To explore how TA and HR teams are navigating this new landscape, we partnered with GoCo, Verified First, and Lighthouse Research & Advisory to host a panel of today’s top industry experts. The conversation covered everything from AI, tech, and automation to internal mobility and workplace autonomy.  

In this blog, we break down the top takeaways and what they mean for teams building more people-first workplaces. Because no matter how much technology changes the way we work, people are still at the heart of every great employee experience. 

Meet the Experts 

Moderated by Ginny Drinker, SVP of Partnerships at Employ, the discussion featured 

• Dorothy Enriquez, Founder and Principal Consultant, The Ellevate Collective  
• Ben Eubanks, Chief Research Officer, Lighthouse Research & Advisory 
• Mike Rockwell, VP of Account Management, Verified First 

AI is Here to Enhance Human Connection 

AI can feel overwhelming—but our panelists agreed: it’s not here to replace people. It’s about giving TA and HR teams the tools to work more efficiently and focus on what matters most.  

Dorothy shared how organizations are beginning to embrace AI for tasks like content generation and performance feedback—using tech to create space for more strategic, people-focused work. “AI is a tool,” she said. “It’s not the end-all-be-all, but it’s something we can couple with our capabilities and confidence to execute with brilliance.” 

Ben pointed to lesser-known use cases like workforce scheduling, safety monitoring, and even “robot coaches” that guide employees through personalized development plans. These tools help HR teams support employees more proactively—anticipating needs, improving safety, and enabling growth without adding headcount at the same pace. 

Mike emphasized that AI is already shaping the candidate experience, from resume creation to interview prep. With job seekers moving fast, TA teams must be ready to meet them where they are—and rethink how they evaluate skills and potential. 

Key takeaway: Thoughtfully implemented tech can improve both efficiency and empathy—allowing HR teams to better serve employees at scale. 

What are robot coaches? Watch the clip!

Onboarding for an Evolving Workforce 

Onboarding sets the tone for the employee experience. But with teams now split between in-person, remote, and hybrid work, creating consistency is a growing challenge. 

As Dorothy pointed out, many companies confuse orientation with onboarding—focusing on logistics rather than culture and connection. True onboarding is a longer-term process focused on helping people feel supported, aligned, and confident in their role. 

Mike shared that he invites current employees to get involved in the hiring and onboarding process. “I don’t hire anyone until they talk to the people they’ll be working with,” he said. “It gives them a feel for what they’re walking into—what we do, how we work, and who we are.” That early connection helps build trust and clarity from day one. 

The panel encouraged HR leaders to build onboarding experiences that reflect how people actually work today. That means offering both synchronous and asynchronous learning, creating opportunities for team connection, and setting expectations around flexibility and inclusion. 

Key Takeaway: Strong onboarding blends technology with culture, helping new hires feel like part of the team—no matter where they work. 

Want Dorothy’s onboarding tips? Watch the clip!

Career Development: Employee-Led, Tech-Supported 

In a competitive hiring market, developing internal talent is more important than ever. Reskilling, upskilling, and internal mobility aren’t just nice-to-haves—they’re key to long-term success. 

Ben shared that investing in internal development is not only more cost-effective but also strengthens retention and engagement. He pointed to Chipotle as an example, “They put their money where their mouth is—literally. Managers who develop internal talent were offered bonuses when those people succeeded. It cut their turnover in half.”  

Mike added that leaning into employees’ skills can help them thrive. His team uses tools like StrengthsFinder to guide career conversations and match employees with roles where they’re most likely to succeed. This strengths-based approach not only boosts individual performance but also helps leaders find untapped potential across the organization. 

Dorothy highlighted the difference between mentorship and sponsorship—explaining that while mentors offer guidance, sponsors actively advocate for employees’ growth. Leaders who sponsor others play a crucial role in shaping inclusive, opportunity-driven cultures. That advocacy can open doors that might otherwise remain closed, especially for underrepresented groups seeking visibility and advancement. 

Key takeaway: Investing in career development shows your team there’s a future for them at your organization—and gives them the tools to get there. 

How does StrengthsFinder work? Watch the clip!

Flexibility is More Than Remote Work 

While flexible work arrangements are now the norm, the panelists emphasized that real flexibility goes beyond location. It’s about giving employees autonomy in how they work, learn, and grow. 

Ben gave examples of companies offering flexible hours, asynchronous work, and opportunities for employees to pitch new ideas. He emphasized the importance of creating space for innovation, sharing, “If someone has a good idea, let them raise their hand—you never know where it could lead.” He added, “We had an engineer share an idea, and leadership listened. That idea became a multimillion-dollar line of business. All because we created a culture that allowed people to speak up.” 

Mike pointed out a growing trend: employees are drawing hard lines about what they want. Some won’t consider office-only jobs, while others need in-person interaction to thrive. Trying to force one model for everyone simply won’t work. When employees feel trusted to manage their own time and environment, they’re more likely to stay engaged and committed. 

Key takeaway: The best employee experiences are the ones that feel personal. Flexibility, autonomy, and trust aren’t perks—they’re expectations. 

Want to hear Ben’s story? Watch the clip!

The Future of Work is People First 

TA and HR leaders are balancing more than ever—emerging technologies, shifting workforce expectations, and the pressure to do more with less. 

But success doesn’t come from choosing between efficiency and empathy. It comes from combining both—using the right tools to streamline processes while staying deeply focused on what people need to thrive. 

For even more insights from our all-star panel, check out our full session here. 

In today’s competitive business environment, employee loyalty is a key pillar of organizational success. This loyalty hinges on positive experiences throughout the recruitment and onboarding cycles. Sectors such as nonprofit and healthcare face unique staffing challenges, making the need for efficient recruitment and onboarding processes even more critical.

This blog explores how integrating an ATS (applicant tracking system), Payroll, and HR (Human Resources) system is key to building employee loyalty, with insights from Greenshades and JazzHR on their approach to simplifying these critical processes.

The Importance of an End-to-End Recruitment Process

A seamless recruitment process, stretching from candidate sourcing to onboarding, lays the foundation for building a loyal workforce. Integrating ATS, Payroll, and HR systems plays a critical role in streamlining this journey, ensuring a smooth, efficient, and positive experience for new hires.

Such integration not only increases operational efficiency, but also significantly improves the interaction between the organization and its potential employees, setting the stage for a lasting relationship. Organizations with strong onboarding processes experience an 82% increase in new hire retention and a 70% improvement in productivity.

The Challenges Across Sectors

Different sectors experience unique challenges in their recruitment processes. For instance, nonprofit and healthcare sectors demand quick placement of candidates due to the urgent need for staff and the high turnover rates typical in these industries.

However, a staggering 79% of healthcare candidates have abandoned the recruitment process because the placement wasn’t quick enough.¹ A strategic integration of ATS, Payroll, and HR systems makes the recruitment process steadfast, enhances communication, and ultimately boosts worker satisfaction and loyalty.

Benefits of Integration for Employee Loyalty

Integrating ATS, Payroll, and HR systems creates a cohesive ecosystem that allows information to flow smoothly across systems and processes. This integration significantly boosts the employee experience, cultivating loyalty through streamlined processes.

Automated forms and onboarding processes reduce administrative tasks, allowing new hires to concentrate on their roles instead of on paperwork. This shift bolsters their initial engagement and their loyalty from the start. Moreover, with data flowing seamlessly to payroll, employee compensation is both timely and accurate, a crucial element in promoting job satisfaction.

Integration of ATS, Payroll, and HR systems brings benefits that directly contribute to employee loyalty through:

• Timely & Accurate Payments: Workers are more likely to stay when payments are correct and timely. Data suggests that half of all workers would seek new jobs after just two payroll errors.²
• Streamlined Operations: Automating time tracking, scheduling, and payroll reduces frustrations, enhancing worker satisfaction and reducing turnover.
• Compliance Assurance: Integrated systems ensure adherence to labor laws and regulations, which helps to foster a compliant work environment.

Integrated Solutions Offered by Greenshades and JazzHR

Integrating ATS, Payroll, and HR systems is a strategic approach to enhancing employee loyalty across various sectors. By streamlining recruitment processes and ensuring a positive onboarding experience, organizations can build a strong, loyal workforce ready to contribute to their success.

Greenshades and JazzHR offer innovative solutions to meet the unique challenges faced by sectors like nonprofit and healthcare by integrating ATS, Payroll, and HR systems to optimize hiring and HR operations.

• JazzHR focuses on refining the recruitment process to make it more efficient and less time-consuming, directly addressing the urgency and complexity challenges faced by nonprofit and healthcare sectors.
• Greenshades offers a flexible, cloud-based payroll and HR solution that ensures proactive compliance, detailed tax reporting, and user-friendly employee self-service, contributing to a positive onboarding experience.

Enhance Your Employee Loyalty

For organizations looking to improve their employee loyalty through efficient recruitment processes, exploring the solutions offered by Greenshades and JazzHR is a step in the right direction.

About Greenshades

Greenshades provides mid-market businesses with flexible Payroll, HR, and Tax solutions. Our ERP-agnostic platform boosts in-house operations with proactive compliance, detailed tax reporting, and user-friendly employee self-service. Designed to meet diverse business needs, Greenshades offers dedicated support, ensuring efficiency and reliability for thousands of US-based clients. To learn more, visit our website.

¹Bullhorn. (2023). 2023 Talent Trends Report: Healthcare Spotlight. Bullhorn. https://www.bullhorn.com/grid/grid-2023-talent-trends-report-healthcare-spotlight/

²Miller, R. (2017, June 14). Just two payroll errors can cause 49% of employees to start job hunting. HR Dive: https://www.hrdive.com/news/just-two-payroll-errors-can-cause-49-of-employees-to-start-job-hunting/444377/

Today’s top human resources leaders have lots of knowledge and expertise. They know how to:

• Streamline their employee onboarding processes
• Drive and optimize workforce training initiatives
• Routinely optimize talent acquisition approaches
• Execute successful internal mobility programs
• Positively and consistently impact business growth

You might be an HR specialist solely focused on analyzing employee experience insights. Or perhaps you are a talent acquisition manager who oversees the recruiting function in your organization. Or maybe you are a sourcer who mainly handles candidate sourcing.

Whatever your human resources job title is, reading articles, listening to podcasts, watching webinars, and attending events that feature today’s top HR experts can help you grow your career.

While there are an incredible number of HR experts and talent authorities to learn from, let’s take a look at 10 well-known influencers you should consider following in the coming year.

Start learning from these 10 HR experts in 2024

Listed in no particular order, and in no way exhaustive, here are 10 human resources experts with years of experience in HR and human capital management (HCM) who can provide inspiration for your employee experience efforts and recruiting strategies.

1) Josh Bersin

• Founder and CEO, The Josh Bersin Company
• Founder and Dean, The Josh Bersin Academy

Josh started Bersin & Associates, his first HR advisory firm, back in 2001. After selling the venture to Deloitte in 2012 and leaving the firm in 2018, Josh founded a new professional development academy in 2019 and consulting business with other leading industry analysts in 2020.

In addition to providing guidance to CEOs and CHROs at companies worldwide, Josh’s new firm also regularly releases HR-centric and talent research. These reports cover the latest trends and best practices that can help organizations transform their human resources and talent functions for the better.

• HR Expert Insight: “The new model of talent mobility is centered around agility, opening up the system to give people time to work on other projects, to change roles and participate in developmental assignments.“

2) Madeline Laurano

• Founder, Aptitude Research

Madeline runs a Boston-based human capital management research and advisory firm that specializes in technology investment recommendations for HR leaders.

Strategic guidance provided by Madeline and her team helps business leaders discover which human resources and talent acquisition solutions, including applicant tracking systems (ATS), will help them improve their talent management, employee engagement, and hiring strategies.

• HR Expert Insight: “Success in talent acquisition … hinges on the ability to link recruitment and retention — making informed, equitable, and intelligent decisions using accurate data.”

3) D.K. Bartley

• Global Chief Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion Officer, Hill+Knowlton Strategies

D.K. currently owns and executes DEI programs, including those centered around diversity recruiting and hiring, for Hill+Knowlton Strategies, a global public relations consulting firm.

This work follows tenures in similar roles at Moody’s, where D.K. won several awards for internal and external DEI initiatives, and Dentsu International, where he advised the diversity hiring efforts for Microsoft, Facebook, and other Fortune 500 companies.

• HR Expert Insight: “Evidence-based research is especially relevant as companies look to shift their approach to DEI during a time of heightened awareness on gender, racial and social inequities.”

4) Ben Eubanks

• Chief Research Officer, Lighthouse Research & Advisory
• Founder, HR Tech Awards
• Host, We’re Only Human Podcast

Ben educates HR professionals on best practices for improving the workplace experience. He also helps technology vendors learn how to provide valuable products for HR teams.

Ben’s popular podcast and speaking engagements at industry events have positioned him as a go-to HR expert. He is well-known among his peers and is sought after for workforce management advice and software insights into solutions that help HR and talent functions thrive.

• HR Expert Insight: “HR departments have a lot on their plates. Systems that allow them to easily prioritize incoming requests are very valuable, enabling them to work on the most important things first.”

5/6) Trish Steed & Steve Boese

• Co-founders, H3 HR Advisors and HR Happy Hour Media Network

Trish and Steve have built a renowned human capital management research and consulting agency that helps CHROs make savvy, data-driven decisions regarding various business needs.

The HR experts’ advisory firm offers advice on strategic working planning, talent management, compliance, and technology investment decisions. The pair also provides actionable reports and insights with human resources leaders via their consultative work and podcast.

• HR Expert Insight: “If you can create a sense where your people feel like they are accepted, respected, and appreciated at work, they’re seven times more likely to go out there telling others about your company and helping you fill those jobs instead of you having to do it all by yourself.”

7) Vernā Myers

• Founder & President, The Vernā Myers Company
• Former VP, Inclusion Strategy, Netflix

Vernā is a thought leader in the diversity, equity, and inclusion space, with two decades of experience. She spent five years as head of Netflix’s DEI strategy, where she created and curated culture-centric initiatives that positively impacted the company’s international operations.

Add on a TED Talk on how to overcome biases, two best-selling books on improving workplace culture and diversity, and a LinkedIn Learning course on allyship that has been viewed and syndicated widely, and it’s evident Vernā is an HR expert worth following.

• HR Expert Insight: “In order for leaders to make true progress on diversity and inclusion, they need to work through not only the personal, but the interpersonal, organizational, and ultimately cultural level. If they do not work on all four levels, it’s really hard to see a shift.”

8) Meghan M. Biro

• Founder and CEO, TalentCulture
• Host, #WorkTrends Podcast

Empowering recruiters at hundreds of prominent organizations, including big-name brands like Microsoft and Google, has been at the heart of Meghan’s human resources and talent acquisition services at TalentCulture since 2008.

Meghan’s work centers on establishing strong, human connections with top talent.

On her podcast, Meghan regularly shares her take on the latest news and trends in the HR space and engages with other industry experts in lively conversations. Recent topics covered include planning for business resiliency, building workplace trust, and leveraging people analytics.

• HR Expert Insight: “Whatever [HR] technology you’re leveraging, make sure you focus on transparency, communication, relationships, and data-driven reporting when it comes to your talent strategies.”

9) Tim Sackett

• President, HRU Technical Resources
• Author, “The Talent Fix: A Leader’s Guide to Recruiting Great Talent“

Tim runs a successful IT and engineering contract staffing firm and has more than 20 years of experience working in various recruiting and human resources roles.

Insights from Tim’s tenure in the HR industry can be found in his best-selling book and widely read blog, where he shares what it takes for employers of all sizes — from SMBs to enterprises — to reinforce their organizations with top talent and future-proof their businesses.

• HR Expert Insight: “Too many of us break our ATSs by trying to customize the software to our bad hiring processes, and then we say the ATS doesn’t work! But it’s not the ATS’ fault.”

10) Sarah White

• Founder and Head of Strategy & Insights, Aspect 43
• Advisory Board, Future of Talent, HR.com

As SHRM noted, Sarah is “dedicated to revolutionizing the way we work” by helping business leaders discover the technologies that can help them attract, hire, and retain top talent.

Sarah and her team at Aspect 43 polls employers to unearth their recruiting challenges and hiring needs, then plans bespoke strategies and recommends strong-fit software solutions to empower clients to transform their talent acquisition and human resources approaches.

• HR Expert Insight: “Our individuals at work are so much more than just their skills, and where the actual gap is is understanding what that person not just has those direct skills, but also where their desires and passions of where they want to go and grow are as well.”

Learn how you can improve your recruiting speed, quality, and efficiency with JazzHR. Book a demo today to take the tour of our recruitment software for small businesses.

One key difference is that bigger businesses have — well — bigger human resources teams. And within these HR departments, there are multiple people focused on HR reporting.

Your SMB likely has just one or maybe two HR professionals who tackle important tasks daily, with HR reporting tied to your recruiting efforts possibly one of them.

Although it may be challenging to find the time, collecting, analyzing, and taking action on HR data to ensure your business can make informed decisions is critical.

Using analytics to drive data-driven improvements requires insights from your human resources metrics that will also enhance your entire hiring process.

What HR reporting involves today — and why it’s so important

If you’re worried about falling behind in leveraging human resources analytics, don’t worry. It’s something that many small businesses struggle with.

“New HR professionals … are just starting to dip their toes into data,” Employee Cycle CEO Bruce Marable wrote for SHRM. “In fact, most HR leaders are tracking reports and metrics in spreadsheets. They aren’t sure what should be measured, how to calculate data, or even what to do with data.”

The good news is you can get going with HR data collection with relative ease using recruiting software with built-in recruiting reporting capabilities. Once implemented, you can then connect this solution to your other HR systems that house workforce data.

This connected human resources tech setup offers two big benefits for your small business:

• 1) Your hiring team can track candidate movement from one hiring stage to the next and ensure roles are filled quickly and efficiently, all from one platform. Data tied to new hires can then sync from this solution to your workforce-centric HR tech to create employee profiles.
• 2) From your small business recruiting software, you can send business leaders and other hiring stakeholders custom HR reports that highlight the best channels to source candidates and get applicants, which workflows slow down and speed up recruiting cycles, and other elements of your hiring process. Once candidates are hired, you can sync their profiles to your employee database to create new employee records and custom reports there as well.

The 2023 Employ Recruiter Nation Report found 24% of HR decision-makers plan to increase investment in reporting and analytics technology in 2024. This includes many human resources leaders at small businesses who know the importance of data to their HR teams’ success.

If you’re looking to get going with HR reporting, the best place to start is to learn the core HR metrics to monitor and invest in leading tech.

On the hiring side of your HR operations, you need a purpose-built applicant tracking system (ATS) with out-of-the-box talent analytics that every hiring team member can easily use.

Understanding key metrics tied to your HR reporting process

Before explaining the tech you need to succeed with HR reporting, let’s cover the basics around human resources metrics. There are two types of HR data your team must monitor regularly.

HR metrics associated with your workforce

First up, consider data that focuses on your employees, including:

• Employee productivity. These metrics can be analyzed by individual workers, entire teams, and your small business at large. Basically, you can see how employee output, and even the number of hours worked, contributes to revenue growth and other improvements company-wide.
• Employee engagement. The number of employees who quit, worker absenteeism, and employee satisfaction are just a few core HR metrics small businesses track and report on over time.
• Employee retention. Tracking turnover and retention over time gives SMBs insight into bigger-picture trends they need to address. For example, if employees in certain types of roles are leaving at a high rate, small business leaders can figure out what’s causing that. This metric also informs short-term hiring needs for high-priority positions.

Remember: Your small business leaders need to be kept in the know regarding workforce trends.  

Yet, Sapient Insights Group research found 40+% of HR teams only shared some critical HR metrics with their leaders monthly in 2022. This included compensation reports and performance management reports.

Your small business leaders need to be in the know regarding all workforce trends.

Conducting regular human resources reporting around these metrics is the best way to ensure you can make decisions that improve both your company culture and bottom line.

HR metrics related to your recruiting efforts

Th above part of the HR reporting process focuses on your workforce. But, you also need an ATS with built-in analytics that supports reporting on your SMB’s recruiting outcomes as well.

Advanced Visual Reporting (AVR) from JazzHR simplifies the talent analytics experience for small business recruiters. Easy-to-navigate dashboards offer insights into three facets of recruiting:

• Sourcing effectiveness. See how far applicants and sourced candidates move through the hiring funnel, including how many job seekers are extended offers and hired. Get more granular with source analysis to see which specific channels attract the best talent, including job boards, career sites, internal referrers, and social media sites.
• Workflow stages. Some small businesses use the same recruiting pipeline stages, including initial screening calls, panel interviews, pre-employment assessments, and offers submissions to candidates. Other SMBs create additional custom stages for more specific parts of the recruiting cycle where candidates are awaiting feedback or have completed a final interview. Regardless of the workflows they use, JazzHR customers can track candidate progression and easily report on recruiting outcomes using AVR.
• Hiring process speed. There’s time to fill — the number of days between when a requisition is approved to when a new hire starts. And then, there’s time to hire — the number of days between when a recruiter engages an applicant or sourced candidate to when they accept an offer. Both HR metrics can both be easily monitored in AVR and used to identify issues with certain Workflows to speed up your overall hiring process.

The Employ Recruiter Nation Report said it best. Human resources professionals at companies of all kinds, including SMBs, must routinely identify “where bottlenecks exist in the recruiting process and uncover opportunities to speed up time to hire and boost the quality of candidates.”

With an ATS like JazzHR, you can put an HR reporting process in place that helps you do just that.

Why an ATS is the perfect HR reporting software for your business

Of course, our best-in-class applicant tracking system offers much more than just HR reporting capabilities. JazzHR is a robust ATS with many features that help small businesses, including:

• Universal role posting to free and paid job boards with just a single click
• Resume uploader and parser to simplify and streamline applicant review
• Seamless data imports from spreadsheets and exports to HRIS software
• Email syncs to organize historical candidate communications in one place
• Searchable database to resurface previous applicants and sourced talent
• Integrations with LinkedIn, Zoom, and many other recruiting and HR tools
• Self-scheduling functionality to allow candidates to schedule interviews
• Customizable, pre-set job offer templates and offer documentation storage

But, it’s the in-depth, easy-to-use analytics that provide insights into these capabilities that makes ongoing improvement with your recruiting and hiring possible. And it ensures you can regularly share custom HR reports with your leadership team.

Discover how small businesses develop numerous types of HR reports and enhance their data-driven hiring efforts with Advanced Visual Reporting. Chat with our team today to learn more.

• Implementing a more human-centric approach to building a strong company culture
• Prioritizing employees’ mental health and their work-life balance in a disruptive period
• Boosting employee retention by training and promoting top performers company-wide
• Offering flexible working hours, particularly for those working remotely/in hybrid roles
• Ensuring the employee experience is a positive one by improving the work environment

And these 2023 HR trends will certainly remain a top focal point for HR leaders in 2024.

That said, there are certainly a growing number of other, more recent (and urgent) workforce-related events, patterns, and shifts that will impact your human resources function’s efforts to empower your workforce to thrive in the workplace (virtual and/or in-person) in the year ahead.

7 HR trends to know about in 2024

Here are some of the top HR trends today — more specifically, ones from the latest edition of Employ’s Recruiter Nation Report, which features in-depth recruiting and hiring data as well as expert “people” insights for CHROs and their teams — you should know heading into 2024.

1) Talent acquisition will continue to adapt to ongoing uncertainty

What better way to kick off our HR trends list than to share one from a fellow Employster?

Employ SVP People & Talent Corey Berkey detailed how all companies — from SMBs to enterprises — will continue to evolve their talent acquisition processes and priorities in 2024.

• That’s mainly due to lingering concerns about a recession and further tightening budgets.

Two specific ways in which Corey envision’s TA teams altering their approaches in the year ahead? Eliminate any inefficiencies, and enhance their existing recruiting methods.

“As businesses have adjusted hiring plans in reaction to economic conditions, talent acquisition teams have felt the impact,” said Corey. “Navigating a full requisition load with less tools or supporting resources forces teams to change their approach.” (Translation: Work smarter, not harder.)

Corey added how employers of all sizes and across industries are now “seeking ways to flex their recruiting practices and zero-in on high quality candidates, working to drive higher initial candidate quality.” These are efforts that “will shape talent acquisition … into 2024.”

2) The “do-more-with-less” hiring approach will (mostly) stick

No business division — whether it’s human resources, marketing, sales, or support — wants to have to do their jobs with limited budget and resources. And yet, in today’s business climate, that’s what ongoing economic uncertainty requires most (if not all) teams to do.

• That includes talent acquisition functions of today’s human resources teams.

“Whether companies are growing or slowing, talent acquisition teams are being asked to do more with less, based on the current economic uncertainty” WorkTech Founder and Principal Analyst George LaRocque shared for our 2023 Employ Recruiter Nation Report.

“Yet, while the economy may have been cooling … the available talent and required skills remain more complicated to find than ever,” George added. “Today’s recruiting challenges are the same as those previously associated with competition during times of strong economic growth.”

3) Orgs of all sizes will renew their focus on diversity recruiting

H3 HR Advisors Cofounder Steve Boese and CEO and Principal Analyst Trish Steed insisted employers will spend their time, resources, and energy on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives in 2024 and the years ahead. Specifically, with a concerted focus on diversity hiring.

• “Making increased commitments to diversity hiring is an important first step,” the duo noted.

“But, they also need to back up statements with actions, like using modern recruiting technology to facilitate blind screening and interview reviews, creating more diverse internal hiring teams, and publishing diversity hiring goals, and progress towards achieving these goals.”

Updating impact descriptions and career sites with messaging that relays your efforts around DEI certainly go a long way in proving your dedicated to making progress, Steve and Trish added.

However, proactive efforts to make ongoing strides with DEI — including with diversity hiring (e.g., implementing a skills-based TA approach to hire a broader array of underrepresented talent) is what will show your company truly cares about creating a more diverse, fair, and welcoming workplace.

4) Differentiation from other employers becomes a focal point

The Great Resignation led to a scarcity of talent actively looking for new work during the global pandemic. But, the market has since shifted. (And drastically, to say the least.)

Now, there’s a surplus of professionals aiming to join new companies. And yet, many job seekers remain selective regarding which employers they consider speaking with and joining.

Guidewire Software VP and Global Head of Talent Attraction Ian Creamer noted how, despite a sizable number of active candidates exploring new career opportunities, HR/TA teams must still ensure their open roles (and employer brand at large) stand out from other orgs looking to hire.

• “There is so much uncertainty in the market,” said Ian.

“The expectation of hiring managers and leaders is that the tide of layoffs should equal much easier access to talent, and that’s not always the case. We hire in the technology space, and truly top talent remains as hard to hire as ever.”

Ian added that “candidates are still showing up with multiple offers already in hand,” making it difficult to convince top-tier talent his company engages for open roles to accept their offers.

5) The use of artificial intelligence in TA continues to grow

Notice that the “AI-is-a-trend-crowd” has grown increasingly silent since early 2023? That’s because artificial intelligence is, in fact, here to stay. And it’s an “HR trend” all talent teams should investigate further, as there are undoubtedly several use cases for leveraging the advanced tech.

Restaurant Clicks CEO Brian Nagele remarked how arguably the top initial use case for TA teams is to leverage AI’s bias-reduction capabilities. (Ideally, by onboarding a leading recruitment platform that already has AI recruiting functionality baked in to help make bias-free hiring decisions.)

“Many human resource departments are becoming aware of the (sometimes) unintentional biases which occur during the hiring process,” said Brian. “The beauty of using artificial intelligence to review resumes is that the software is blind to the physical appearance of any applicant.”

Brian added how leading AI tech used by HR professionals today “focuses on recognizing candidate qualifications to filter through top talent.” This, in turn, can help reduce potential hiring biases and ensure HR functions solely consider talent based on their skills, expertise, and other qualifications.

6) Companies will prioritize candidate experience improvements

Despite not having as many recruiting resources as they’d like for 2024, NXTThing RPO Founder Terry Terhark said CHROs will ensure their teams will stay focused on the work at hand.

• But, that doesn’t solely mean refining and streamlining TA processes. It also entails making sure each job seeker their recruiters engage for openings have a strong candidate experience.

“Companies still need to pay attention to the candidate experience, their employment brand, and the speed of their recruitment process” to outcompete other orgs for top talent, per Terry.

Of all the latest HR trends featured here, improving the CX is really a perpetual task for TA teams. However, as Terry can attest, job seekers are becoming increasingly “picky” with employers.

Provide a consistently enjoyable hiring experience, and you’ll “win” more top talent.

7) Analytics will continue to play a pivotal role for hiring teams

Given data is now an indispensable asset for all HR/TA teams, HRU Technical Resources Talent Acquisition & HR Analyst Tim Sackett said it shouldn’t be a shock that using analytics to drive recruiting and hiring decision-making will remain a strategic imperative for employers.

• “Organizations with world-class recruiting functions are measuring the funnel,” per Tim.

“It is imperative that TA leadership and your executive team understand the recruiting capacity that your team can deliver. You only get that by measuring the [recruitment] funnel.”

Lighthouse Research & Advisory Chief Research Officer Ben Eubanks also believes actionable talent analytics is something employers of all types and across sectors must utilize daily.

“Recruiting has seen some massive swings in recent years,” Ben declared.

“The one thing that we consistently see … is that employers prefer hiring practices that deliver predictability. Anything we can do to streamline talent acquisition activities, take a more proactive approach, and make data-informed decisions is going to deliver a higher degree of predictability.”

Download the new Employ Recruiter Nation Report today to discover more data and insights that can help you plan, execute, and optimize your talent acquisition strategy in 2024.

By doing so, they can make sure only the most applicable candidates (i.e., those with the “matching” skill sets and experience levels) advance from one funnel stage to the next — and prospects the hiring team collectively agrees is best get job offers.

• It may seem obvious, but it’s worth saying: High-quality hires are vital to your company’s long-term success.

Only when your workforce is comprised of top-tier professionals who have the requisite knowledge and drive to succeed in their respective roles can you realize a healthy and productive work environment and ensure substantial employee satisfaction, both with their jobs and the company.

And the key to effectively measure and gradually improve quality of hire starts and ends with utilizing your talent data sets.

What is quality of hire, and why does it matter?

Quality of hire is a recruiting metric that measures the value new employees bring to an organization.

• A high-quality hire contributes positively to the workplace with strong performance, innovation, and lasting retention. In other words, they help “move the needle” for their employers by directly or indirectly aiding bottom-line growth.
• In contrast, a worker with a low quality-of-hire score doesn’t thrive in their day-to-day role, often requires regular assistance to complete their core tasks, and has a limited (if any) positive impact on team and organizational KPIs.

Quality of hire metrics encompasses a variety of factors. These range from hiring manager satisfaction, to performance reviews, to employee longevity.

By determining a quality-of-hire score, your HR and recruiting teams can analyze and refine their joint hiring processes to optimize overall TA costs and ensure all new hires align with your org’s strategic vision, mission, and goals.

Talent data’s role in measuring quality of hire

Talent data is crucial to enhancing the quality of hire in your org, which is vital to the company’s overall success. By leveraging data from various sources — including your HR team’s HCM/HRIS systems — your hiring managers can capably monitor and improve their recruiting processes.

Some of the most critical sources of pre-hire and post-hire talent data sets include:

• Employee performance: Quantitative insights tied to workers’ efforts to achieve assigned OKRs
• Hiring manager satisfaction: Qualitative insights from people managers regarding reports’ production
• Employee retention: Literally how long each individual at your small business remains at your company
• Employee engagement: Denotes how often workers proactively participate in organizational activities

By factoring in all these specific data points, your talent and human resources teams can discern the strength of historical hires. (Giving them at least six months or so to prove themselves on the job, of course.)

Through this analysis, they can then work with hiring managers to identify traits of high- and low-quality workers. Moreover, they can make data-backed changes to their recruitment model to ensure only top-tier talent is hired.

And yet, a recent JazzHR survey of 5,000+ small business talent pros and leaders found only about half calculated the quality of hire for their workforce and made efforts to improve their hiring quality.

As the saying goes, you can’t improve what you don’t measure.

The benefits of leveraging data for talent success

Time to hire. Pipeline speed. Offer acceptance rate. There are countless recruiting metrics you and your team must track daily to ensure you make steady progress toward your org’s defined hiring objectives.

But, don’t forget about monitoring quality of hire. A metric that, when addressed over time (whether monthly or quarterly) by your hiring stakeholders can lead to a stronger workforce and better business results.

Put plainly, the pros of calculating your hiring quality — and regularly modifying your recruiting approach at large to elevate said metrics — are many. The top benefits of improving your quality-of-hire metrics include:

Optimizing your sourcing strategies

Your talent acquisition data sets stored (and, ideally, dynamically updated) in your ATS can pinpoint which sourcing channels are most effective, based on how many quality, long-term hires come from said avenues.

“Because of the ever-increasing power of data analytics … hiring managers and recruiters are gaining a more accurate snapshot of the key components that connect data from the hiring process with post-hire business outcomes,” SHRM’s Roy Maurer recently wrote.

And that includes sourcing insights that reveal the best and worst channels to find premier employees.

Signing more strong-fit candidates

Analyzing talent data helps talent teams identify patterns within the candidate pool that indicate high potential for success within the org. This can range from project completion rates for software engineers, to the success of integrated campaigns for marketing team members.

By comparing the performance of new hires against the profiles of previously successful employees, you can adjust your recruitment strategy to find, engage, advance, and extend offers to only “proven” talent whose characteristics and approaches to work align with those of top performers.

Better aligning with business goals

The typical job performance ramp-up time varies by role and team. That said, after a few months, your hiring managers should be able to gauge how well recent hires are contributing to your org’s objectives.

That makes it vital for your talent team to check in with people managers 90 days after each hire is made to get their thoughts on their work performance. These anecdotal insights can inform changes to the types of talent TA specialists engage and screening questions they ask candidates.

Elevating workforce retention rates

Retention is harder to measure, when it comes to tying it into your overall quality of hire. That’s because employees can leave or are let go for any number of reasons, many of which don’t relate to the work quality.

That said, by diving deep into your org’s workforce retention data and speaking with HR, you can uncover patterns and trends that could enlighten you as to ideal recruitment alterations to make team-wide (e.g., where you source passive candidates).

Improving job-matching for hires

Through talent analytics, companies can identify the key attributes of high-performing employees in specific roles. This knowledge can inform the creation of more accurate job descriptions and requirements for future leads. In turn, this can (and should) lead to better job-matching.

Social job-matching tech “provide[s] an easy way to incrementally increase the value of traditional [candidate] assessments in driving quality of hire,” business advisor Dr. Charles Handler recently wrote for ERE.

Bolstering your employer branding

Your employer brand is crucial for attracting and retaining top talent. It’s a key piece of the employee value proposition and encompasses everything your org communicates as its identity to potential employees. 

The clearer and more compelling your employer branding, the more likely you attract the “right” candidates. (That is, those who deem your business model, company culture, and organizational mission one that aligns with their career aspirations.)

Need a better applicant tracking system to enhance your small business recruitment efforts — and help you improve your quality of hire over time? Look no further than JazzHR. Schedule a custom demo with our team today.

By Jason A. Geller, Regional Managing Partner, Nathan K. Low, J.D., Partner, and Kevin L. Quan, Associate, Fisher & Phillips LLP

The information provided here does not, and is not intended to, constitute legal advice. All information, content, and materials provided here are for general informational purposes only.

Overtime calculation and pay can create significant wage and hour issues for every employer.  Classifying eligible employees as exempt from overtime requirements is one of the most effective ways to avoid this wage and hour headache.  

The “salary basis” test is just one of the important requirements that employers must satisfy in order for an employee to be properly classified as an exempt employee. Failure to comply with the “salary basis” test will leave employers vulnerable to potential lawsuits, including, but not limited to, claims for misclassification and failure to pay overtime.

Background

Under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), employers are required to pay their employees a minimum wage and overtime pay for hours worked in excess of 40 hours per week, unless the employee is exempt from these requirements. 

One exemption under the FLSA is for employees who meet the salary basis test, which means they are paid a predetermined and fixed salary that is not subject to reduction based on variations in the quality or quantity of work performed. 

The salary threshold for the exemption is currently $684 per week, or $35,568 per year. See 29 CFR §§ 541.100, 541.601(b)(1). Keep in mind, the salary threshold may vary depending on more onerous state and local laws.

The FLSA regulations also exempt workers known as highly compensated employees (HCEs). To qualify as a HCE, an employee must earn at least $107,432 annually and meet a relaxed version of the duties test (i.e., “[T]he employee customarily and regularly performs any one or more of the exempt duties or responsibilities of an executive, administrative[,] or professional employee”).  See 29 CFR § 541.601(a)(1).

On February 22, 2023, the United States Supreme Court decided Helix Energy Solutions Group, Inc. v. Hewitt, a case that clarifies the definition of the “salary basis” test under the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”), particularly for highly compensated employees paid on a daily basis. 

The Court held that a “daily rate worker” was not exempt from the FLSA’s overtime guarantees notwithstanding his purported status as a “highly compensated employee,” because the employee’s compensation did not satisfy the “salary basis test,” which required compensation at a predetermined amount per week (or less frequently) regardless of the number of hours the employee actually worked during the pay period. 

History of Helix

The plaintiff in Helix worked as a tool-pusher on an offshore oil rig from 2014 to 2017. He was paid between $936 and $1,341 per day, no matter how many hours he worked in a given day. He received this day rate for every day he worked, which amounted to an annual salary in excess of $200,000. 

The plaintiff filed a lawsuit in federal district court in Texas, alleging he was misclassified as exempt and was therefore entitled to overtime. The district court disagreed with the plaintiff, holding that because he received at least $936 in any week that he performed work for his employer — i.e., more than the $684 per week required to meet the minimum requirement for the salary basis test — he was properly classified as exempt.

The plaintiff appealed this ruling to the Fifth Circuit. The Fifth Circuit agreed with the plaintiff, reasoning that the salary basis test requires an employee to be paid the same amount of salary on a weekly basis or less frequently, irrespective of the days worked in the particular workweek. 

Because the plaintiff’s pay varied by the number of days he worked in a workweek, the Fifth Circuit concluded it did not meet the regulatory definition of a “salary” for purposes of the white-collar exemptions under the FLSA. The employer appealed the Fifth Circuit’s ruling to the United States Supreme Court.

The United States Supreme Court’s Decision

The issue before the Supreme Court was whether the HCE exemption applied to employees who were paid on a daily basis.

The Court held that a worker who is not compensated on a salary basis cannot qualify for the FLSA’s white-collar exemptions, when the employee’s paycheck is based solely on a daily rate, meaning the employee receives a certain amount if the employee works one day in a week, twice as much for two days, three times as much for three, and so on.  

In reaching its conclusion, the Supreme Court pointed to the text and structure of the FLSA’s regulations, and observed that nothing in the regulatory description of a salary applies to a daily rate worker, who by definition is paid for each day they work and no others.  In short, according to the Court, a day rate is not the same as a salary for purposes of the FLSA.

The Court further advised that an employer could come into compliance with the salary basis requirement in two ways.

• First, it could add to the plaintiff’s per-day rate a weekly guarantee that satisfies certain regulatory conditions, which include that the guaranteed amount meets at least the minimum weekly required amount paid on a salary basis, regardless of the number of hours, days, or shifts worked and that a reasonable relationship exist between the guaranteed amount and the amount actually earned.
• Alternatively, the employer could convert the plaintiff’s compensation to a straight weekly salary for the time he spent on the rig.

What this means for employers

Although Hewitt was compensated well over $200,000 annually (thus meeting the minimum weekly requirement for the highly compensated employee exemption), he was not paid on a salary basis because a “true salary — a steady stream of pay” cannot vary much and is an amount that the employee may rely on “week after week.”  Specifically, the fluctuation in Hewitt’s pay indicated that he was not truly compensated on a salary basis.

Going forward, employers should be careful paying on a day-rate basis those employees they claim to be exempt, and, if they do, work to ensure that the overall compensation arrangement is in compliance with the salary basis requirement as articulated by the Supreme Court in Helix.

Considerations and steps moving forward

The decision highlights the importance for employers to comply with the strict requirements under the FLSA to ensure employees are properly classified as exempt employees. There are four important steps for employers to consider:

The information provided here does not, and is not intended to, constitute legal advice. All information, content, and materials provided here are for general informational purposes only.

About the Authors

Jason A. Geller

Jason A. Geller is the managing partner in the Fisher & Phillips LLP San Francisco office. Jason represents employers in all facets of employment law matters.

He has extensive experience defending employers in litigation involving claims under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), the California Family Rights Act (CFRA), the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA), the California Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) and California wage and hour laws.

Jason has defended employers against class and individual wage and hour claims, including claims for alleged misclassification of exempt and independent contractor status, and failure to pay overtime and provide meal periods and rest breaks. He also frequently defends employers in whistleblowing and retaliation claims, including claims under the California Whistleblower Act, the False Claims Act and various provisions of the California Labor Code.

His clients are involved in a variety of industries, including insurance, assisted living, independent living facilities, construction, manufacturing, engineering, architecture, education, hospitality, professional services, agriculture, technology, retail and restaurant industries. Between 2015 and 2018, Jason was included in Northern California Super Lawyers.

Nathan K. Low, J.D.

Nathan K. Low, J.D., is a partner in the Fisher & Phillips LLP San Francisco office. He represents employers in all areas of labor and employment law. His practice focuses on defending employers in wage and hour class and collective actions, PAGA claims, single-plaintiff claims, and retaliation and wrongful termination claims.

Nathan has been recognized in The Best Lawyers in America, Ones to Watch (2021 – 2023) and Super Lawyers Rising Starts (2020 – 2022). He is a Member of the Orange County Asian American Bar Association (OCAABA).

While in law school, Nathan was a judicial extern for the Honorable David O. Carter of the United States District Court, Central District of California and the Honorable Gregory Keosian of the California Superior Court. Nathan was an officer and member of UCLA’s Moot Court Honors Program and competed throughout the country.

He was also an editor for the Los Angeles Public Interest Law Journal. He received his J.D. from the University of California, Los Angeles School of Law and a Bachelor of Arts, cum laude, from the University of California, Berkeley.

Kevin L. Quan

Kevin L. Quan is an associate in the Fisher & Phillips LLP San Francisco office, where he represents employers in all areas of employment litigation.

His practice focuses on defending employers in a wide range of issues including claims for discrimination, harassment, retaliation, wrongful termination, failure to provide reasonable accommodation, leave law violations, wage and hour class and collective actions, unfair competition, and tort and contract-based disputes.

In addition to his litigation practice, Kevin also counsels employers on a variety of workplace matters including risk assessment and litigation avoidance, policy development and compliance, employee handbooks, training and employment contracts.

During law school, Kevin served as a judicial extern for the Honorable Edward M. Chen of the United States District Court, Northern District of California and for the Honorable A. James Robertson II of the California Superior Court. He served as the Executive Managing Editor of the UC Hastings Constitutional Law Quarterly.

By Nathan K. Low, J.D., Partner, Fisher & Phillips LLP

The information provided here does not, and is not intended to, constitute legal advice. All information, content, and materials provided here are for general informational purposes only.

Given the current state of economic uncertainty, some employers have considered or turned to a reduction-in-force (RIF) or mass layoffs. During such tumultuous times, it is important that employers carry out any RIF with documented care and precision in order to avoid potential legal pitfalls. 

Preparation is key, as there are many issues that can be triggered if a RIF is implemented haphazardly. An employer should carefully walk through the following steps and considerations.  

Step One: Identify Desired Objectives and Consider Whether Alternative Cost-Saving Measures Exist

Before moving forward with a RIF, it is important to understand and consider other cost-saving alternatives. From an employee relations standpoint, exploring alternatives can demonstrate that an employer evaluated less severe measures before resorting to layoffs. From a legal standpoint, making such considerations may help an employer defend the necessity of the RIF, if challenged down the road.

For example, an employer may consider a hiring freeze in specific work units or departments or instituting some form of a pre-layoff promotion and transfer freeze. Other temporary cost-saving measures include implementing a temporary furlough, temporarily reducing employees’ hours, or temporarily reducing employees’ pay. However, even these temporary cost saving measures come with their own compliance challenges and risks.

Step Two: Make Initial Logistical Decisions

Once an employer determines that there is no other course of action, the employer should establish a decision-making team to take charge of the RIF process.

Ideally, the team should include a representative from each stakeholder area (e.g., human resources, legal, upper management, key supervisors in affected work units, etc.) and closely coordinate with the employer’s workplace legal counsel.

This team should then make initial decisions about the planned actions and execution, including:

• The necessary scope of the RIF (how many positions to reduce or re-organize)
• Whether voluntary separations will be solicited from current employees
• The operational budget to implement the RIF (legal fees, severance payouts, unemployment insurance)
• The timing of the layoffs and notification to employees

As detailed in the next steps, proper timing is crucial. There are many federal and state-specific laws that place onerous requirements on employers engaging in a RIF.

Step Three: Create a Selection Process for Layoffs

The most scrutinized part of any RIF is the selection process and criteria used to determine which employees will be let go. Some common criteria include:

• Seniority: An objective criteria based on the concept of last hired, first fired.
• Skillset or Versatility: Retaining workers with the most in-demand or versatile skills and experience.
• Merit: Selecting workers based on the objective performance metrics of each employee. Often, this is the preferred choice because of the practice of weeding out poor performers.

Employers often use a combination of the above criteria. The key is to develop thoughtful, objective selection criteria that are thoroughly reviewed and vetted by all decision-makers, ideally with the assistance of legal counsel. 

Employers should be cautious to assess employees’ skillset or performance based on actual objective metrics, rather than a specific manager’s subjective opinion about an employee.

Likewise, skillset or merit-based criteria can create potential liability where an employee’s objective performance is difficult to quantify or compare with other similarly situated employees. This is where objective documentation, such as annual performance reviews, play a significant role.

Before finalizing the list of employees based on objective criteria, an employer should run a statistical discrimination analysis of the selected employees to determine if the numbers suggest discrimination based on any protected category (e.g. gender, race, age, etc.).

If the statistical analysis reveals potential imbalances, then the employer should explore the variances that create the discrepancy and ensure that the non-discriminatory reasons for the statistical variance are documented and well-established. Finally, if the workforce is unionized, then an employer must also examine all bargaining obligations under the operative collective bargaining agreement.

Step Four: Understand the Various Intersecting Laws

A RIF is subject to various federal, state, and local laws, such as the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act and state-specific “mini-WARN” laws. At least 19 states currently have more onerous layoff requirements that employers must adhere to in addition to federal WARN. 

Indeed, state-specific “mini-WARN” laws, such as in states like California, may require advance notice and disclosures to selected employees even where federal WARN may not apply. All these laws will impact the employer’s timing, decision-making, and notification responsibilities to the selected workforce.

Under federal WARN, each selected employee is entitled to a full 60 days’ notice, including part-time employees, employees on temporary layoffs or leave who have a reasonable expectation of recall, and regular full-time employees. Importantly, although part-time employees are not counted to calculate whether federal WARN notice is triggered, part-time employees are entitled to notice.

WARN notices to selected employees must be specific, and the information provided in the notice must be based on the best information available to the employer at the time the notice is provided. This information includes:

• Whether the planned action is expected to be permanent or temporary
• If a plant is being closed, the notice must include a statement to that effect
• The expected date the plant closing or mass layoff will commence, as well as the date that the affected employee will suffer an employment loss (or set forth a 14-day window during which the employee will suffer an employment loss)
• An indication as to whether or not bumping rights exist
• The name and telephone number of a company official who can be reached for further information

Notice to individual employees must be written in clear and specific language that is easily understood by all employees. Along with the above, an employer may decide to include information regarding available dislocated worker assistance or other post-layoff benefits. If the action is temporary, it may be useful to inform employees of the estimated duration.

An employer must deliver the WARN notice so that the selected employees will receive the written notice at least 60 days before being laid off (e.g., first class mail, personal delivery with optional signed receipt). Providing only verbal notice is not enough. While notices should be as accurate as possible, minor errors in the notice or errors that are due to an unforeseeable change in circumstances usually do not violate WARN.

A failure to give notice or issuing a WARN notice with major errors, however, can result in substantial liability. Employers who violate WARN are liable for back pay and benefits for each day of violation up to a maximum of 60 days.

Employers may also face civil penalties of up to $500 per day. However, the amount of liability may be reduced by any wages or benefits paid to employees during the period of violation, and by any “voluntary and unconditional payment” by the employer to the employee that is not required by any legal obligation.

Step Five: Consider Whether Severance Agreements Are Appropriate

In some situations, an employer may decide to provide severance payments to selected employees in exchange for a general release of claims and liability in the form of severance agreements. Severance pay is a payout that goes above and beyond what is owed to an employee for work performed or as final wages owed to that employee.

There are a number of individualized factors that an employer should consider prior to issuing and obtaining signed severance agreements, including but not limited to, focusing on vacation and other PTO benefits earned, retirement/severance overlap, unemployment benefits, state-specific release requirements, and the Older Worker Benefits Protection Act (OWBPA) for those age 40 or older.

Under the OWBPA, if an employer seeks to obtain a release of age discrimination claims from an employee 40 years or older, the employee must be given a minimum period of 45 days to consider the agreement in addition to other disclosure requirements that the employer must provide. All of these issues must be considered and reviewed by an employer prior to drafting and issuing severance payments in exchange for severance agreements. 

Step Six: Effective Communication

One of the most difficult parts of a RIF is communicating the news to selected employees as well as the entire workforce.

Employers should ensure that the news is delivered with empathy and understanding through the proper messenger.

An employer may also consider whether public announcements are necessary to the local community and general public. How to deliver the message varies on a case-by-case basis, but it is important for leadership and the decision-making team to spend time weighing all the options to determine best practice. 

Conclusion

Reduction-in-force is a difficult and emotional process for both employers and employees. In the employment law context, it is important to go through the arduous decision-making process, as detailed above, to better situate the company to defend against the fallout of potential legal claims. Ultimately, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

Subscribe to our blog for more informative content on emerging legal changes in HR and talent acquisition, and stay tuned each month for our Employment Law Thought Leadership Series. View Part 1 on Pay Transparency here.

The information provided here does not, and is not intended to, constitute legal advice. All information, content, and materials provided here are for general informational purposes only.

About the Author

Nathan Low, J.D., is a partner in the Fisher & Phillips LLP San Francisco office. He represents employers in all areas of labor and employment law. His practice focuses on defending employers in wage and hour class and collective actions, PAGA claims, single-plaintiff claims, and retaliation and wrongful termination claims.

Nathan has been recognized in The Best Lawyers in America, Ones to Watch (2021 – 2023) and Super Lawyers Rising Starts (2020 – 2022). He is a Member of the Orange County Asian American Bar Association (OCAABA).

While in law school, Nathan was a judicial extern for the Honorable David O. Carter of the United States District Court, Central District of California and the Honorable Gregory Keosian of the California Superior Court. Nathan was an officer and member of UCLA’s Moot Court Honors Program and competed throughout the country.  He was also an editor for the Los Angeles Public Interest Law Journal. He received his J.D. from the University of California, Los Angeles School of Law and a Bachelor of Arts, cum laude, from the University of California, Berkeley.

By David Hollady, CIPP/E, CIPM, Vice President of Legal & Data Protection Officer, Employ

The information provided here does not, and is not intended to, constitute legal advice. All information, content, and materials provided here are for general informational purposes only.

As the world of work continues to undergo rapid transformation, employees are demanding more transparency in pay, and some lawmakers are moving to make it a legal requirement.

Today, the conversation around pay transparency has evolved drastically from even just a few years ago. It has become a vital aspect of a thriving work culture that values open communication and an equitable work environment for employees.

• It is no longer acceptable for companies to hide behind closed doors regarding salary information, especially as the demand for pay transparency is only increasing among candidates and employees.

However, there are many businesses that still need to learn how to navigate this new age of salary transparency effectively.

As the movement toward pay transparency continues gaining momentum, organizations need to be fully aware of new legal aspects concerning pay and other compensation-related concerns to attract top talent and provide a fair and equitable work environment.

Employers need to embrace pay transparency fully to stay competitive and relevant in the labor market.

In this first part of the Employment Law Thought Leadership Series by Employ, we will explore various aspects of pay transparency, examine general legal considerations that companies should be aware of, identify how employers can create a fair and equitable work environment for their workers, and examine high-level benefits of pay transparency for applicants, current employees, and employers.

The new rules in pay transparency

While pay transparency can describe an entire category of varying requirements, guidelines, and legalities around compensation, the term most often refers to how orgs communicate the salary range for a given role. Job seekers and employees alike want to know, plainly and right up front, what the compensation is for a position. 

A recent study showed nearly all (98%) of workers believe companies should put salary ranges in their job postings.

• While that might seem like an incredibly high number, almost as staggering is that more than half (53%) of the same workers surveyed would not apply for a job if it did not contain a salary range in the job posting.

Pay transparency is particularly relevant for women and people of color who are often paid less than their male and white counterparts for the same job. Companies recognize that creating transparent pay structures benefits the employer brand, attracting top talent, and promoting pay equity nationwide.

In addition to the overwhelming majority of workers who want to see pay ranges become more transparent, recent legislation has made a salary range in a job description a non-negotiable detail.

In some states, organizations must file annual reports showing their company wages separated by gender, race, age, and other applicable categories. This level of reporting ensures transparency between companies and employees as well as the state Department of Labor.

Updated state-by-state pay transparency laws

Some states have recently enacted their own versions of pay range transparency laws, meaning 25% of workers in the U.S. currently live in areas where employers are required to share pay ranges for most positions.

Broaching wage discussions in the workplace

With greater transparency into salary ranges, employers may wonder if pay can be discussed among employees within the organization. To put it plainly, The National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) in the United States protects the rights of employees to talk about their salaries with their coworkers.

The rise of pay transparency in organizations today means that employees are more likely to discuss their salaries. With legal protections in place for them to do so, it’s important that HR teams can answer these tough questions and ensure their compensation strategy is well defined and visible to employees and job seekers alike. 

Advantages of pay transparency for applicants and employees

When salary information is presented clearly to job seekers, those candidates who convert into applicants will be more aligned to the salary your company offers for the position. Operationally, this streamlines your recruiting process and ensures there are no surprises when you get to the offer stage.

The impact of pay transparency on existing employees is also overwhelmingly positive. When employers provide more detailed compensation information, employees can evaluate their worth more accurately and negotiate a better salary or promotion.

Making compensation structures visible tells current workers what they should expect to receive and encourages them to speak up if they are not currently in that range. This leads to more open, transparent conversations within the organization about pay.

It also helps ensure workers are paid fairly, regardless of race, gender, age, familial status, neurodiversity, or other individual characteristics. For example, with women making just 82% of what men earn for the same position, per Pew Research Center analysis, pay transparency can help decrease the pay gap that exists between genders.

When pay transparency is a priority for both employees and candidates, you can expect current workers to stay longer and job seekers to stay engaged in the recruitment process. Let’s take a look now at advantages for employers that do practice pay transparency.

Benefits of pay transparency for employers

When discussing employee desire for pay transparency alongside legislation now requiring compliance, it’s easy to assume the benefits are one-sided. Luckily for employers, this simply isn’t true.

Aside from complying with the above-mentioned laws, pay transparency improves an employer’s ability to attract and retain top talent, bolstering their employer brand in the market.

• Organizations can use transparent pay structures as leverage to recruit and retain quality talent, showing candidates and employees they are committed to equity and transparency in the workplace.

Engaging in open, honest conversations and pay practices around wage transparency also helps create a more positive work environment. It fosters greater employee satisfaction and higher morale.

Besides, transparency helps organizations identify and address issues, such as pay gaps, inconsistencies, and inequities, leading to better decision-making and more efficient use of resources.

• Pay transparency is also shifting toward a matter of ethical responsibility and strategic business practice. By sharing pay information with workers, employers can attract top talent and give job seekers valuable insight into the company’s culture and values.

Companies that do not embrace pay transparency can lose out on top talent, particularly among millennials and Gen Z workers. These new generations of job seekers prioritize company culture and ethical practices, in which transparency is a critical aspect to both.

It’s worth mentioning again that including pay ranges in your job description means applicants are more likely to move forward with your application process. Leaving it out, even when you’re not legally required to include it, could cost you top talent.

Work toward greater pay transparency

With increasing legal regulations and growing awareness of the benefits of transparent pay structures, companies should actively implement pay transparency. This will empower your business to promote a healthy workplace culture, attract top talent, and create a level playing field for all workers.

• The shift towards greater pay transparency in the United States is a positive step towards fair pay and a more equitable society. Employers must take proactive steps to ensure that they comply with these laws and continue to advocate for transparency in the workplace.

By openly sharing compensation data, companies of all sizes can identify and address pay disparities that may exist within the workplace. This helps ensure each person is paid fairly for the work they do, regardless of their background or unique characteristics.

As the landscape surrounding HR and employment law continues to evolve, it’s crucial for orgs to stay abreast of developments to manage compliance risks proactively. By coming out on the side of pay transparency, companies can position themselves as leaders in the ongoing effort to create a more equitable workforce for the future.

The information provided here does not, and is not intended to, constitute legal advice. All information, content, and materials provided here are for general informational purposes only.

In fact, the Bureau of Labor Statistics shared noted the number of job openings inched back up again to 11 million open roles available in the United States, with employers struggling to fill positions.

Candidates continue to put higher salaries at the top of their requirements list for new prospective positions, and continued turnover has put employers in a tough position. Recent Employ data reported that 37% of job seekers were looking to switch employers to seek higher wages.

So, what exactly is the phenomenon that’s happening to loyal employees? And, just as importantly, how is it impacting your employer brand and reputation?

What is an employee loyalty tax?

Loyalty tax occurs when current employees are penalized for staying in their existing roles by receiving less than new hires for the same position, or not receiving market adjustments to their salaries.

According to a recent LinkedIn article, new hires are often paid seven percent higher for the same role, while another study puts loyalty tax on employees even higher at 10-15%.

These are typically employees who should qualify for annual raises, but were potentially denied one for larger organizational reasons, including to avoid layoffs, to make up for poor performance, or the company has decided to stay a laggard compared to the rest of the market in its approach to pay.

Not giving out market-centric annual raises can significantly hurt both employers and employees who stick with a company for multiple years, while getting minimal (if any) raises or bonuses.

Miscommunication and poor salary budgeting can force employees to pay this tax for staying at the org. But, candidates are quickly figuring this out and finding companies who also know this.

If turnover is high and quality employees aren’t properly compensated, it could mean that executive leadership is not on the same page as HR and TA leaders.

This can create a challenge for recruiting quality candidates, and cause a vacuum of talent leaving the organization in search of higher pay, greater benefits, and greater recognition for their contributions.

How companies can avoid a loyalty tax

A loyalty tax can harm an employer’s brand during such a critical time in a highly competitive job market. But, a loyalty tax on your employees is not a given.

Getting company leadership, HR executives, and talent acquisition teams on the same page when it comes to priorities and budgets for the year can help ensure current and new employee contributions are valued and rewarded appropriately.

Strategic HR teams analyze key metrics like employee retention and engagement and salary rates to track overall company satisfaction and find areas of improvement.

Prioritize employee support and enablement

One of the biggest ways to avoid charging employees a loyalty tax is to have executive and TA leadership consistently communicate about the state of hiring in the company.

Remember: Job seekers want to find a company that values employees, prioritizes DEI, enables workplace flexibility, and leverages automation to improve communication, feedback, and time to hire.

Implement an internal mobility program

Candidates today want to work in a place that invests in their professional and personal growth. In fact, a recent Lighthouse Research & Advisory Report shared that 83% of candidates ask about future career opportunities during the hiring process.

Many recruiting teams have pivoted their strategies this year to focus more on internal mobility and employee networking to fill positions.

The benefit of prioritizing internal mobility is giving employees the chance to expand and grow in their careers within your company, and not at a competitor.

Actionable strategies to reduce the loyalty tax

Employers that want to build a more robust employer brand, provide a strong employee value proposition, and pay competitive salaries to employees leverage strategies to ensure retention is rewarded rather than penalized.

While a loyalty tax can’t be eliminated overnight, there are ways to help reduce it and improve engagement. HR and talent teams invest in the technology to keep a pulse on employees, and to find, hire, and retain top talent for their business.

Here are some steps you can take to reduce the loyalty tax on your employees and retain top talent:

• Ensure TA leadership, HR executives, and company executives meet regularly to analyze and ensure budgets are prioritized for talent raises, merits, and incentives for current employees.
• Create and develop an employee referral program that incentivizes employees to refer their networks to open positions. Include incentives for managers to refer employees for promotions or internal developmental career moves.
• Regularly analyze the labor market and economic reports to determine fair wages for existing employees doing the jobs that they already do. Find companies that publish their salary ranges for similar roles to get an idea of the benefits offered by competitors.
• Send out quarterly company surveys to get feedback from current employees and find areas of improvement before they turn into pain points.

Start building value for employees and candidates

With top talent in short supply, it’s crucial for companies to prioritize their employer brand and employee value proposition. High turnover in the market shows that candidates know what they want and are willing to switch companies to find it.

Be sure your talent acquisition team is equipped to combat high turnover and recruit qualified employees with Employ’s Recruiting Effectiveness Planning Kit.