negative aspects (for the horn effect) of a candidate—or at least what you perceive to be the positive or negative qualities.

This can cause us to not fully investigate the candidate’s background, disregard red flags/see everything as a red flag, or outright dismiss a candidate.

I cannot tell you the number of times I’ve heard “Oh the candidate is ex-Google, ex-Microsoft, or ex-Apple, they must be good”. Must they?

For example, when I was at Twitch we were looking for advertising salespeople. Every single candidate who applied from Google at the individual contributor level failed because they had no idea how to sell.

Google doesn’t need to sell ads—everyone else is trying to chisel from the Google ad dollar—so they don’t develop those consultative sales skills that were required for the role. 

This is why you interview and investigate because, on the other hand, you may also get that one amazing salesperson who just happens to be at Google, so you don’t want to assume either way!

Expectation anchor

This is a very peculiar type of bias because often it’s a bias based on the non-existent. 

The classic example is when a hiring manager has a very clear picture of who needs to be in this role, and no one other than someone who matches this picture will do (sounds like some of your friends dating, right?).

There could be hundreds of other candidates who match and can do the role fantastically, but the hiring manager is set on some superficial qualities.

For example, when a hiring manager came to me with a job description that had 15 bullet points under the requirements, it was time to investigate. 

When I started questioning, it became obvious that they had an expectation of not just the candidate’s skills but their background, expertise, and attitude (heck I’m surprised they aren’t specifying eye colour at this point).

As an example, why would it matter that a senior candidate with 15 years of experience went to Oxford or Cambridge? At this point in their career it’s highly irrelevant, but that was the expectation anchor that the hiring manager was operating with.

As a general rule, aim to whittle them down to ~5 requirements so people know what you’re really looking for and value in a candidate.

Affinity bias (Similarity bias)

This is based on something you have in common with a candidate—maybe you went to the same school or both like a certain kind of music. 

This can establish a ground of familiarity with the candidate, which can be great, but it should not be the only thing that informs your decision.

Often I’ve seen this played out with hiring managers who hire a younger version of themselves e.g. someone with a familiar career path or someone who worked at a company they worked in (especially common in management consultants from what I’ve personally witnessed—a bit of a bias of my own!).

In practice, this results in interviews with practically no assessment of skills and just reminiscing on common experiences. Remember, you’re not hiring a friend, so vet the person properly.

Conformity bias / Authority Bias

This is where you may feel pressured to align your opinions to what the group or a person in an authority position thinks.

I make sure to highlight this to both people who will interview in a panel and the hiring managers themselves so that they don’t try to influence the opinions of anyone. 

I’ll go over how to minimise conformity practically below, but making people aware of groupthink is often powerful.

Just because the hiring manager favours someone doesn’t mean they’re red-flag-free or the absolute best candidate. The hiring manager may be falling into a type of bias themselves, and by following their authority you’re playing to that bias too.

A very illustrative example of this is when I insisted that this one specific interviewing panel has a woman in it (I always do anyway, but call it spidey senses for this one).

Lo and behold, a candidate who received four “strong yeses” from the men in the panel received a “no” from the female interviewer. 

Turns out the candidate was very condescending and patronising to her in the interview, even though she would have been a peer to them.

I was the moderator for the panel discussion post-interview, and I could see that she was a bit shaken by the fact that she was the only “no” vote, but I encouraged her to stay strong and say what her true experience was.

Turns out we were right to listen to her because when I spoke to the candidate they were incredibly patronising towards me as well!

Intuition

Oftentimes you may be inclined to trust your gut when making decisions. Hiring should not be one of them. It may be something you listen to, and look to investigate in an interview setting with more in-depth questions, but it should never be the deciding factor.

Things to look out for are when someone says “I don’t know I just didn’t feel this candidate is the right fit” without being able to substantiate why. This often means that they only have a gut feeling, and they didn’t go and find the evidence to prove it either way, so they’re letting that vague notion of a gut feeling drive their whole decision.

I often see this in leaders who think they have a lot of experience (mixing here with confidence bias), so they never run a structured process. 

Contrary to popular belief, the most perceptive hiring managers I’ve worked with conduct incredibly disciplined and structured interviews, so experience doesn’t make you more freeform. 

A quote I’ve heard against this is “A structured process impedes my ability to get a feel for the candidate”. I’ll go over why that is troubling in the below section about why structured methods are great for reducing bias.

In response to that statement, my own gut feeling was telling me that they only go off of intuition—and I made sure to investigate and ask further questions, trying to get to the bottom of why they felt that way.

Turns out they couldn’t articulate it in any way other than “Well I just know”. If that isn’t classic intuition, I don’t know what is. 

Quite predictably that hiring manager was really hit-and-miss with their hiring, sometimes lucking out and others really missing the mark on the people they hired.

Zero Risk bias

This is a less talked about bias in hiring, but one I have seen happen so often that I’m surprised I haven’t seen it in the top biases in bias training. 

Zero risk bias is the tendency to overcorrect on the risk of any hire by trying to reduce the risk of hiring the wrong person to zero.

How this manifests in reality is an endless interviewing process, inability to make a decision, and additional assessments that get added last minute.

This could be a sign of an inexperienced hiring manager but, equally, someone who is so afraid to make a decision that they would rather get a decision by committee. 

If you see a company of a few hundred people plus where the CEO boasts of meeting every single person no matter how junior, this could be an indicator that the CEO has the ultimate hiring decision. 

The hiring managers underneath aren’t able to make a decision and they’re looking to decrease every hiring risk to zero, basically by passing the buck.

Not to mention that often there is time pressure to hire, so combining that with the aim to reduce risk to zero could invite mental shortcuts and biases of other kinds too!

The reality is no hire is ever zero risk. You can try to reduce the risk by interviewing and assessing appropriately for the role, the rest you have to leave to things like good leadership and performance management.

Culture Fit Bias

Something that might surprise you to consider as a bias, because it’s often seen as a critical part of the hiring process, is having a very narrow definition of a culture fit.

I’m always wary when a hiring manager tells me that a qualified candidate will not be a culture fit but, when pressed, is unable to substantiate why.

The way I train people is to focus on behavioural fit i.e. how someone performs their jobs and their attitude towards work.

For example, if someone is an introvert or extrovert can be part of a culture fit assessment, but both introverts and extroverts can be great team players—which is where your focus needs to be. That is the behavioural fit.

Often, company culture can boil down to “everyone must attend the company outing,” even if it’s uncomfortable for some.

I once had a very senior leader tell me that his strategy for hiring someone is whether they can see themselves “down at the pub” with this candidate. I countered that with, “Can you see yourself delivering a challenging project with the person? That should be your focus.”

Further information

As you may have noticed in some of the examples above, biases are not independent of each other. Biases can feed off of and interact with each other in multiple combinations.

It could be that because of some beauty bias you exhibit a halo bias too, and you don’t go with the questions you usually would ask anyone else to ascertain skills and competencies. 

There are many more examples of unconscious bias that may creep in (you may want to look up cognitive or unconscious biases), the above are just some of the most common ones you see in the context of hiring.

I highly recommend you research a bit more and read more about biases, especially in the context of different cultures if you’re going to take your hiring global. Books I can recommend are:

• The Culture Map: Breaking Through the Invisible Boundaries of Global Business
• BIASES and HEURISTICS: The Complete Collection of Cognitive Biases and Heuristics That Impair Decisions in Banking, Finance and Everything Else
• Bias Interrupted: Creating Inclusion for Real and for Good
• Invisible Women: Exposing Data Bias in a World Designed for Men
• Brotopia: Breaking Up the Boys’ Club of Silicon Valley
• Diversity in the Workplace: Eye-Opening Interviews to Jumpstart Conversations about Identity, Privilege, and Bias

Strategies to reduce bias

Now that we’ve started identifying how bias can rear its head here and there, let’s talk about strategies to reduce the effect your biases in the recruitment process have on your hiring decisions and candidate experience.

As mentioned above, it’s highly unlikely that you’ll be able to get rid of your biases altogether, but what you can do is look to exclude their influence from your decision-making process. I’ll start with more operational solutions and move towards more comprehensive ones.

Review your job descriptions

While we would like to encourage everyone to apply for any job, no matter what the language used is, time after time studies find that female candidates are less likely to apply for roles that have “masculine” coded words—especially ones that describe a highly competitive environment. 

I know too many stories of women who have ignored the “We work hard and play harder” motto at the door of a company and end up at a company outing to a strip club.

There are tools like the Gender Decoder and Textio that can help you get started to just understand where your own job descriptions skew.

Blind CV review

This is something that most modern applicant tracking systems can provide to different degrees of “blindness”. 

What I mean by that is hiding the names and generating either a number or a character of some kind (some generate an adjective and an animal e.g. Curious Panda, which is quite cute).

Others go further by parsing the CV, extracting only the experience, and blanking out things like company history and education.

You can make this applicable to hiring managers only or recruiters as well. Many studies have made the headlines that “ethnic-sounding names” got more rejections than “white” sounding ones.

This has the benefit of getting people to focus solely on the experience and will likely increase the diversity in the pipeline going to the interview stage.

However, it is a fairly surface-level solution and, honestly, not my favourite, because it’s a band-aid solution and it doesn’t eliminate any potential bias down the line during the interview process.

Recorded interviews

This is a solution if you do a lot of interviews over video calls, but it’s not for everyone. You can either use the Zoom recording tool or a separate tool like Screenloop which records and transcribes an interview and plugs it into your ATS.

This will be an additional expense of course, and bear in mind you should let the candidate know they’re being recorded and that these recordings should be only accessible to the parties relevant to the hiring and easy to retrieve and delete (especially so if in the EU with the GDPR laws).

This may be a good fit for organisations looking to foster transparency, and those that are undergoing a rapid expansion and would like to keep track of the candidate experience interviewers who are newer to the company are providing.

It is also, in my mind, a band-aid and perhaps a bit of an aggressive “Big brother is watching you” force of conformity. Perhaps that’s just me, but I’d rather go deeper in on bias with training and process rather than monitoring.

You may not have the resources and experience to provide those, so monitoring could be a good solution in the interim.

Structured interviewing

This is where a lot of my focus over my career has been as I’m quite militant with the interviewers I’ve worked with and grill them on the interview questions they ask candidates and why they ask each question.

My advice is always to be personable but not personal. What does that mean? It means if it’s not relevant for the job you don’t ask.

You can still be polite and have a bit of small talk without necessarily prying or getting too friendly. You will have plenty of time to get to know people if and when they get hired, but for the moment focus your precious moments of interviewing time on the matter at hand by asking highly relevant and useful questions.

An example of the kind of training I used to run is that I would give people a bunch of questions and open a discussion about which ones are appropriate to ask.

Some were quite obvious like “Are you planning on having kids soon?”—I hope you guessed correctly that the answer is no, it isn’t appropriate to ask something like this. Ever. It doesn’t matter if it’s the “normal” thing to do where you are, you should be striving to make things better.

In one training session, I had someone say that, for them, it’s  areally nice thing if someone asks “Where did you grow up?”.

It sparks a conversation that he’s from Spain and that usually is a great ice-breaker. It was interesting to see because my own experiences of being asked that question were never nice. 

For context, I am from Bulgaria and live in the UK where there were quite a few negative sentiments flying around about people from Eastern Europe. 

For me, my answer about where I am from was always followed by an “Oh…”  in various tones from pitying to outright hostile. While I was happy his own experiences were positive, it’s not the same for everyone. That’s why it’s best to avoid the question.

Checklist for structured interviewing:

• Is the question relevant to the skillset we require?
• Do you ask the same questions (roughly) of everyone?
• Do you ask for enough depth of the candidates to truly cover expertise?

This is not to say you cannot vary the interview at all with each candidate, but try to not let irrelevant things derail your interview so that candidates cannot be directly compared to each other.

For more on this read my article on the key to focused, engaging interviewing and you will start seeing a pattern of why I structure my interview training the way that I do.

Structured feedback

This is a slight offshoot from the structured interviews, but making sure the feedback from the interviewer is well structured and reasoned out has been my biggest weapon in sniffing out potential bias.

Anytime someone either makes a snap decision, or makes a decision on a “hunch” without being able to articulate it, it’s time to dig deeper.

Sometimes this is because they didn’t have the right words, or they weren’t sure they could put down what happened, but more often than not it was some sort of bias. These are uncomfortable, but necessary, conversations to have.

Biases mostly live where snap decisions are made, so getting the person to slow down their thinking is vital and try to reason out “The candidate said X I heard Y”—why? Or, even more common, “The candidate didn’t say this thing that I wanted to hear”—why didn’t you ask them?

In an effort to reduce any potential conformity bias, I always advise people not to share their feedback with others until they’ve submitted it in the system and have a decision. This especially applies to senior managers or hiring managers. 

A good ATS can make this a breeze by creating roles that can see all the feedback and others that can only see their own.

Education

Seems quite simple, but the first step is your own willingness to educate yourself and come to terms with the kinds of biases that live in your mind all the time. 

Get curious about where they may come from, how they appear in the world, and also what is the impact on other parties and your business.

It’s a readily accepted fact that unchecked bias in hiring leads to a less diverse workforce. This could be diversity of ethnicity, socio-economic background, mode of thinking, life experiences, etc. 

This inevitably creates a blind spot for your business which only grows as the business grows, and it may even ruin the momentum you have.

There are many companies out there that provide company-wide bias training. I cannot tell you the number of times I’ve seen the checkered pattern optical illusion image, but the simple fact that I’ve seen it many times doesn’t detract from the fact that it is something new to at least one person in the training group I’m in.

Believe it or not, A and B are the same shade of grey. The first step to education is challenging your own beliefs, even if it’s something you see with your own eyes.

Outside of official training, I usually take the time to deliver a few bits and pieces during other interactions to keep cementing the message and get people used to analysing their own behaviours. 

Here are a few ideas where you may include some learning points:

• During onboarding—this is a valuable time to put in a bit of information about your overall diversity and inclusion policy and how you help your teams combat bias overall.
• During interview training—always deliver at least a few points specifically on bias, but, overall, the training on how to conduct a well-structured interview is itself a way to reduce bias by drilling in the focus on skills and expertise only.
• Regular monitoring of interview feedback—I always request interview feedback be put in the ATS in full and monitor the feedback received. If it’s not detailed or just a single word e.g. “No”, I immediately check why.
• During interview feedback sessions—if you have sessions where multiple people that have interviewed the same candidate discuss the feedback, make sure the moderator is always clear as to why each conclusion was reached by each person.
• Working/employee resource group sessions—I make sure that, if the company I am working with has such groups (e.g. Women’s group, LGBTQ+, etc), I have at least one session per year where I make the topic hiring, the bias people have experienced etc, so allies and others can hear it. Of course, engage with those groups first to see if it’s something they’re comfortable with— it’s not every single minority group’s job to educate against bias.

Tackling your unconscious bias

Why do you need to battle your unconscious bias? Maybe you’ve read all of this and you are thinking “I’m fine with the way I hire.”

The company is doing fine and my team is nicely homogenous, we make decisions so quickly, and there is no conflict. 

To that I’d say “Your team is concerning to me. If no one has had anything to say, or questions the way forward, either all your new hires are like you, and no one knows where problems might arise, or you are a tyrant and no one wants to speak up.”

I’ll give perhaps one of the more famous examples of how a company doing well can still fail because they didn’t have enough diversity in their team—this one is less serious than others. 

YouTube, when first launching their app, found that 5-10% of their videos were upside down. They had no idea why. Finally, they came to the realisation that left-handed people hold their phones horizontally on the opposite axis. (Full case-study here).

Now I’m not advocating for diverse hiring quotas for left-handed people, but it illustrates how your lived experiences inform what you create. If you’re looking for more serious examples, look at how AI still has trouble accurately recognising black people’s faces.

Ultimately, minimising your own bias will make you a better colleague, manager, and hiring leader. It will help create a more buzzing environment where different voices can speak up, and you will create a product or service that applies to a larger swathe of the world.

Some further reading to help you with your hiring process.

• Employer Branding: Where To Start And How To Keep It Authentic
• 10 Key Recruiting Metrics To Focus On (And 12 Advanced)
• How To Create A Great Candidate Experience (Even Through Rapid Scaling)
• Recruitment Marketing: What It Is And 10 Effective Tactics

Subscribe to the People Managing People newsletter for regular expert-written articles covering all aspects of talent management and leadership.

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Another year, another set of decisions to make when it comes to all of the things under the umbrella topic of HR—employee engagement, job satisfaction, and employee and performance management, to name just a few.

You don’t want to make those decisions blindly, given that any one decision affects your whole company. Looking to HR statistics, even if the HR role doesn’t directly apply to you, can give you some indication of what’s working—and what’s not—for other HR and non-HR personal. 

In this post, we’ve rounded up some insightful HR statistics to help both HR and non-HR professionals alike make those hard decisions and have a positive impact on your employees and your company.

Read on for HR statistics on:

• Recruitment
• Employee Onboarding
• Employee Retention
• Employee Engagement
• Job Satisfaction
• Performance Management
• Employee Recognition
• Diversity and Inclusion
• Employee Burnout
• Employee Wellness
• Hybrid And Remote Working

Recruitment Statistics

In recent years, finding and hiring the right candidate for a position has become more difficult, so you really need to stand out to attract candidates and seek to get referrals from current or former employees.

Keep up with hiring and recruitment trends to decide what works for you and your potential employees. 

• 86% of HR professionals surveyed indicated recruitment is becoming more like marketing. (Glassdoor, 2021)
• 70 percent of employees said that their sense of purpose is defined by their work. So, like it or not, as a company leader you play an important part in helping your employees find their purpose and live it. (McKinsey & Company).
• LinkedIn remains the best recruiting platform for professional roles in 2023. (Forbes)
• 67% of HR professionals believe that AI will benefit and have a positive impact on the recruitment process, while 35% believe AI could lead to overlooking unique and unconventional talents. (Tidio)
• 86% of employees and job seekers research company reviews and ratings to decide on where to apply for a job. (Glassdoor, 2021)
• 97% of companies are planning bigger investments in recruitment technologies in the coming 2023 year, with 47% investing in AI technologies. (Zippia)
• ​​67% of GenZ feel that it’s important to work for a company that shares their values. (CareerPlug)
• In 2021, over 70% of job applications were completed on a mobile device. (CareerPlug)

Takeaways: recruitment is a fast-moving game but, from the above stats, it appears that recruitment marketing and new technologies are starting to take increased prevalence.

Related reads:

• Recruitment Marketing: What It Is And 10 Effective Tactics
• How To Write A Zinger Job Description
• 10 Best Recruiting Software of 2023

Employee Onboarding Statistics

Employee onboarding is crucial to ensuring new employees are motivated and productive. Bad onboarding experiences can set back employee development or increase turnover, so companies are putting more resources into the process.

Some stats to help you fine-tune your onboarding process. 

• Implementing a formal onboarding program can result in 50% higher employee retention and 62% productivity increase within the same group. (Harvard Business Review)
• 69% of employees are likely to stay with a company for 3 years if they experience great onboarding. (Clickboarding)
• Receiving company swag helps create a welcoming feeling, 91% of those who received swag felt effectively welcomed to their new company. (InfoQ)
• At Microsoft, new hires with assigned onboarding buddies were 23% more satisfied with their onboarding experience. (Microsoft)
• The onboarding process should last for about 3 months, although in some cases it can last up to a year (general consensus).

Hopefully you’re now convinced of the importance of onboarding and have some idea of how to approach it. Some further resources:

• How To Write A 30 60 90 Day Plan For Your Org’s Onboarding + Template
• 10 Best Onboarding Software

Employee Retention Statistics

We all know an important part of HR is keeping great employees once you’ve hired them. An employee might quit for a variety of reasons, some of which, admittedly, are out of your control.

Put time and resources into the reasons you can control, like fostering an engaging and healthy office culture, providing growth opportunities, and making employees feel valued.

• A study showed that lack of opportunities for growth was the number one reason employees wanted to leave their job, followed by better work-life balance. (CareerPlug)
• Employee retention tops the list at 20% for priorities for businesses in 2023, followed by recruiting at 14% and company culture at 12%. (HRReporter)
• As of December 2022, 46.6 million Americans have quit their jobs vs. 47 million in 2021. (Statista).
• The average tenure in 2022 is 4.1 years, with the longest industry-specific tenure being 6.8 years at government jobs. (BLS)
• 95% of HR managers believe that burnout has the most serious consequences on employee retention. (Forbes)
• More Baby Boomers (46%) reported that flexibility in work hours or schedule would make them stay long-term at their organization than Gen X (38%), Millennials (31%), and Gen Z (24%). (Paychex)
• 58% respondents said lack of appreciation was a reason for leaving their jobs (People Managing People).

Takeaways: people value flexibility! They also appreciate feedback and recognition (more on this later).

Related reads: How To Attract And Retain Top Talent Through The Employee Life Cycle

Employee Engagement Statistics

As you probably know, one of the  HR department’s hardest tasks is helping to keep employees engaged in their work and the company.

Use the below stats to guide your employee engagement efforts:

• 70% of employees report that the quality of the team leader creates more engaged employees and work relationships. (Gallup)

• In early 2022, a Gallup study was released that showed 32% of full-time and part-time employees are currently engaged in their jobs, while 17% are disengaged. (Gallup)
• 45% of employees feel emotionally drained from their work and, the younger the employee, the more likely they are to report these sentiments. (SHRM)
• Executives are 8 times more likely than other employees to say that their purpose is fulfilled at work, while the group who are most reliant on purpose-driven work are parents. (McKinsey&Company)
• Gallup’s chief scientist for workplace and wellbeing research, Jim Harter, stated that quiet quitting aligns with employees being unengaged and especially affects employees born after 1989. (CareerPlug)

Takeaways: Managers have a significant impact on employee engagement, and it’s HR’s job to support them.

Related reads: 

• How To Grow Exceptional People Managers Within Your Business 
• People Management Tips For New And Experienced Managers

Job Satisfaction Statistics

If you’re passionate about HR, you probably care about whether your employees are satisfied with their roles. 

A few stand-out employee satisfaction statistics to keep in mind:

• Only 20% people are passionate about their jobs (Zappia).
• 74% of employees in the U.S believe that company culture is the biggest reason for job satisfaction. (ApolloTechnical)
• The two main factors for high job satisfaction are “high meaning” and income (Zappia).
• 64% of employees believe that celebrating employees’ milestones and life events creates positive work relationships and job satisfaction. (Globoforce)

Takeaways: there are a lot of factors that go into employee satisfaction, but we can see that culture, income and meaning/purpose are three strong proponents.

Related reads:

• Company Culture: Why It Matters And How To Improve Your Own
• 15 Vision Statement Examples & How To Write One
• How To Create A Compensation Philosophy For Better Hiring And Retention

Performance Management Statistics

Keeping track of employee performance can be tough at the best of times—and it gets tougher as your company grows. 

On top of that, a recent trend has been an increase in performance reviews and feedback. Use the below stats to help you refine your performance management.

• 75% Senior HR Managers agree that collaboration, constant communication and a mentorship culture between managers and teams will become the future mandate of a high-performing workplace. (Cision)
• 22% of organisations are asking managers to focus more on behaviours than outcomes when assessing performance this year, and 12% are asking managers to focus more on outcomes than behaviours. (HRD, 2021)
• 80% of employees prefer to get immediate feedback (weekly, monthly, quarterly) rather than wait for performance reviews. (EmploySure)
• In terms of performance management, more companies (48%) were focused on productivity and engagement than on development (31%) in 2022. (ClearReview)

Takeaways: It’s clear that performance management needs to change from the annual performance review to a more continuous process of regular feedback and mentorship.

What’s also interesting is that there’s a shift in focus to productivity and engagement than development, which indicates these as more prevalent issues to address (more on this later).

Related reads:

• How To Choose The Right Performance Management System For You
• 10 Performance Management Tools Every HR Pro Should Know

Employee Recognition Statistics

Year in, year out, HR statistics show that employees want to be recognized. But what’s the best way to recognize them? 

• The 6 most “memorable” types of recognition are public recognition and getting a promotion or more responsibilities. (Gallup)
• 64% of employees say employee recognition and appreciation is more important while working from home. (Human Resource Executive)
• 37% of employees say that personal recognition would encourage them to produce better work. (Fortune)
• 82% of employed Americans don’t feel that their supervisors recognize them enough for their contributions. (Harvard Business Review/OGO).
• There is an increase of 83% engagement when companies adopt the practice of recognizing small wins at work. (OCTanner)

Takeaways: people like to receive recognition in different ways, and not always in the way you expect. The statistics show a preference towards regular praise and public recognition, so keep this in mind when creating your employee recognition program for the coming year.  

Related read:

• 30 Creative Employee Recognition And Appreciation Ideas
• 10 Best Employee Recognition Platforms to Celebrate Top Talent

Diversity and Inclusion Statistics

Having a diverse workforce is important for a number of reasons. You want to ensure your company reflects the demographics of your customers, and it promotes a range of opinions and ideas, which is great for choosing the right path for your company.

Diversity is a hot topic among HR professionals, and the HR statistics show it will continue to be. Take note when planning upcoming HR initiatives.

• By 2044, minority groups will reach majority status. (U.S. Census Bureau)
• 48% of GenZ are ethnically diverse, and most identiy as being non-white minorities. (Forbes)
• 1 in 4 Black, Hispanic, or Latinx employees has experienced discrimination at work. (Gallup)
• According to a study, blind applications increased the likelihood of a woman getting hired from 25-46%. (Harvard University)
• According to Forbes, 90% of Fortune 500 companies are already utilizing employee resource groups to help with DEI efforts. (Forbes)
• 58% of employees who say they’ve experienced pay discrimination are women. (Talent.com)
• Women are less likely to negotiate their salary because of gender bias; research proves that women are often perceived to be greedy, or not a team player, upon asking for a pay raise. (Talent.com)

Takeaways: As GenZ enters the workforce companies will come under increasing scrutiny regarding their diversity and inclusion efforts.

There are many ways to increase DEI initiatives in the workplace such as promoting employee resource groups, using accessible language in job descriptions, highlighting DEI values and goals within the company, and allowing for salary transparency. 

Related reads:

• Humanize Your Workplace With Employee Resource Groups
• How To Write Your DEI Mission Statement (And How To Do It Justice)
• 10 Best DEI Certifications To Take In 2023

Employee Burnout Statistics

Another hot topic is employee burnout. High-stress levels, long working hours, and little time off contribute to this phenomenon. It’s costing companies money and employees unless they prevent it. 

The HR statistics show who’s most vulnerable and some pointers for how to mitigate against it.

• Nearly 3 in 5 employees reported negative impacts of work-related stress, including lack of interest, motivation, or energy (26%) and lack of effort at work (19%). Meanwhile, 36% reported cognitive weariness, 32% reported emotional exhaustion, and an astounding 44% reported physical fatigue—a 38% increase since 2019.(American Psychological Association)

• Middle managers are the employee group that experiences the most burnout at 43%. (Forbes)
• 75% of managers report that receiving more guidance from employers would help them better prioritize their work and manage stress. (CNBC)
• Female workers experience burnout 32% more than male workers. (Forbes)

Takeaways: It’s evident that chronic stress is an issue, which will eventually result in burnout, and that managers, especially female, are most susceptible to burnout. 

Related reads:

• How To Identify, Pre-empt, And Deal With Workplace Burnout
• How To Support New Managers With A People Partner Program

Employee Wellness Statistics

One way to prevent burnout is to promote employee wellness. Reducing stress and anxiety and encouraging workplace wellness will keep your employees happy and motivated. 

Use these statistics to keep your company trending in the right direction when it comes to mental health. 

• 68% of leaders are ranking mental health and well-being as the top priority going into 2023. (Forbes)
• Meditation app Headspace reported that interest from companies has increased by more than 500%. (MITSloan)
• Recent research found that companies that adopted five of these wellness initiatives—active listening, revisiting values, modeling wellness, addressing wellness in reviews, and introducing “bookends” to the workday—were able to improve employee loyalty by 79%, helping retain top talent while saving the time, money, and resources needed for new hires. (MITSloan)
• In a study, 33% of workers said that flexibility is the most important action taken by their employer in supporting their mental health. (BenefitsCanada)

Takeaways: Ensuring workers’ mental well-being is taking priority as we continue to navigate a turbulent world.

Organizations can help by offering access to mental health services, as well as providing flexibility and ensuring work-life balance. 

Related reads/listens: 

• How To Create A Mental Health Strategy That (Actually) Works (with Debbie Lang Pearmain)
• What Is ‘A Wellness Action Plan’ And How Can It Benefit Employee Mental Health?
• 10 Best Employee Wellness Platforms For Employee Health & Well-Being

Hybrid and Remote Working

The stigma of flexible work that was prevalent before the pandemic has decreased, but not everyone’s convinced yet. So, let’s dive into some stats.

• 75% of managers believe that remote working improves productivity and 62.5% believe that it boosts motivation. (The Guardian)
• A survey found that 1 in 5 employees want to be in the office 2-3 days per week. (Gallup)
• 43% of employees report that the hardest part about working remotely is not feeling included in meetings. (Statista)
• Flexible scheduling, like remote or hybrid work settings, improve factors like productivity, connection and company culture. (Forbes)
• 46% of employers see decreases in office space in 2023 and 59% are already planning to reduce their space by half. (Vistech)

Takeaways: Remote working or flexible working is the preference for the vast majority of workers and further research confirms a positive impact on motivation and productivity.

The switch to remote working is also impacting organizations plans for the office and what they should be used for.

Related reads/listen:

• 5 Challenges Of Managing Remote Employees And How To Overcome Them
• 6 Hard-Learned Lessons For Adapting To A Hybrid Working Model
• The 6 Key Benefits Of Remote Working For Companies And Workers
• The Puzzle Of The Hybrid Workplace And How To Solve It
• 10 Best Hot Desk Booking Software for Hybrid Teams in 2023
• 10 Best Remote Collaboration Software for Hybrid Teams in 2023
• 6 Key HR Trends And Emerging Practices For 2023 And Beyond

What’s Next In HR?

Stay up to date with HR statistics, trends, and data to make the best possible decisions for your employees.

We’ve collected some of the most useful human resource statistics to make your job a bit easier and to help you avoid making hard decisions alone.

Subscribe to our newsletter for regular articles on industry trends and other content to help you be a more effective HR leader.

The post 2023 HR Statistics, Trends & Data: Ultimate List appeared first on People Managing People.

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