As part of i4cp’s commitment to helping organizations become future-ready, we’re continuing our series on Future-Ready CHROs…leaders who are deliberately reshaping their organizations to thrive amid constant change.Few moments have presented a bigger opportunity for HR leaders to demonstrate their strategic value than the rapid emergence of artificial intelligence. But while much of the conversation has focused on which jobs AI will replace, or which skills employees will need, or what tasks will be automated, Bernard Bedon is looking at the challenge from a different angle.

For years, the workplace well-being conversation centered on getting organizations to recognize mental health, burnout, and employee well-being as legitimate business issues. That work has largely succeeded. i4cp's recent 2026 Holistic Well-Being Pulse Survey finds that mental and emotional health now ranks as the top well-being emphasis area, and a majority (59%) of organizations view employee burnout as a strategic risk to at least a moderate extent. Six in ten also place moderate-to-very-strong emphasis on resilience, defined as the capacity to better absorb stress through supportive relationships and workplace connection. 

What I have learned from advising CHROs through the moments that matterAs a senior advisor for i4cp, I spend a great deal of time with CHROs in moments that matter. One of the most consequential is stepping into a new role at a new company. In mentoring conversations and candid exchanges with executives making that move, I have noticed a consistent pattern: good transitions and great transitions often begin with many of the same activities, but they are guided by very different questions.

Which HR conference is the best? That’s a tough question to answer, because… it depends. 

Many organizations invest heavily in programs without fully understanding their effects. Based on more than 11,000 ROI studies conducted or reviewed by ROI Institute, the main cause of program failure is a lack of business alignment.We see the HR version of that problem constantly. Teams build upskilling programs, implement new compensation and benefit strategies, they can even predict future talent needs, but when someone asks what all of it is worth, the answer is often: That’s hard to quantify.

As part of i4cp’s commitment to helping organizations become future-ready, we’re continuing our series on Future-Ready CHROs…leaders who are deliberately shaping cultures that enable their organizations and people to thrive amid constant change.Few companies illustrate the importance of culture quite like Cummins, a Fortune 500 company ranked #137 in 2026, with approximately 70,000 employees. Yet “culture” is one of those words that everyone uses, and few people define the same way.

As part of i4cp’s commitment to helping organizations become future-ready, we’re continuing our series on Future-Ready CHROs…leaders who are creating cultures that prepare their people and organizations to thrive amid constant change.A true trailblazer in this area is Hilton, one of the world’s most recognizable hospitality companies, and Laura Fuentes, Hilton’s Executive Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer, who has helped shape one of the world’s most celebrated workplace cultures.

SnapshotFor more than 165 years, Northwestern Mutual has helped families and businesses achieve greater financial security. The financial services company, ranked No. 109 on the Fortune 500, serves more than 5 million clients across the United States. It is the nation’s leading direct provider of life insurance and one of the top independent broker-dealers of investments. Focused on growth, relevance and competitiveness, company leaders saw opportunities to accelerate how leaders align, make decisions, collaborate and execute across the enterprise.

As part of i4cp’s commitment to helping organizations become future-ready, we’re initiating a series on Future-Ready CHROs. This series will feature heads of HR who are committed to creating a culture that fosters an agile workforce…a workforce which embraces—and even exploits—whatever the organization encounters in the future.First up: ADT, a leading provider of smart home and business security solutions.

New i4cp research shows HR headcount is holding steady, but the work underneath it is transforming fast. Organizations pulling ahead are redeploying talent rather than cutting it.Despite widespread predictions that AI will eliminate large segments of HR, the data tells a different story. According to new research from the Institute for Corporate Productivity (i4cp), 57% of organizations have made no change to HR headcount in the past 12 months. Across HR overall, more organizations are increasing staffing than decreasing it.  The myth that AI will replace functions within HR has yet to materialize.

The gap splitting HR in half comes down to how much AI actually gets used, not who has access to it83% of leaders say AI is reshaping what the business expects from HR. But ask HR how much strategic lift AI has actually delivered, and new data from i4cp shows 46% say: none.

Organization: Oregon State Credit Union Industry: Credit union / financial services Employees: 350 Global Reach: United States Key Result(s): Gary Schuette II and OSCU’s leadership team elevated culture from a post-close concern to a decisive pre-deal factor, equipping the board with the missing lens it needed to determine not just whether the deal made financial and strategic sense, but whether it could actually succeed in practice.When Oregon State Credit Union (OSCU) began preparing for potential mergers or acquisitions, the work started with a CEO‑led strategic readiness question: How do we make better decisions about a deal before we’re already committed to one?

I’ve spent more than 30 years in the change management field, working with frameworks such as Kotter’s Eight Steps, ADKAR, and McKinsey’s 7S framework. Each offers valuable guidance, but they all focus on the same core question: How do we execute a change initiative successfully?That is no longer the most important question. Today, the critical issue is whether an organization’s culture can absorb continuous change at the speed its strategy demands. When it cannot, execution slows, friction rises, talent burns out and competitors gain an advantage.

Ask most HR leaders what “future readiness” means and you’ll hear familiar answers: adopting AI, building skills-based talent strategies, and modernizing the operating model.  All of that matters. But many organizations quietly assume that better tools and programs will naturally lead to better people decisions. 

I recently moderated a CHRO panel in Seattle featuring leaders from Costco, Starbucks, and Nordstrom, three iconic retailers with very different models, but a shared reality: their workforce is overwhelmingly frontline, customer-facing, and human-centered by design.The conversation was framed around i4cp’s 2026 Priorities & Predictions research, specifically these four overall market predictions:

For Total Rewards leaders, 2026 arrives amid intensifying pressure from nearly every direction. Rising healthcare costs, moderating pay growth, regulatory demands for transparency, and shifting workforce expectations are forcing organizations to rethink how rewards are designed, delivered, and justified.In this environment, “competitive” is no longer enough. Reward strategies must be more precise, more personalized, and more tightly aligned to business and workforce needs than ever before.

Alexis Fink, Ph.D., who has led People Analytics and workforce strategy at Meta, Microsoft, and Intel, and now chairs the i4cp People Analytics Board-recently joined the i4cp community for a Next Practices Weekly session, AI at the Core: From Bolt-On to Built-In.She framed the discussion with a powerful reminder:  “The future belongs to people who can combine multiple peaks of expertise-and underpin them with curiosity and courage.”

For Talent Acquisition leaders, 2026 represents a fundamental shift in role and relevance. As hiring slows across many industries and AI reshapes how work gets done, TA functions are moving away from high-volume recruiting toward higher-value workforce strategy.The future TA organization will likely manage fewer requisitions—but it will play a far more influential role in skills mapping, internal mobility, workforce planning, and AI governance. This evolution is not a retrenchment. It is a strategic recalibration.

For Chief Learning & Talent Officers, 2026 will be defined by one central question: how quickly can the workforce adapt? As organizations confront accelerating AI adoption, shifting workforce expectations, and persistent economic uncertainty, learning has moved from a support function to a strategic enabler. The ability to build skills at speed—and apply them effectively—has become a defining advantage for high-performing organizations. 

Why future-ready organizations are redefining the CHRO role, and the new capabilities that deliver enterprise impact.A board member asks: “We’ve invested $40 million in AI tools this year. What productivity impact are we seeing, and how will we know whether it’s actually delivering measurable business value?”

Following a few quieter years marked by economic uncertainty, M&A activity surged this past year. Rising confidence in the markets, ongoing digital transformation, and pressure to scale and innovate pushed boards to revisit their non-organic growth agendas. U.S. M&A deal value in 2025 was approximately $1.6 trillion, one of the highest totals in the past decade. In Europe, deal value rose by about 37%, and in India, domestic consolidation hit $104 billion in 2025. Analysts project that the momentum will accelerate into 2026, particularly in sectors such as AI-related tech, healthcare, and financial services.But here’s the uncomfortable truth: even as activity surges, the fundamentals of successful deal-making haven’t changed. One factor continues to make or break the value of those deals over time: culture compatibility.

For Chief Human Resources Officers, 2026 will not be defined by incremental change. It will be defined by how effectively HR leaders architect organizations that can absorb disruption, adapt quickly, and still perform at a high level.As one member of i4cp’s CHRO Board noted, “As HR leaders fundamentally transform and prepare the workforce to thrive in an AI-powered future, we will need to navigate levels of disruption we’ve never seen before.” That sentiment captures the reality facing CHROs globally: the scale and speed of change now outpace traditional HR capacity and models.

A recent i4cp Flash Call, a member peer-to-peer virtual discussion, tackled the urgent and complex implications of the newly enacted $100,000 H-1B visa fee. Guided by expert insights from Nancy Morowitz, Partner at Fragomen and Leader of their U.S. Legal Strategy and Knowledge Group, and grounded by practitioner experience from Pete Manias, Chair of i4cp’s Total Rewards Leader Board and former Microsoft HR executive, the discussion offered clarifications on the impact of the policy changes and early organizational responses. As employers continue to seek clarity amid regulatory ambiguity, they are preparing for changes, from cost modeling to compassionate employee communications.Nancy Morowitz opened by explaining the unexpected scope and rapid enactment of the $100,000 fee tied to “new” H-1B visa filings. While framed as an effort to deter overuse of the system, the fee's ambiguity—particularly around what constitutes a “new” filing—has created confusion. Does a change from student status (e.g., F-1 to H-1B) count? What about overseas hires? Employers are left interpreting vague language while awaiting formal guidance.

At the January 2025 World Economic Forum, Marc Benioff, CEO of Salesforce, made a statement that stunned leaders worldwide. He said today's CEOs are likely the last who will "manage a workforce of only human beings." He added, “All of us going forward are going to manage humans and agents together” (Burleigh, 2025).This perspective is one that many are beginning to recognize as inevitable. Benioff refers to this as the “digital labor revolution,” describing it as a turning point where organizations can achieve growth without additional headcount through a new form of labor—digital labor. Or, more specifically, AI agents.

As work becomes more distributed, the volume and velocity of demands on leaders is surging. And the nature of these demands is shifting seismically. Some leaders are successful in this new era of work, but most, to be blunt, are drowning both professionally and personally. Through years of research and hundreds of interviews I've conducted on this topic, I have had the privilege of gaining a deep understanding of these challenges. Time and again, I hear stories—sometimes raw and unfiltered—of exceptionally talented and committed women and men who are struggling under the weight of the demands of leadership. What’s most troubling is that many see no way out. Conventional solutions such as delegation, hierarchical structures, refined processes, or deployment of new collaborative tools are not solving problems—and in many cases, they’re making things worse.

Taylor Swift has outmaneuvered record labels, redefined genre boundaries, and engineered one of the highest-grossing tours in history. She holds the record for the most tickets sold on any tour by a solo artist.Her business savvy is the subject of Harvard Business Review Journal senior editor Kevin Evers’ recent book, There’s Nothing Like This: The Strategic Genius of Taylor Swift, which showcases the pop icon as a study in leadership.

Most CEOs can rattle off revenue projections and margin goals—but ask about the health of their cultures, the room often goes quiet. It’s not because culture isn’t important. It’s because most leaders don’t know how to talk about it, let alone measure it.In The Future Ready Culture, i4cp’s latest Culture Renovation® study,  we found that:

As Microsoft celebrates the 50th anniversary of its founding [April 4, 1975] this month, another significant milestone is at hand—a decade of growth mindset.To explore this, we sat down with Kathleen Hogan, who served as Microsoft’s Chief People Officer for the past 10 years and recently stepped into a new role under Chairman and CEO Satya Nadella as EVP, Office of Strategy and Transformation.

What a month!  In just 30 days (February 13 – March 14, 2025), I flew more than 30,000 air miles, delivered multiple keynotes and presentations across Singapore, Spain, Canada, and the U.S., and had many deep conversations with HR and business leaders across three continents. From all these interactions, a few critical themes emerged—trends shaping the future of work in every region:

A new survey by the Institute for Corporate Productivity (i4cp) found that high-performance organizations are 1.5x more likely than their lower-performing counterparts to leverage data—rather than outside pressure—to make decisions regarding their diversity, equity, and inclusion work.Analysis also found that reliance on data to make such decisions is a practice strongly correlated with better market performance for organizations.   

To say "DEI" in corporate America is under stress would be an understatement. Perhaps no one knows this better than Kenji Yoshino, Chief Justice Earl Warren Professor of Constitutional Law at NYU School of Law and faculty director of the Meltzer Center for Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging. In his role leading the Center, Yoshino has remained on the forefront of the latest research related to the topic and the law, and its effect on the modern workplace.  Yoshino will join the i4cp 2025 Next Practices Now Conference in Scottsdale, Arizona (March 3-6, 2025) to discuss advancing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in a time of legal backlash. He recently spoke with i4cp about the current state of the topic in corporate America and how leaders should think about legal risk following recent Supreme Court decisions.  

Today, many forward-looking organizations have initiated more targeted and strategic focus on “the future of work.” This often involves appointing a leader of this focus, and sometimes a team, to explore work scenarios and innovations given the rapid changes to work processes, the workforce, and the workplace. Though the exact components of the future of work may vary by organization, there are a few common factors and capabilities, specifically:While Future of Work Board members are projecting modest increases in investment in the function, we anticipate it will see growth in 2025. Two telling signs that reinforce this are that 21% of CHROs indicate that Future of Work will see some of the strongest investment of resources in 2025 and 32% of CHROs indicate the same for organization effectiveness (OE). Notably, the implications of the future of work on OE include a heightened need for adaptability, a focus on a skills-based market internally, the embrace of automation and AI, a shift towards more flexible work arrangements, and a greater emphasis on employee wellbeing and mental health, all of which align with where organizations are focusing their Future of Work efforts.

The waves generated by hybrid work continue well beyond the post-pandemic period, challenging organizations to take a design thinking approach to Total Rewards—identifying employee needs, customizing rewards packages to align with individual and organizational goals, communicating effectively to ensure employees understand changes and the options available to them, monitoring and adjusting rewards programs based on feedback and results, and measuring impact.A prevailing sentiment among i4cp’s Total Rewards Leader Board members is the belief that Total Rewards is (or can be) a significant source of competitive advantage for the organization, yet its full value is largely untapped. These leaders also believe their function must adjust to accommodate the rapidly shifting needs of the business. Technology will play a key role in achieving both.

It’s time to take People Analytics (PA) to the next level. Rather than just focusing on ROI, members of the i4cp People Analytics Leader Board are applying analytics to core business priorities (including the impact of distributed work decisions) and measuring that alignment and progress.The rapid rise of generative AI has shifted expectations for People Analytics, creating a gap between AI’s potential and the time, effort, and resources required to achieve it. While AI promises faster, more efficient insights, realizing these benefits will take longer than expected.

“The great resignation” gave way to “the great stay”—people are remaining in roles longer, hiring has been slow for many industries and organizations, and (per the International Labour Organization) unemployment rates in most industrialized countries are hovering in the low single digits (ILO, 2024). There are significantly fewer job opportunities now than there were in the past two years and organizations worldwide are also deluged with record-high volumes of applications.With a slower hiring environment, 33% of i4cp’s Talent Acquisition Board members expect their 2025 budgets to decrease somewhat and 42% expect their budgets to remain the same—only 17% anticipate a slight increase.

Members of i4cp’s Chief Learning & Talent Officer Board predict that 2025 will:In addition, clearly there is much work to be done regarding AI—over half (56%) of learning and talent leaders surveyed indicated that they believe their organizations are only “somewhat prepared” for an AI-enabled future of work; 21% indicated their organizations are prepared, and an equal number said their organizations are “not prepared”—and no one said their organization is “very prepared.” And just over half (51%) of responding CLTO Board members indicated that they view the available talent pool as a top-three external issue of concern—they see it as posing a potential threat to their organization’s ability to execute on their 2025 strategies. 

Brian Elliott, bestselling author and CEO of Work Forward, will join the i4cp 2025 Next Practices Now Conference in Scottsdale, Arizona (March 3-6, 2025) to discuss the impacts of workplace flexibility, technology, and inter-generational workplace dynamics.He’ll also share the best practices gleaned from his work with hundreds of executives across industries. He recently spoke with the Institute of Corporate Productivity (i4cp) about what’s shaping his outlook on the future of work and what priorities should be top of mind for HR leaders.

Today’s Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO) plays a pivotal role in identifying and addressing organizational risk, enabling enterprise agility, and achieving sustainable high performance.Insights and the priorities set by members of i4cp’s Chief Human Resources Officer Board illustrate that an organization that can sense and respond quickly to internal or external change requires an HR function that can do the same. Key anticipated challenges for HR in 2025 include:

Getting onboarding right is crucial for any company; it serves as the foundation for an employee's long-term success and sense of engagement with an organization. Effective onboarding sets a positive tone, providing employees with the tools, knowledge, and cultural understanding they need to succeed. And the well-documented benefits include improved retention, reduced turnover, increased productivity, and engagement (not to mention greater morale).So why are some companies (maybe even yours) so bad at it?

Peter Cappelli, best-selling author and George W. Taylor Professor of Management at The Wharton School and Director of Wharton’s Center for Human Resources, will join the i4cp 2025 Next Practices Now Conference in Scottsdale, Arizona (March 3-6, 2025) to discuss his latest book, Our Least Important Asset.  Cappelli’s book catalogues the most pressing human resources and people management issues of our time. He recently spoke with the Institute for Corporate Productivity (i4cp) about his views on the latest challenges in HR, people management, and the most critical priorities for HR organizations in 2025.  

I'm just back from i4cp’s latest Talent Acquisition Board meeting, where our members (talent leaders at Fortune 500 companies) shared their objectives and plans for 2025.  I found it refreshing that despite coming from various industries and organization sizes, these leaders are deeply focused on HR strategy and talent planning for the upcoming year. Here are a few observations—including a recommendation to flip a seemingly tried-and-true formula. 

The consequences of belief-driven conflict in the workplace go well beyond hurt feelings and tension among colleagues.Such clashes—whether overt or unspoken—can have destructive effect on team cohesion, collaboration, trust, productivity, and eventually the bottom line. In fact, some senior executives believe that the current state of politics in the U.S. can affect an entire organization’s ability to perform.

What kind of corporate culture does your organization have? Is it the culture your organization needs to thrive?A bad culture can overwhelm a great business strategy. However, building a great culture should start with your strategy. And leaders should ask themselves what the organization must be good at for strategy to succeed. 

Have you noticed the recent announcements of executive departures from Fortune 500 companies? Anecdotally, and only speaking about people I know personally, well-known employers such as Cisco, Electronic Arts, Google, Nike, Amazon, Apple, Walgreens, Microsoft, Meta, Darden, PwC and BNY Mellon have lost senior talent from the C-Suite, key business roles, technical leadership and HR leadership.These firms are scions of success in the world of business, some are in the top 50 of market valuation, others are the undisputed leaders in their industry, and together they represent millions of customers and billions of transactions each year. These companies are in many ways model citizens of the best the world economy has to offer, generating billions of profits, employing millions of workers, investing wisely in leadership development and employee engagement—all blue-chip employers with so much going for them. They are the envy of their for-profit competitors for executive talent.

Executives—from CHROs and heads of Talent Acquisition to CEOs—have asked me lately for a perspective on HR organizational structures. For some, summer brings mid-year reflection that ranges from plans to restructure to adapt to emerging needs, or pondering how to do more with less.Changing HR organizational structures is a popular action many HR leaders take: research from the Institute for Corporate Productivity (i4cp) found that 75% of professionals surveyed reported that their organizations were revamping their HR organization structures post-pandemic.

Is your organization underperforming due to the economy—or something closer to home?Threat of recession has loomed over businesses and CEOs in particular for the last several years. Many companies and industries have experienced multiple years of conflicting economic signals, inflation, wavering consumer demand, and job statistics that defy predictions. Throw in an incredibly divisive U.S. presidential election, an assassination attempt, and President Biden’s decision to drop from the race—it’s not the easiest time to forecast for the year ahead.

Will the rise of workplace AI, automation, and robotics lead to an insurmountable skill gap for junior workers?That’s the risk Matt Beane, Assistant Professor of Technology Management at UC Santa Barbara, warns about in his new book, The Skill Code.

Plan in-person meetings. Decide on consistent team members. Avoid having too many people on any one team.When it comes to team effectiveness, you’ve probably heard these tried-and-true recommendations. But that conventional wisdom is wrong—or at least outdated.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued its final ruling on non-compete clauses in employment contracts—a 570-page document detailing its decision—this week.The upshot of the Commission’s ruling is that non-compete clauses are an unjust method of competition and therefore violate Section 5 of the FTC Act, which covers unfair or deceptive acts or practices.

Every year, i4cp surveys its community of senior HR executives to identify what they believe leaders should be prepared for in the coming year. For 2024, the four most important topics on the minds of these leaders were:As part of a new series on corporate culture, we are digging into the third priority topic: Culture measures—both quantitative and qualitative—which are now expected. 

Organizations that are more advanced in their use of AI are far more likely to hire for AI-related roles and skills in HR, according to recent data from the Institute for Corporate Productivity (i4cp), an HR research organization and the leading authority on next practices in human capital management.In addition, new research from Revelio Labs, a workforce analytics company, connecting job posting and i4cp survey data, shows that job postings for AI-related positions in HR have almost tripled since 2019. Moreover, the rate of increase in AI-related postings in HR climbed dramatically above those for other HR job postings. The roles most likely to include AI-related skills as requirements or preferred skills include:

Talent acquisition leaders anticipate substantial and continuous change in their function throughout 2024, with skills-based recruitment, employer brand, and refining employee value proposition topping the list of priorities.Broadening the implementation of generative AI (GenAI) is expected to increase speed and efficiency and decrease costs in the long-term but will clearly require both significant focus and dedicated upskilling of the TA function.

In the dynamic landscape of 2024, People Analytics leaders are at the forefront of steering organizations toward a more data-driven and insightful future. Members of the Institute for Corporate Productivity’s (i4cp) People Analytics Board are prioritizing strategic response to evolving workforce dynamics, technological advancements, and the increasing demand for agile decision-making processes.Innovators in People Analytics (PA), those in the advanced predictive/prescriptive realm, are prioritizing the automation of data analytics delivery across their organizations. This shift is motivated by the need to make data more accessible and actionable for decision-makers at all levels. By automating the delivery of analytics, organizations can reduce the time it takes leaders to think about what information is needed and then request and wait for it. This streamlines operational efficiency, increases comfortability with the data, and empowers managers to make informed decisions quickly.

2024 promises to be one fascinating year. People, companies and even nations only wish they could glimpse now what we will know at the end of 2024.What will be the economic, supply chain and people impacts of the current dreadful regional conflicts? Who will be running the U.S., and how will this affect the social and macroeconomic environments? Which world economies will emerge from the remaining inflationary period stronger, and which will be weaker? These are only some of the obvious uncertainties. As for the unseen uncertainties, we hope to be prepared.

Chief Human Resource Officers are responsible for a wide and increasingly complex range of people and business processes and outcomes.When the Institute for Corporate Productivity (i4cp) asked members of its Chief Human Resource Officers Board to identify their most pressing concerns for 2024, macroeconomic uncertainty (e.g., inflation, potential recession, supply chains, etc.) was cited as the number-one external worry. The magnitude of global events and their effect on business make clear that a strong, change-embracing organizational culture is imperative.

In a recent survey by Cisco, 97% of respondents said the urgency to use AI technology at their companies has ramped up in the last six months—with more than half predicting negative consequences if they fail to act.  That same survey also reported that only 14% of organizations worldwide are fully ready to integrate AI into their businesses.  Despite the urgency, The Institute for Corporate Productivity's (i4cp’s) most recent research on generative AI (GenAI) found that only 22% of responding HR leaders reported that their teams are experimenting with AI and 34% of them have no plans or are not ready to begin utilizing GenAI.   The data makes two things clear: the adoption of AI will transform organizations and industries over the next decade and while the winners and losers are yet to be decided, our research shows that early adopters—those we call AI Innovators—are seeing immediate benefits.  

Multiple studies conducted by the Institute for Corporate Productivity (i4cp) in recent years, and the resulting reports, from Culture Renovation: A Blueprint for Action to Culture Fitness: Healthy Habits of High-Performance Organizations, have demonstrated a strong correlation between having a strong learning culture and a healthy overall organizational culture—which in turn analysis shows is strongly correlated to better productivity and business outcomes.More specifically, learning is one of the six key traits that i4cp research has found make up the most “fit cultures” (the others are employee focused, inclusive, quality, innovative, and collaborative.) One of the seven habits of very healthy cultures was also found to be having a learning mindset: organizations with very healthy cultures are 6x more likely to be described as continuous learning cultures.

Even relative to the events of the past four years, 2024 is shaping up to be a wild ride.With an uncertain and shifting economy and labor market, continued explosive growth of technology (AI-centered and otherwise), several wars and global hotspots of conflict, and major elections in the U.S. and elsewhere—learning and talent leaders have plenty of factors to consider as they enable their organization’s success.

Chief diversity officers (CDOs) have seen increased scrutiny of their function in the last year, particularly in the U.S. Driven in large part by the U.S. Supreme Court’s June 2023 decision to effectively end affirmative action in college admissions, private organizations not targeted by that decision are increasingly assessing the implications and potential legal risks of their practices and programs.That, in addition to various state legislation, proposed legislation, and political rhetoric hostile to DE&I efforts in advance of the 2024 U.S. election cycle have largely shaped the top four list of 2024 priorities for members of  i4cp’s Chief Diversity Officer Board. They are:

Generative AI isn’t going away.And as many HR leaders have predicted, this evolving technology will continue to challenge leaders as its capabilities evolve throughout 2024.

Are you among the thousands of savvy HR and business leaders who have gained critical insights and ideas from i4cp’s free, public event series, Next Practices Weekly.If not, you’ve really missed out.

Each year we publish our annual Priorities & Predictions report which captures the experiences and insights of some of the top human capital leaders in the world who collectively serve on i4cp’s executive boards.Our 2024 report features 4 predictions that the human capital industry can expect to encounter in the coming year, and how organizations can prepare for what’s next. The report also features the top priorities, trends, challenges, and risks facing the human capital industry from the expert perspective of members from several i4cp Boards, including Chief HR Officers, Chief Diversity Officers, Chief Learning & Talent Officers, Heads of Talent Acquisition, People Analytics, and Total Rewards.

Workforce productivity is waning worldwide, according to measures in multiple countries. No one seems to know exactly why, but the theories are plentiful:A new study by the Institute for Corporate Productivity (i4cp) on the current state of workforce productivity bears this out—there’s no question that perceptions of productivity can be quite subjective, and in many organizations varies widely between the workforce and management.

An i4cp Next Practices in Action ArticlePerformance management is no longer limited to formal, infrequent reviews and rigid structures; it's about fostering a culture of growth and development that emphasizes a collaborative approach.

Seattle, WA, October, 30, 2023 – i4cp, the world's leading authority on next practices in human capital, is putting its research into practice with the launch of i4cp Advisory Services. Building on the success of the best-selling book Culture Renovation®, i4cp is formally launching this new offering to advise organizations on culture change and related initiatives.Marshall Bergmann has been appointed Vice President of Advisory Services and is responsible for working with i4cp members and other global organizations to guide and advise innovative culture and strategic HR initiatives leveraging i4cp’s industry-leading research.

Artificial intelligence (AI), particularly generative AI, is quickly revolutionizing business functions worldwide. As discoverers of next practices in human capital, at i4cp we wanted to know: where is HR in this revolution?The bad news is that overall, HR is already behind. The good news is that there are plenty of pioneers to emulate.

Seattle, WA. (August 15, 2023) — Inc. Magazine recognized the Institute for Corporate Productivity (i4cp), a global human capital research firm, for inclusion on the 2023 Inc. 5000 list of the nation’s fastest-growing companies. The annual distinction marks i4cp’s seventh appearance on the list.The prestigious Inc. 5000 rankings provide a data-driven look at the most successful companies within the economy’s top dynamic segment—its independent, entrepreneurial businesses. Among this year’s top 500 companies, the average median three-year revenue growth rate ticked up to an astonishing 2,238%. In all, this year’s Inc. 5000 companies have added 1,187,266 jobs to the economy over the past three years.

There is no question that the disruptive potential of generative AI—tools like ChatGPT, DALL-E, Google’s Bard, Microsoft’s Copilot, etc.—will impact organizational learning and development (L&D).I say this because while different roles in L&D (trainer/facilitator, producers, L&D technologist, and more) will be affected to varying degrees by the rapidly evolving technology, the role of instructional designer (ID) will see significant, permanent alteration by generative AI.

Most (72%) of the 320 HR and talent leaders surveyed last week by the Institute for Corporate Productivity (i4cp) reported that their companies openly support the LGBTQ+ community.About one in five (22%) said that their organizations have chosen neutrality with no stated position on LGBTQ+ issues. Only 2% of respondents reported that their organizations do not openly support the LGBTQ+ community; the same percentage said that their companies are currently considering their positions.

Seattle, WA - The Association for Talent Development (ATD) have announced that Kevin Oakes, CEO of the Institute for Corporate Productivity (i4cp), was selected as the recipient of the prestigious Talent Development Thought Leader Award. This accolade recognizes individuals who have made significant contributions to the field of talent development, positively impacting both individuals and the organizations they serve.Formerly known as the Distinguished Contribution Award, the ATD Talent Development Thought Leader Award honors those who have demonstrated a sustained commitment to advancing the knowledge and practices within talent development.

Accomplished professor, author, and expert in networks and collaboration adds significant insight and experience to i4cp’s Next Practice researchSEATTLE, May 18, 2023 – The Institute for Corporate Productivity (i4cp) today announced that Rob Cross, the Edward A. Madden Professor of Global Leadership at Babson College and the cofounder and research director of the Connected Commons, is joining i4cp as Senior Vice President of Research.

No one goes into business or starts their HR career saying, “I want to purchase HR software someday!”We want to build things, help customers, and improve the lives of employees. But along the way, we have the… privilege? Opportunity? Bad luck to be involved in? The buying, maintaining and operating of HR software. And the most common type by far is the HR information system (HRIS), sometimes called Core HR.

The Institute for Corporate Productivity (i4cp)—a leading global human capital research firm, is pleased to announce the ten finalists in its 2023 Next Practice Awards competition. Exclusive to i4cp, next practices describe innovative strategies strongly tied to excellence in market performance but not yet leveraged by most organizations.Finalists in the competition include Allstate, Dell, Dow, Experian, Idaho National Laboratory, Land O’ Lakes, PwC, Roche, ServiceNow, and T-Mobile. All were chosen for demonstrating creative workforce practices that positively impact business results.

Land O'Lakes, Inc., one of America's premier agribusiness and food companies, is a member-owned cooperative with industry-leading operations that span the spectrum from agricultural production to consumer foods. With 2021 annual sales of $16 billion, Land O'Lakes is one of the nation's largest cooperatives, ranking 232 on the Fortune 500. Building on a legacy of more than 100 years of operation, Land O'Lakes today operates some of the most respected brands in agribusiness and food production including Land O'Lakes Dairy Foods, Animal Nutrition, WinField United and Truterra. The company does business in all 50 states and more than 60 countries. Land O'Lakes, Inc., headquartered in Arden Hills, Minnesota, has more than 150 locations with employees, many of whom live in rural communities and do not have access to a computer during the workday.This case study represents one of the submissions for i4cp's 2023 Next Practice Awards, winners will be honored at the i4cp 2023 Next Practices Now Conference. You can also view other Next Practice Award case studies.

“DE&I is divisive.” “We don’t have that problem here.” “This is distracting us from real business concerns.”“What about people with other political views?”

In a recent Institute for Corporate Productivity (i4cp) gathering of total rewards leaders, an informal poll asked group members this question: How aligned are your business and HR leaders on the idea that employee well-being is a critical piece of achieving your talent objectives?About a third of those present claimed total alignment with leaders, but the largest percentage—more than half—said they were only somewhat aligned. Or, as some pointed out, somewhat misaligned.

What will be the biggest issue facing businesses in 2023 and beyond? I’ll give you a hint: It’s not a recession.In a recent study, the Institute for Corporate Productivity (i4cp) found that 71% of respondents said that skills shortages pose the greatest potential for disruption to their organizations—ranking it ahead of inflation, recession, supply chain interruption, geopolitical instability, and other factors.

New global study by i4cp shows an inextricable link between the cultural health of an organization and its financial performance. It also unveils The Toxic 9 … traits that can derail any culture.February 1, 2023, Seattle, WA – The latest global study by HR research powerhouse i4cp provides evidence to support a new business imperative: the health of your culture has a direct impact on how well a company performs.

Record-breaking inflation, worry about a global recession, which many believe is already underway, and an aggressively competitive talent market made 2022 a challenging year for members of i4cp’s Total Rewards Leader Board (TRLB). Looking ahead, setting competitive and resonant compensation and benefits in a continuously fluctuating and uncertain economic future remains a complex challenge. The top four priorities cited by members of our TRLB for 2023 are:The total rewards function plays a significant role in an organization’s ability to field a skilled workforce now and into the future. Staying competitive demands close attention to external economic trends, responsiveness to shifts in the market and respective industry, and keenly understanding what is valuable to candidates and employees.

If talent acquisition (TA) leaders expected (or hoped for) a return to some semblance of equilibrium as the pandemic crisis abated, they know that things have been anything but. That’s not to say that the many challenges that arose in 2022 were wholly unwelcome or weren’t beneficial to the function—like their colleagues in HR, TA’s role has inarguably evolved in many organizations from transactional to strategic.TA has been called upon to support cultural change, manage abrupt workforce expansions and contractions, and oversee shifts of strategic priorities, all while continuing with the standard activities of engaging with potential candidates, developing new talent pools, and responding to hiring managers’ needs and expectations.

Non-stop disruption, be it positive or negative, has served to raise the profile and prominence of chief diversity officers and diversity, equity, and inclusion functions. Despite this, complex challenges continue to mount and are reflected in the top four 2023 priorities of i4cp’s Chief Diversity Officer Board:Not surprisingly, all of the CDO Board members surveyed cited aspects of diversity recruitment, retention, and development as priorities in 2023. Some are redefining and communicating their organizations’ employee value propositions, while others are building more inclusive cultures and turning attention to shoring up listening strategies to encourage greater psychological safety. And others are refining metrics and accountability around representation aspirations, expanding their diverse recruiting partnerships, and focusing on specific goals such as gender parity at leadership levels and making open roles more accessible to employees with disabilities.

The past few years have brought dramatic shifts in the ways people work—and work model strategy remains unsettled for many employers. In line with i4cp’s other five boards, when asked about the greatest potential disruptors to their organizations in 2023, the top concern by far (88%) among the members of i4cp’s Chief Learning and Talent Officer Board was attracting, retaining, and development talent. A key factor in this is work model strategy; many organizations are still experimenting with the best approaches to remote, hybrid, and flexible work options, and most expect this to continue in the year ahead.Another challenge cited by CLTO board members is a continuation of one that has been prominent the past few years—employee well-being. More specifically, leaders are concerned about burnout of the workforce. Talent and learning leaders must address this issue in 2023, as the best efforts to drive talent attraction, development, and retention will be for naught if employees can’t work at their best.

The world is changing at an unprecedented pace. There's been a fundamental shift in the relationship between employees and employers, and companies can’t compete on compensation and benefits alone.At the i4cp 2023 Next Practices Now Conference (March 27 – 30, 2023), Yolanda Seals-Coffield, PwC US Chief People Officer, will discuss how and why the firm is reimagining its people experience, putting personalization and technology at the heart of its three-year transformation and vision for the future of work.

As employers explored new workforce models and arrangements the past three years, members of i4cp’s People Analytics Board can attest that people analytics (PA) has stepped into the role of lead investigator of this great experiment. Analysts have big questions to answer and more than a few hypotheses to test as they seek to understand how hybrid and remote work affects varying industries, populations, roles, and workforce outcomes.They are doing so as people analytics gains increased attention from the C-suite. Demand for analytical capabilities to improve workforce planning and business outcomes is at an all-time high, primarily due to a hypercompetitive labor market. Increasingly, regulators and investors also demand more disclosure of human capital data from public, but also some private, companies.

Chief People Officer Wendy Barnes will present at the i4cp 2023 Next Practices Now Conference in Scottsdale, Arizona (March 27-30, 2023) and will speak on transparency and the future of work. In advance of her conference session, she sits down with i4cp to reflect on her role at Gitlab and the culture they have built. You joined GitLab in November 2020—eight months into the pandemic. What were your pressing challenges when you joined the organization?

Roche’s Sr. Global Network Catalyst Hemerson Paes will join us at the i4cp 2023 Next Practices Now Conference in Scottsdale, Arizona (March 27-30, 2023) to present on visible collaboration to enable better collaboration. In advance of his conference session, he sat down with i4cp to share why, as Roche moved to more flexible structures, building collaborative networking capabilities was a key pillar of success.

The latest data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) was released this week. This included the JOLTS (Job Openings and Labor Turnover Summary) data on Wednesday, and The Employment Situation report on Friday. The JOLTS data is current through November (preliminary), while the employment data is for December (preliminary).The headline? The labor market overall—even with all of the efforts by the Fed to cool the economy and curb inflation—remains tight. The number of jobs added in December came in at 223,000, which was slightly below the previous four months, but above analysts’ expectations. And importantly the unemployment rate ticked down from 3.7% to 3.5%. In addition to those numbers, the data from the JOLTS report earlier this week provides even more evidence that the labor market remains tight.

What will HR look like in 2023?As outlined in i4cp’s 2022 Priorities & Predictions report, The Talent Imperative, the ability to find and retain the skilled talent needed for the future, which has been a top concern of CEOs, CHROs, and corporate boards the past couple of years, continues to challenge employers worldwide.

The recruiter’s dream: the ideal candidate accepts the offer. They will fill a pivotal role and bring skill, expertise, and energy to the organization. Everyone is psyched. The nightmare: the stellar new hire doesn’t show up on day one.

For years, i4cp has benefited from the collective wisdom of our six boards—i4cp’s exclusive peer groups of senior executives who collaborate to explore next practices, build evidence-based solutions to critical talent challenges, and drive their respective functions into the future. Representing HR’s core functions—Chief HR Officers, Chief Diversity Officers, Chief Learning & Talent Officers, Heads of Talent Acquisition, People Analytics, and Total Rewards—these boards meet regularly throughout the year and help shape i4cp’s research agenda.Each year, i4cp gathers priorities and predictions from these six boards to help the human capital profession prepare for the year ahead.

More than a few critical things happened in 2022, and i4cp’s research team—in coordination with our amazing member community—produced a variety of outstanding resources to help guide you and your team through it all. In our final newsletter of 2022, we highlight 22 popular i4cp resources from the past year.On behalf of everyone here at i4cp, best wishes for a productive 2023!

No two companies are the same—from how, why, when, and where they started, to the various aspects of everyday operations—each has a unique story to tell. Organizations that stand out when it comes to appealing to potential employees are those that know how to tell the story of their uniqueness so well that people want to be part of it. Among the findings of the Institute for Corporate Productivity’s (i4cp) ongoing research on corporate culture is that building on the legacy of an organization’s history and the principles that have been foundational in guiding it through continuous change should be the first step in culture renovation work.

Gary Hamel is one of the world’s most influential and iconoclastic business thinkers. He has worked with leading companies across the globe and is a dynamic and sought-after management speaker. Gary is on the faculty of the London Business School, the director of the Management Lab, and a bestselling author.He will present on his bestselling book, Humanocracy: Creating Organizations as Amazing as the People Inside Them, at the upcoming i4cp 2023 Next Practices Now Conference in March.

Chief People Officer Ana White will present at the i4cp 2023 Next Practices Now Conference in Scottsdale, Arizona (March 27-30, 2023) and give attendees insight into F5’s successful culture renovation. In advance of her conference session, she sits down with i4cp to reflect on some of the key decisions made by their HR leadership team and actions being prioritized for the year ahead.During your tenure at F5, the company has undergone significant change—at a people, business, and technological perspective. During this time of change, how was the leadership team able to keep everything in sync and moving in the right direction?

Greg Hoffman, Founder & Principal of Modern Arena, former Chief Marketing Officer at Nike, and author of the terrific book Emotion by Design: Creative Leadership Lessons from a Life at Nike. He had a major hand in crafting Nike’s singular brand and was instrumental in its most high-profile breakthrough campaigns.Greg will present on Emotion by Design at the upcoming i4cp 2023 Next Practices Now Conference in March, which helps human capital leaders think and act differently when it comes to their people and initiatives.

Dress for Success CEO Michele Meyer-Shipp will join us on stage at the i4cp 2023 Next Practices Now Conference in Scottsdale, Arizona (March 27-30, 2023) to discuss gender inequality. She recently sat down with i4cp to share some insights. In this preview of her conference discussion, she talks about the forms that gender inequality is taking on a global scale and how HR leaders should be thinking differently about identifying and recruiting underrepresented talent.In your first year as CEO of Dress for Success, what have been your key priorities, and how has your background as both a chief people officer and head of DE&I informed your decision making?

Corporations are under relentless pressure from stakeholders to show that they care about more than bottom-line profits, creating an entire industry around organizations’ environmental, social, and governance (ESG) commitments.But how should leaders think about sustainability and identify what to prioritize? How do they decide when to take positions on public policy issues and respond to employees who disagree with those decisions?

An Institute for Corporate Productivity (i4cp) survey of over 500 HR professionals has found that 73% would not accept an HR job at Twitter.The survey launched within hours of the news breaking that Twitter had laid off nearly half its workforce, followed by Musk’s tweet that the company’s loss of $4 million per day left him no alternative. And while 22% of survey participants describe Elon Musk’s handling of Twitter since he assumed ownership of the social media company in positive terms, 69% said he has mishandled management of Twitter from the start.

The latest data from the U.S Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) was released this week. This included the JOLTS (Job Openings and Labor Turnover Summary) data on Tuesday, and then The Employment Situation report on Friday. The JOLTS data is current through September (preliminary), while the employment data is for October (preliminary).The headlines? The labor market remains tight. With continued high inflation, and tightening from the Federal Reserve, recession may indeed be coming, but it isn’t knocking on the door of the U.S. economy quite yet. For one thing, the initial read on gross domestic product (GDP) for the third quarter was positive (2.6%), instead of the negative numbers seen in the first two quarters of 2022 (-1.6% and -0.6%, respectively).

In the years that i4cp has been studying organizational culture, one thing has always been clear:  companies that have a learning culture generally are very healthy.My favorite example is Microsoft.  While I talk about Microsoft a lot, I continue to believe they are one of the best examples of what a successful culture renovation looks like—and they represent what can happen when you embrace a culture of learning.

Four years ago, I wrote that October is a month filled with unnerving imagery and themes, making it a good time to review some of the monsters that exist in the workplace—and what best and next practices we can use to minimize their negative effects. A lot has happened since then, so it seemed like a good time to see how things are going in monster-land.

New data from the Institute for Corporate Productivity (i4cp) shows that companies’ environmental, social, and governance (ESG) commitments have positive impact on business outcomes, but only when progress is being made on those goals. To ensure such progress, organizations need both the right structure and oversight of sustainability agendas, and the involvement of HR to help embed ESG into talent practices.Data from i4cp’s research shows that organizations that have made progress on ESG goals have dedicated cross-functional teams or a single office to drive strategy—beyond the board of directors’ role.

In September 2022, i4cp conducted a survey for the Wall Street Journal and partnered with members of our Chief Diversity Officer Board to explore the state of corporate supplier diversity in the United States. In total, we collected data from 63 US-based companies (90% of which have more than 100 employees). A high-level breakdown of that data from organizations with at least 100 employees follows:

The debate continues about returning workers to the office, even if i4cp research makes clear that mandating face time isn’t a great idea. There’s even a strong case that CEOs are the people least qualified to make return-to-office decisions, given that they tend to operate and experience work differently than just about anyone else in their organizations.CEOs and business leaders often cite the value of in-person collaboration, innovation, and intangible social benefits as justifications for in-person work models. While there is something to be said for casual hallway interactions, what leaders are really talking about—whether they know it or not—is the importance of building and maintaining powerful employee connections.

Global organizations have struggled more with attrition the past 12 months than others, according to research from the Institute for Corporate Productivity (i4cp) and Fortune.The study, The Talent Imperative, based on survey data collected this spring from approximately 1,200 HR and business leaders in 77 countries, found that 83% of global and 89% of multinational organizations experienced increased attrition the past 12 months, compared to the 71% of organizations located within a single country.

Amidst soaring inflation, recession, and now a bear market, the labor market continues to be robust. It was reported today that 193,000 workers filed for new unemployment benefits, a number which has continued to decline despite predictions it would increase by many experts. The number of available jobs continue to far outpace the number of available workers, and unwanted attrition in many companies remains high.

Despite widespread public concern about rampant inflation, soaring prices, and fears of a recession, many employers aren’t assessing or investing in the financial well-being of their workforces.Data from leading human capital research firm i4cp shows that only 12% of survey respondents—primarily HR leaders representing large companies—say that their employees have a high level of financial well-being.

I’m flabbergasted at how divisive “return to office” discussions have become. One senior executive recently said to me “it’s more emotionally charged than layoffs.”Many have told me they will quit rather than be forced to work onsite, and others have refused to take a job for the same reason. And just this week, for the second time, a group of employees at Apple protested their CEO’s new policy to be in the office at least three days a week and filed a petition to continue working from home.

Some sectors of the economy, such as newer technology companies, have recently announced layoffs. Others such as Google and Apple, have announced slowdowns in hiring, and Amazon and Walmart have reported overstaffing in parts of their businesses.Walmart CEO Doug McMillon explained the overstaffing during the company's quarterly earnings call this month, which he attributed mostly to the pandemic. Walmart hired extra associates in Q4 of 2021 because staff members were out on COVID leave, but many employees returned to work sooner than expected. The several weeks of overstaffing, which has since self-corrected via attrition, impacted profits for the most recent quarter—a profit decline of nearly 25% from the year before, according to Business Insider.

We've been talking a lot about the importance of connection these days. No longer tethered to an office building that served as our traditional connection framework, we have to think more intentionally about how we connect.Early on in the pandemic, our organization identified "intentional connection" as a new norm, and this past week we hosted the first-ever "Connection Week" to put the spotlight on the value and importance of connection. As we are operating in more of a hybrid fashion, we hosted both in-person and virtual events that allowed associates to connect with each other from across the organization. As part of the week's activities, we held a session for our 200+ leaders on the role they play in fostering connection.

Whether we like it or not, organizations are expected to act as cultural and social leaders—some do so willingly—viewing this as part of the roles they play in the local, regional, or global communities in which they do business.Corporate leaders may feel obligated (or even pressured) to use their platforms to provide perspective, declare clear positions, and even take sides in an era of polarization that would’ve been unthinkable even five years ago.

A recent LinkedIn article with the provocative title, “15 Jobs You’ll Be Recruiting for in 2030”, definitely enticed me to click and read. It linked to a similar article from the World Economic Forum (WEF) published over a year ago: “Top 10 Jobs of the Future – For 2030 and Beyond.”I wholeheartedly agree with the LinkedIn article’s author, Bruce Anderson, who began by noting, “Many of the jobs that today’s students will be doing in 2030 haven’t been invented yet.”

While some employers have responded to the overturning of Roe v. Wade by the U.S. Supreme Court by making announcements about supporting employees in accessing abortion services, etc., others have remained silent.A survey by Institute for Corporate Productivity (i4cp) show that staying quiet on this issue, regardless of the outcome of a Supreme Court ruling, is the resolute strategy for most organizations.

Rolling out rainbow-themed products and events each June is a popular corporate practice—but do those rainbows spell authentic alignment between a company’s stated values and its actions?

i4cp/Fortune study shows that high-performance organizations are more likely to attract and retain talent by competing on the strength of their cultures over compensationSeattle, WA – Data gathered by research firm Institute for Corporate Productivity (i4cp) and Fortune Media found that labor and skill shortages are viewed by most employers as the top potential disruptors to their organizations and business in 2022—surprisingly cited more than inflation, supply chain interruption, or geopolitical instability.

The current global skills and labor shortage is perceived by most leaders as posing the greatest disruption to businesses and organizations in 2022. While it’s clear at this point that the need to offer flexible work arrangements is essential to competing for talent in 2022, employers are especially under pressure to find solutions to the challenge of retaining frontline workers. New research conducted by the Institute of Corporate Productivity (i4cp) in partnership with Fortune, found organizations reporting that they experienced the highest rate of voluntary turnover among frontline workers in 2021. 

Is the looming Roe v Wade decision in the U.S. causing problems in organizations?Of the 366 HR and other talent professionals who participated in i4cp’s Employer Response to the Implications of Roe v Wade survey last week, 52% reported the possible reversal of the right to abortion access by the U.S. Supreme Court has not caused a noticeable impact in their organizations. A little over one-quarter (27%) of those surveyed said that yes, there has been a noticeable impact; 22% said that they didn’t know either way.

The Great Resignation. The Great Reshuffle. Workers have the upper hand.We’ve all heard this persistent theme—one that most organizations have been experiencing firsthand for the past year or so. While there might be some moderation of the most extreme difficulties of talent loss for some organizations, such as those that reportedly now find themselves overstaffed—for most, the challenges of a tight labor market continue.

If you haven’t heard about the anti-work movement yet, you likely will soon. Here’s a primer: It is indeed (albeit loosely organized) a movement, coalesced on a discussion thread on Reddit, Anti-work: Unemployment for all, not just the rich!.The movement’s founder, Doreen Ford, describes anti-work as a radical leftist movement; its philosophical foundation is undermining capitalism, which it defines as an inhumane system.

Is a 401(k) halal in Islam?When it comes to news about American Muslims in the workplace, the focus is often centered on issues of discrimination, harassment, or misunderstandings related to Islamic religious beliefs and practices.

One of the many areas of work life that was significantly disrupted in early 2020 was the way new employees were onboarded into organizations. Given the COVID-19 pandemic, on-site workers needed to be brought on in a safe, socially distanced way. Other new workers who would be remote—whether initially or indefinitely—needed onboarding in a radically different way than ever before: fully virtually, with no time spent at any organization headquarters or other location.During the past two years alone, millions of new employees were onboarded in this fully remote way, and some organizations fared better than others with this dramatic change. Most could nail the basics of benefits and IT setup and administration, but many did a poor job supporting new remote employees in forging key relationships and networks, learning the organization’s culture, and in general hitting the ground running in their new roles. Many i4cp members had a leg up by leveraging resources such as the “Three Strategies to Accelerate Remote On-Boarding” and our Onboarding Toolkit to apply best and next practices—defined by i4cp as practices that correlate to better performance but are not yet widely adopted—to support their new hires, but the process remains a challenging one.

With an estimated 3.45 million Muslims living in the U.S. and 1.8 billion worldwide, it's likely that awareness of Ramadan is heightening in the workplace. Ramadan, which began in North America on Saturday, April 2nd, is a special time of the year for adherent Muslims. It's a time of devotion, reflection and sacrifice through daily fasting and nightly prayer. This change in eating and sleeping routines can create some upheaval in a Muslim's work life. With a few simple accommodations by an employer, your Muslim co-workers and employees can remain highly productive and more engaged. If you are unfamiliar with Muslim religious practices, I recommend the guide, An Employer's Guide to Islamic Religious Practices. This can quickly acquaint those interested with such practices as prayer, fasting, and the Islamic dress code. Becoming acquainted with the basics of Islam will make having a workplace dialogue about Ramadan or other issues easier and more comfortable for everyone. Learning a few key aspects of the faith and practices will show employees that you care about them—this is a step in the right direction. At a previous job I had, the CEO sent out his weekly email to the company with a special note congratulating the Muslim employees on Ramadan. That acknowledgment made me feel respected, and in the end, more dedicated to my position. Of the 300 employees in the company, there were only a couple of us Muslims, so the CEO’s message felt sincere. When it comes from the top, inclusive gestures like that help to create a culture that fosters diversity. That type of culture was a critical issue for me, even in the interviewing phase. It is one thing to say your company is inclusive and another to walk the talk. Another example of this can be seen in President Biden’s statement congratulating Muslims around the world on Ramadan. Since Ramadan is a month of complete fasting from before sunrise until sunset—and increased abstention from many other daily activities—a few aspects of this time period are important to understand if you work with Muslims. If your Muslim co-workers seem to have low energy, are quieter than usual, or do not want to partake in office festivities during Ramadan, this is likely a reflection of less sleep and fasting. On the flip side, your Muslim co-workers are not likely to be offended if you eat lunch next to them or accidentally invite them to a lunch meeting. If you have a large number of Muslim team members, diversity training might be in order. Living in the Seattle area and having hundreds of Muslim friends who work at large companies such as Boeing, Microsoft, Nordstrom, and Starbucks, I've been told by some of them that they have been asked by HR to give a short talk about Ramadan during a lunchtime-hour diversity meeting. This non-mandatory forum proved beneficial not only to those attending, but also to the person presenting—a chance to share about their faith and address questions that their co-workers may have felt unsure of asking previously. Think of this too as an excellent opportunity to engage with Muslim or inter-faith ERGs/BRGs. In addition to learning about basic Islamic practices, it is important to consider some different ways of accommodating Muslim employees during the month of Ramadan. Since fasting starts very early in the morning, around 4:45 a.m. in the Seattle area, I find myself much more productive in the early morning hours after eating my pre-fasting breakfast meal, called suhoor. For this reason, I go into the office at 6 a.m. and close out my day in the early afternoon. I've been working an adjusted schedule during Ramadan for the last 10 years, and it has proven very effective for me and my employers—not to mention my East Coast clients.A 2022 i4cp study done in partnership with Fortune found that the top two employee value proposition (EVP) elements employers are focusing on are flexibility in work arrangements and commitment to diversity, inclusion, and belonging—Ramadan is an excellent time to put both of those EVP elements into practice. Although religious accommodation can be discussed as a positive engagement, inclusion, and productivity issue, there have been Ramadan accommodation stories involving bias as well. It's important to remember that reasonable accommodation for all faiths is a legally required compliance issue. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of l964 places the following definition and stipulations on reasonable accommodation:

It's that time of (the lunar) year again. The holy month of Ramadan began recently and as in previous years, i4cp has seen an uptick in the number of companies accessing our previously published articles on productivity and accommodation for Muslim employees.A few things have changed since our original articles addressing Ramadan were published, and I'm always happy to answer questions about Ramadan and serve as a resource regarding the role of faith in the workplace.

I conducted an informal poll this week of people in my social network, asking them about their sense of personal well-being and whether they’ve seen signs of strain among their co-workers.I heard from a few that the number of sick days they and their co-workers are taking is noticeably on the rise. So too are discussions about feeling burnt out, overwhelmed, despondent, exhausted. These emotions are understandable and common.

A recent Institute for Corporate Productivity (i4cp) study on HR Capability and Design asked this question of senior-ranking HR leaders representing 122 large organizations (those with more than 1,000 employees): "What are the most significant barriers to your HR function’s ability to deliver on the organization’s strategic imperatives/objectives?"The top response (60%) was overload or burnout of employees in the HR function.

Employers worldwide have mobilized to get employees and their families out of Russia and Ukraine according to the results of a new survey of nearly 200 business leaders by the Institute for Corporate Productivity (i4cp).Of those surveyed from larger organizations (those employing >1,000) who reported that they have employees and/or operations in Ukraine and Russia (we asked about employees, contractors, corporate offices, retail spaces, production, warehouses, and distribution centers) the reported breakdowns are:

Dawn Klinghoffer, Vice President of HR Business Insights at Microsoft, will speak at the i4cp 2022 Next Practices Now Conference (both in-person and virtually) about how the revered company is helping its employees achieve work/life balance in a hybrid world, using data-backed tips and technology innovations.In this brief interview, she sheds some light on the trends she’s observing, what Microsoft is doing to tackle the right balance between collaboration and employee well-being, and measuring success as organizations continue to experiment with how to “get hybrid work right.”

Flexibility is ranked as a leading driver of talent attraction and retention, yet only 33% of large organizations consider employee input when determining where work is performed, according to a new global study by the Institute for Corporate Productivity (i4cp).Only 25% of organizations surveyed for the study take employee feedback into account to decide when work should happen.

“You can’t make Oreos at home; people have to go to work in manufacturing facilities.”This observation by Brooke Finlayson, chief learning officer of Mondelez International—the multinational food and beverage firm that makes the iconic cookies and has subsidiaries including many globally popular brands such as Nabisco, Cadbury, and others—succinctly speaks to a critical challenge many organizations encounter in defining what flexibility means for their workforces: There are countless jobs that can only be accomplished on-site in company facilities.

The events of 2020-21 helped to normalize attending and conducting meetings and training online for many workers. Things are changing again, as many employees who had shifted to remote work have started to return to offices, albeit often intermittently—with starts and stops and starts again, due to safety concerns about the Delta and Omicron variants of COVID-19.The Institute for Corporate Productivity (i4cp) has conducted a wealth of research on the shift to remote, hybrid, and flexible approaches to work, starting with our From Cube to Cloud: The Next Era of Work study published in early 2021 and continuing with other studies and pulse surveys.

Getty Images' Senior Director of Culture & Development Marie Potter explains how embracing change can build a strong culture and positive well-being for employees both personally and professionally. Marie will be onstage at the i4cp 2022 Next Practices Now Conference (March 14 - 17, 2022).

We often talk about the future of work like it is some distant idea, but the future of work is now. In advance of her presentation at the i4cp 2022 Next Practices Now Conference (March 14 – 17, 2022), Jacqui Canney, Chief People Officer at ServiceNow, shared her perspective on a variety of topics, including retaining talent, listening to employees, dealing with burnout and reframing your thinking because what was once considered far off in the future isn’t any longer.First, my career has changed significantly because the importance of the HR function has shifted in ways we have never seen before. All these shifts put chief people officers in the spotlight as we address big challenges: keeping our people safe and healthy as the pandemic evolves, empowering our people in hybrid work models, constant adjustments to return-to-workplace plans, reckoning with racial and social injustice, the ongoing competition for top talent, to name just a few. The trends around many of these challenges began before the pandemic, but they have accelerated dramatically.

Learning expert and Broadway producer Elliott Masie shares his message to Chief Learning and Talent Officers on how to face and create a workforce that is both stable and content by focusing on skills and nontraditional measures. Elliott will present at the i4cp 2022 Next Practices Now Conference (March 14 - 17, 2022).

Microsoft's Corporate VP of Modern Work Jared Spataro shares insights about how organizations can bring purpose and value to frontline workers. Jared will present at the i4cp 2022 Next Practices Now Conference (March 14 - 17, 2022).

People analytics (PA) leaders have stepped up during the pandemic, providing the data and analytics critical to helping leaders make sense of chaos and stay on the leading edge. Indeed, people analytics is leading the way to modernize HR and highlight opportunities for the business to not only quickly adapt but to get ahead of competition. Heading into 2022, there’s no greater way to do so than addressing the impact of the great resignation phenomenon on the organization.PA leaders say that labor supply and demand, and attrition and rising wages have the greatest potential to disrupt their companies in the coming year. These labor market trends are expected to lead to increased wages, particularly for new hires, and the added challenge of compensation adjustments that may need to take place across the organization.

Two years of multiple crises that required human resources (HR) to respond and lead decisively resulted in recognition of the valuable strategic contributions of HR leaders to business outcomes. The profile of the HR function has been broadly elevated since 2020, as has its ability to provide greater impact.As part of HR’s multi-faceted effort to continue to deliver on these expectations—which include positioning the organization to best navigate the hyper-competitive talent landscape, clearly understanding and responding to the needs of the customer, and optimizing to achieve sustained high performance in this new era of work—companies are assessing and restructuring their people management functions.

Succession planning / management has long been a high priority at many organizations. But for some, there is now real urgency due to a range of recent changes to the leadership and critical talent landscape: the increasingly competitive market driven in part by flexible/hybrid/remote work, a jump in early retirements, the Great Resignation / Reshuffling, and more.Several HR leaders from Institute for Corporate Productivity (i4cp) member organizations recently asked questions about succession planning / management best and *next practices in the i4cp Expert Network, a secure discussion board on the i4cp website that is one of the many benefits of enterprise membership.

Total Rewards leaders say that talent attraction and retention—especially of top talent and employees in critical roles—is their singularly most pressing concern. The lingering COVID-19 pandemic and its unpredictable spikes and disruptive effects is on the minds of TR leaders as well.Another development presenting complexity for TR is shifting work models. In particular: evolving policies (including geographic differentials in compensation) associated with remote and hybrid work, return-to-workplace considerations, and strains on organizations, people, and resources resulting from headcount growth.

New York Times bestselling author Daniel H. Pink will keynote the i4cp 2022 Next Practices Now Conference, capping off the three-day event focused on the HR and workforce challenges facing organizations in the year ahead.Pink is the author of bestsellers A Whole New Mind, Drive, To Sell Is Human, and When, which have sold millions of copies, have been translated into forty-two languages, and have won multiple awards.

CEO, bestselling author, thought leader, and industry legend Bev Kaye shares insights about how high-performance organizations can retain more talent and enhance the overall employee experience. HINT: It's not bean bag chairs and a stocked refrigerator.Bev spoke at the i4cp 2022 Next Practices Now Conference, joined onstage by i4cp vice president of research Lorrie Lykins. The two discussed retaining your best people.

Talent acquisition (TA) leaders share the ever-increasing pressures and expectations experienced by their CHRO, CDO, and other functional head colleagues—to deal with uncertainty, talent loss, and new ways of working. Add to that the urgency of making significant progress in addressing diversity, equity, and inclusion in their organizations, and driving candidate and employee experience that supports competitive advantage in attracting talent.The sheer velocity of increasing hiring demand (compounded by the push for robust internal talent mobility and rising attrition), is a constant stressor for TA. So is the expectation in some organizations that talent acquisition can hire its way to a diverse workforce. Other urgent issues include continuously shifting priorities, and the lingering effects of the pandemic piled on to the existing pressures on TA to improve quality of hire, speed time to full productivity, decrease time to fill, and on and on. TA team engagement and burnout will continue to be challenges. So, identifying opportunities to train, engage, and grow TA team members is of vital importance.

Talent supply challenges (both retaining and hiring), the impact of hybrid and flexible work models, and equitably dealing with vaccine mandates are all top 2022 priorities for members of i4cp’s Chief Diversity Officer Board.The great resignation and a dearth of available talent to replace those leaving is the primary disruption cited by most board members—a concern fueled by the willingness of many who are currently employed to resign rather than return to a full in-person, on-site workplace.

As with their HR colleagues more broadly, talent and learning leaders and their teams have been relied upon more than ever in the past couple of years to solve major business challenges such as maintaining employee engagement during chaotic times, the pivot to remote training and upskilling, and rethinking what it means to be an effective leader.Learning and talent functions will be called upon in 2022 to support a range of still evolving aspects of work, from broad labor supply/demand issues to optimizing remote, hybrid, and flexible work arrangements, and the increasing use of all things digital, which pressures employees to upskill and reskill to remain relevant.

The stated purpose of the Institute for Corporate Productivity (i4cp) is to discover and advance next practices in human capital. What’s a next practice? Put simply, it’s a practice that our research proves to have a strong positive correlation to bottom-line business impact, yet is not widely put into practice.     In many instances, a next practice serves as a prediction about a specific people strategy that will further distinguish high-performance organizations in the years to come.

The profile of the CHRO (and the HR function in general) has risen exponentially in the past two years in visibility, significance, and recognized contributions to the business.The increased expectations and opportunities for stakeholder impact that now fall on the CHRO are unequalled. The unknowns related to the ongoing pandemic, combined with new hybrid work models and the changing role of the office (including culture implications), talent supply chain disruption, and an ever-changing competitive landscape, are more than enough for any CHRO to take on in addition to traditional HR initiatives.

Organizational cultures that include DE&I as a core value and business consideration are currently winning the talent game—and that’s by design. Research from the Institute for Corporate Productivity (i4cp) shows that listening to the voice of employees and maintaining a strong purpose, culture, and brand are key. This applies to all employee cohorts, but it’s critical to attraction, acquisition, and retention of talent from underrepresented groups.And when it comes to meaningful progress on diversity goals, retention is just as critical as acquisition. The ten practices and principles outlined below combine to fuel equitable and inclusive cultures that are appealing to potential applicants and help retain hard-won diverse talent.

Charlotte A. Burrows, Chair of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), will keynote the i4cp 2022 Next Practices Now Conference, the #1 rated HR event for senior leaders.The i4cp 2022 Conference is designed to offer actionable insights into this next era of work and explores the profound and permanent shift from cube to cloud. The event takes place March 14-17 in Scottsdale, Arizona and will feature dozens of thought leader and senior executive presentations, as well as an abundance of premium networking and collaboration for the practitioners in attendance. To ensure rich and open discussion, vendors and consultants are not allowed to attend.

How effective is the HR function at your organization at helping to shape the vision of the future organization?  Despite its importance, only 15% of senior HR leaders recently surveyed by i4cp said their HR function was highly effective at doing so now.In this video, i4cp Chief Research Officer Kevin Martin shares the essential elements we’ve found that distinguish high-performance, high-agility organizations—including a critical set of questions that they are regularly discussing and debating—that  allow these high-performers to anticipate, adapt, and act on continuous change, as well as effectively and continuously shape the vision of the future of the organization.

More than a few things happened in 2021, and our research team—in coordination with our amazing member community—produced some terrific reports, articles, tools, and more to help guide you and your team through the thick of it all. As 2021 comes to a close, here are the 21 most popular i4cp resources you may have missed:1. Considerations and Best Practices for Running Hybrid Meetings

Two famous people, physicist Niels Bohr and baseball player Yogi Berra, are credited with saying that “Prediction is very difficult, especially about the future.” Joking aside, trying to predict macro-economic trends is particularly difficult, and something even mainstream economists often get wrong, e.g., the 2008 bear market.Earlier in 2021, many were suggesting that rising price inflation would be transitory. Mounting evidence has recently led Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell to admit that “the threat of persistently high inflation has grown.” While the predictions of economics experts sometimes make weather people look good, there is now enough concern about prolonged inflation that more business leaders are adjusting certain decisions to accommodate this likely reality.

You’ve been in the throes of planning for some type of ‘return to office’ for the better part of a year now—and it’s almost time to execute on your plans. You’ve spent hours thinking through who should come back to the office (check!), when they should come back to the office (check!), whether employees and others on-site will be required to be vaccinated (check!), and how you will handle unforeseen issues as they come up (check!), among many other things.But what plans are in place for your employees’ impending next (or in some cases first) Day One in the office? How will they be welcomed? What awaits them after they get in the door?

In Major League Baseball’s postseason playoffs, a player is chosen as the Most Valuable Player (MVP) in each series, culminating in the MVP of the championship round, the World Series. But at times it seems that the most valuable person for a sports team’s success wasn’t a player at all. Some years it was a coach or manager’s strategic moves during the games that made the biggest difference.This year one could make the case that the key person wasn’t on the field at all—in fact, he wasn’t even at the ballpark for several of the final games due to coming down with COVID-19 (yes, he was vaccinated). That person is Atlanta Braves General Manager Alex Anthopoulos.

The events of 2020-21 helped to normalize, for many employees, holding meetings and conducting training online. The response to the COVID-19 pandemic led millions of employees to start working remotely, and even for some who did not, gathering for training together in a traditional classroom was at times not allowed due to health and safety protocols.In the spring of 2020, learning and development teams mobilized to convert programs from in-person instructor-led training to the virtual classroom. Additional programs were also created to meet the need for upskilling in timely topics such as leading virtual teams, using collaboration tools like Microsoft Teams and Slack, maintaining holistic well-being during difficult times, deeper learning in diversity, inclusion, and belonging topics, and more.

CHRO of Lyra Health to add experience and insight as the research firm continues its significant growth Seattle, WA, December 3, 2021:  The Institute for Corporate Productivity (i4cp)—the leading authority on next practices in human capital and one of the nation’s fastest-growing private companies according to Inc. Magazine—announced today that Stephanie Frias has joined the company’s board of directors.

In May 2021, 72% of senior HR executives at large organizations (1,000 or more employees) surveyed by the Institute for Corporate Productivity (i4cp) said they anticipated at least a moderate talent exodus at their respective organizations in the coming months. They were spot on.Take, for instance, these data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics: Nearly 17 million U.S. workers quit their jobs from July through October 2021.

The skills most urgently needed by organizations are not the easiest to develop—and for too long have been discounted or dismissed altogether as fluff in some corporate circles.But beyond the growing global demand for tech skills—which we know already outstrips supply, employers recognize that they need workers with soft skills—those who are critical thinkers, emotionally intelligent, and capable problem solvers.

As a growing number of companies experience the exodus of critical talent, there’s reason to suspect this trend will only add to global delays in logistics and longer waits to obtain basic goods and services. But while the short-term may feel like manager hell, business leaders should be optimistic about the positive long-term benefits from all this quitting.Think of this: Every organization dealing with the challenges of the Great Resignation and simultaneously trying to grow the business will find ways (not without great pains) to attract new talent if they are to survive. This surge of new hires can play a vital role in igniting massive organizational learning throughout the global economy, the kind that makes companies more capable of swift adaptations. Furthermore, the boundary-spanning or swapping of knowledge that takes place as the workforce shuffles and resorts itself can lead to important innovations.

Do you think you know Culture Renovation®? Organizational Network Analysis? Or just random facts about i4cp? Put your knowledge to the test again in part 2 of our HR Trivia. These questions were posed to attendees during Day 2 of the i4cp 2021 Next Practices Now Virtual Conference. Good luck!Scroll to the bottom for answers.

The recipients of the i4cp 2021 Next Practice Awards have been announced. Avanade, Ford Motor Company, T-Mobile, and Tiffany & Co. are recognized for leading-edge people practices that have positively impacted their businesses.The winners were honored at the virtual i4cp 2021 Next Practices Now Conference.

How well do you know i4cp’s research? At Day 1 of the i4cp 2021 Next Practices Now Virtual Conference, we put our attendees to the test. Whether or not you participated at the conference, you still have a chance to test your knowledge below. Put your thinking caps on and try your hand at our HR Trivia.Scroll to the bottom for answers.

Following the Securities and Exchange Commission announcement a year ago that corporations will need to get serious about publishing human capital data, the 2021 Form 10-K disclosures are in.And they are so 2020. The new reports are in general lengthier than years’ prior, but just as shallow when it comes to meaningful workforce data.

27% of organizations feel LinkedIn knows more about their employees than they doAs the “Great Resignation” begins to affect the ability to retain and attract top talent, organizations may want to first make sure they understand what talent they already have. Data collected by human capital research firm Institute for Corporate Productivity (i4cp) – from more than 1,300 HR and business executives across 80 countries – shows that not only do most organizations not know the skills and capabilities within their workforces today, but that they also have a lack of knowledge on what is needed in the next one-to-three years.

For nearly 50 years, organizational leaders have celebrated the watercooler effect—the power of an office amenity to bring together acquaintances from different departments and spark eureka! moments.The late Tony Hsieh, founder of Zappos, referred to these interactions as “collisions,” serendipitous social encounters that drive innovation. Knowing their impact, he designed a physical office space and culture to strategically promote the cross-pollination of information from different departments and produce a return on community (ROC).

The Institute for Corporate Productivity (i4cp)—a leading global human capital research firm—has announced the remaining four finalists in its 2021 Next Practice Awards competition. Exclusive to i4cp’s research and analysis, next practices describe innovative strategies strongly tied to excellence in market performance but not yet leveraged by most organizations.Finalists in phase two of the 2021 competition include Ford Motor Company, T-Mobile, JLL, and Land O’Lakes, joining previously announced finalists Tiffany & Co., Prisma Health, F5, and Avanade. All were chosen for demonstrating creative workforce practices that positively impact business results.

There is an HR meme making the rounds that many of us have seen:What makes the meme funny is that the images depicting how our work in HR is perceived are wildly different—illustrating that how we want to spend our time and how we actually spend our time at work are often at odds with one another. While this is true for nearly every job, it is most especially true for the HR business partner (HRBP) role.

Expanding on a well-known quote from the late management thinker Peter Drucker, you can’t manage and improve what you don’t define, communicate, and measure. Without this level of shared understanding of a process or concept, individuals will counter each other at every turn and won’t be all rowing the boat in the same direction or at the same speed.The Accelerating Workforce Readiness study by the Institute for Corporate Productivity (i4cp)—the key findings brief will be published in early fall—found that only 30% of survey participants believe to a high or very high extent that their organization’s workforce currently has the skills and capabilities necessary to advance its strategy over the next one-to-three years. That is one rough and ready definition of workforce readiness.

Most organizations—70% of those polled by the Institute for Corporate Productivity (i4cp)—anticipate a moderate-to-high talent exodus in the near future (the uncertainty of the Delta variant surge notwithstanding) as workers seek alternative job arrangements, new employers, or opt to leave the labor force entirely. While no employer has full control over what’s to come, there are several actions leaders can take to minimize attrition and gain a better understanding of their organization’s culture and employer brand.

If recruiting these days seems like a wild free-for-all with no rules or referee, it kind of is—and where it goes from here is anyone’s guess.   McDonald’s is offering a $500 hiring bonus for line staff and one franchise in Florida is paying applicants $50 simply for showing up for an interview. Walt Disney World is offering $1000 to housekeeping staff and line cooks if they stay on the job for at least 90 days (starting pay for these roles is $16 and $18 per hour respectively).

The Walt Disney Company is the latest to prove that large companies can disrupt themselves and reap immediate reward for doing so. Disney announced on July 12 that its latest Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) film, Black Widow, brought in $80 million from its initial domestic theatre release, $78 million internationally (not yet including China), and another $60 million in video-on-demand sales on Disney+ Premier Access. That last figure is critical, as 100% of the revenue goes to Disney, as opposed to being split with theatre operators.There has long been fear in the movie industry that simultaneously releasing a film via streaming and in theatres would see the former completely cannibalize the sales of the latter. Years ago, then Disney CEO Bob Iger decided to make an enormous bet on streaming, even though doing so might disrupt part of Disney's existing business model. The Disney+ subscription service fast became a success, growing to over 100 million subscribers in little over a year, and garnering 71 Emmy nominations—nearly half of Disney’s total nominations from across its portfolio (which includes Hulu, ABC, FX, and more.)

The Institute for Corporate Productivity (i4cp)—a leading global human capital research firm, is pleased to announce the first four finalists in its 2021 Next Practice Awards competition. Exclusive to i4cp, next practices describe innovative strategies strongly tied to excellence in market performance but not yet leveraged by most organizations.Finalists in Phase One of the two-phase 2021 competition include Tiffany & Co., Prisma Health, F5, and Avanade. All were chosen for demonstrating creative workforce practices that positively impact business results.

Despite widespread COVID-19 vaccinations in the U.S. and other countries, business travel—both domestic and global—won’t see a resurgence anytime soon, according to nearly 500 business and talent leaders surveyed by the Institute for Corporate Productivity (i4cp) for its late-June 2021 Getting Employees Vaccinated research series.As of July 4th, the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) reported that 157.3 million people in the U.S., about 47% of the total population, were fully vaccinated; about 55% had received at least one vaccine dose. The BBC reported June 20 figures for the European Union, noting that about half of adults in the EU had received at least one dose, and 28% were fully vaccinated. However, the i4cp research found that those levels aren’t sufficient to restore (or grow) pre-pandemic levels of travel for most organizations.

As 50% of organizations surveyed by i4cp fear a post-pandemic talent exodus, recruiters everywhere strain to find diverse employees, and organizations grind on controversial decisions on how and where work happens—HR Business Partners (HRBPs) are playing a pivotal role in helping companies sustain culture and provide a positive employee experience.These challenges, coupled with the clear mandate for HRBPs to take care of business in areas such as talent planning, talent risk management, people analytics, and diversity, equity & inclusion, reinforce the need for HRBP development to become a higher priority for many organizations. Against this backdrop, what are the biggest capability gaps for HRBPs?

As more organizations announce plans to return workers to the office, a mistake many are making is mandating that employees spend a certain number of days or hours in the office, according to a new global study by the Institute for Corporate Productivity (i4cp). The study, which included perspectives from 1,452 executives and employees from organizations located in 55 countries, demonstrates that such mandates not only risk higher attrition and lower diversity, but they’re also unnecessary.According to the study—From Cube to Cloud™: The Next Era of Work— most organizations have reported significant success in working remotely:

Merck has a very straightforward, powerful purpose statement: to save and improve lives.Given the pharmaceutical giant’s long history of success, it’s clear Merck’s focus on its purpose has served it well. But the company recognizes that to best serve its customer base, renovating culture to ensure future success must be a focus. With that in mind, Merck embarked on a culture renovation a few years ago, and it maintains the new culture through attention to talent practices.

The Golden Globes is a well-known awards show that recognizes outstanding achievement in motion pictures and television, and the second most popular behind the Academy Awards (also known as the Oscars). What most people don’t know, however, is that the Globes are determined by fewer than 90 international journalists, many of whom don’t even work full-time in the profession.Recently the show has been subject to severe criticism for another issue that was previously not well known: not a single one of those journalists is Black.

In every organization there are go-to people who make everything work. They are the subject matter experts, the influencers, the energizers—the people the company can least afford to lose. Yet, ask senior leaders who those people are, and research shows they can’t identify the majority of them. That’s because the go-to people are often buried in the hierarchy, adding tremendous value without recognition, and surprisingly are often introverts, not extroverts.How do you uncover and leverage these hidden superstars?

The trouble with the return-to-work conversation is that many of us aren’t “returning to work.”We never left. Work never stopped.

What's the number-one reason employers will likely lose talent in the post-pandemic era? In a word: Burnout.The latest data from the Institute for Corporate Productivity (i4cp) shows that burnout is the primary driver pushing workers to look for relief in the forms of a new job, opportunities for advancement, more pay, and above all else, continued flexibility.

How does organizational network analysis (ONA) help companies increase productivity? Collaboration? Even well-being?In every organization there are go-to people who make everything work.

When the COVID-19 pandemic drove masses of employees from corporate offices to work from home, it also prompted unprecedented numbers of relocations—temporary and permanent moves by employees across states and regions.For total rewards leaders and others responsible for setting compensation policies in the U.S., those worker migrations present complex and ongoing challenges when it comes to decisions about pay, benefits, and taxation. 

In 2011, pharmaceutical and healthcare giant Abbott Laboratories announced it was splitting into two leading healthcare companies. One was to be a diversified medical products company—Abbott—and the other, a new researched-based global biopharmaceutical company—AbbVie.On January 2, 2013, AbbVie was officially launched when it began trading independently on the New York Stock Exchange and today employs 30,000 people in 75 countries.

According to a Glassdoor study, 77% of adults would evaluate a company’s culture before applying to an open position; 56% rank an organization’s company culture as more important than compensation. Finding the right culture fit is high on any job candidate’s criteria.Anyone who has worked at different companies knows that culture differs dramatically from organization to organization, and the broad attributes of culture are often easy to spot. So are the deficiencies. Most CEOs I talk with have an idea of what culture attribute they want more of in their company. “I’d like us to be better at execution . . .” or, “I wish we were more innovative . . .” or, “we need to be more inclusive . . .” are common refrains. As companies evolve, often the culture drifts away from attributes that have been successful in the past, which sometimes causes deficiencies in important core traits.

The Wall Street Journal recently ran an article on bond giant Pacific Investment Management Company (PIMCO) and their attempts to change their culture. Some recent lawsuits have renewed scrutiny on the company: over the last three years seven current or former female employees have sued the company, alleging discrimination, harassment, and retaliation. In January, 21 women, including six of the plaintiffs, signed a letter imploring the firm to improve its treatment of women.“We are calling on you to step in and rectify these longstanding issues and create a company that provides equal opportunity and treatment to everyone regardless of their race, gender, or disability,” the women wrote in the letter. The women also asked PIMCO’s leaders to identify and correct disparities in pay and promotions, develop a five-year plan to diversify its senior staff and set up a complaint hotline run by an independent party.

Commutes may be a little longer during the summer and into fall of 2021, according to new data from the Institute for Corporate Productivity (i4cp), a human capital research firm. With over half of adults in the U.S. having received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and the numbers rising steadily, businesses are solidifying their plans to reopen workplaces—if they haven’t already.

According to newly released data from the U.S. Census Bureau, between March and April of 2020, “3.5 million mothers with school-age children left active work—either shifting into paid or unpaid leave, losing their jobs, or exiting the labor market all together.” As of February 2021, nearly 1.5 million fewer moms of school-aged children were actively working than in the previous year. And as the Wall Street Journal reported this week, “during the depths of last year’s economic crisis, Bureau of Labor Statistics data show, women’s participation in the workforce fell to levels not seen since the mid-1980s.”As we noted in March of this year, while many organizations are taking steps to alleviate the disparate impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on women in their workforces, a recent survey by the Institute of Corporate Productivity (i4cp) found that among larger employers, the number of those taking action (42%) is nearly equal to those organizations that are not (40%).

The good intentions of an always-on listening strategy are many – it lets employees know leadership cares, it helps organizations keep a pulse on employee engagement levels, it provides endless data around retention risk and other important metrics. In i4cp’s 2021 Priorities and Predictions report, it was noted that “The trend of moving beyond employee engagement to employee experience was only accelerated in 2020, and organizations are using sophisticated sentiment analysis to truly understand issues in the workforce. The focus in 2021 is to move swiftly from data collection to insights to action.”

Companies have good reason to care about sense of purpose. Not surprisingly, organizations that look beyond profit to the greater good they create reap the benefits of a more engaged workforce. When employees can link their goals to that of the company’s and see how their role contributes to the team or organization’s larger success, they are 3.5 times more likely to be engaged.For Millennials in particular, feeling a sense of purpose in the work they do is among the strongest drivers of retention.

When embarking on a culture renovation, a primary decision is the path to set for the company. In the spirit of renovation, the new direction should acknowledge and embrace past successes, but set up the organization to forge new ground into an unknown future.Most organizations begin with a Purpose Statement, but crafting the right one can be tricky. If the purpose is hollow or purely marketing-driven, most will see through it.  If the purpose is boring and wordy, it can have the opposite effect; rather than inspiring current and future employees, it can contribute to apathy and sometimes even cynicism.

As we wind down Women’s History Month and approach an annual spring tradition—Major League Baseball’s Opening Day—it only seems fitting to call out what some have called “a toxic culture” of gender inequality and sexual harassment in America’s oldest professional sport.Just this year, the New York Mets, the Chicago Cubs, the Arizona Diamondbacks, the Cleveland Indians, and the Los Angeles Angels have been tied to allegations of sexual harassment.  The most high-profile incidents involved Jared Porter, who was the Mets’ general manager for 37 days until he was fired.  He admitted to sending 62 unreturned texts, including nude photos, to a female reporter in 2016 when he was working for the Cubs.  The Mets also dismissed hitting coach Ryan Ellis after several sexual harassment allegations against him by employees. And former Met’s manager, Mickey Callaway (now with the Angels), has been suspended over sexual misconduct and predatory behavior allegations. His previous employer, the Cleveland Indians, kept quiet about similar issues with Callaway and admitted they had “not done enough to build the inclusive culture” necessary to prevent his behavior while he worked for the team.

When François Locoh-Donou took over as CEO of F5 Networks in 2017, he inherited a strong 20+ year culture. He understood the importance of holding onto what was core and unique to the organization as part of the process of change.“There was a culture that I inherited, and then there’s the culture I envisioned us evolving into. The notion of Culture Renovation, while I wasn’t using the term then, is exactly what I was trying to do.”

A survey fielded in June 2020 by the Institute for Corporate Productivity (i4cp) showed that approximately 90% of the 216 organizations polled planned to act on racial inequities in the wake of the murder of George Floyd and subsequent civil unrest that transpired in the summer of 2020.  i4cp recently revisited how well those promises are being kept by surveying on the status of the actions many organizations pledged eight months ago to pursue. A total of 169 professionals responded, and as we recently reported, the results were mixed:  

You may not see it. Your day-to-day interactions may not put you in situations where you are exposed to anti-Asian sentiment. You may not recognize it even when you do see it. But it is very real. The aggressions, micro and macro, are real. The harassment is real. The violence is real. The hate crimes are real. The history of systemic and institutional racism is real. Racism is real.I have personally experienced it on many occasions – so please don’t tell me it’s not real – it IS.

We all know about the hiring chain—if we have a positive employee experience, it’s more likely we will refer people from our networks to work for the organization too.This scenario is among the many stories told about the positive domino effect of inclusive hiring practices in a study published by the Institute for Corporate Productivity (i4cp) in partnership with Best Buddies International.

Most organizations fail in their attempt to modify organizational culture. In fact, only 15% of organizations who have attempted to change their cultures have reported success. But, there are commonalities in the approaches of those successful organizations, as revealed in the bestselling book Culture Renovation™ and corresponding research study by human capital research firm i4cpi4cp’s research uncovered 18 specific tactics which organizations can employ to create effective change. Yet, none of these tactics will work if your organization’s leadership doesn’t first fully understand the culture—and its nuances—in place today.  

In early 2017, the Institute for Corporate Productivity (i4cp) published a forecast, 14 Future Leadership Capabilities to Plan for Now. It was based on the collective smarts of the organization’s research team, thought leaders, and several senior executives representing companies in i4cp’s member network. The overall theme and advice four years ago was to prod organizations to prepare leaders for what’s ahead by recruiting, developing, and recruiting differently. At the time, a new president was taking office, Tom Brady had just won the Super Bowl and the Zika virus topped the CDC list of health risks in the new year. Fast forward to early 2021: a new president is taking office, Tom Brady has just won the Super Bowl, and as for the CDC, well, another new virus squarely tops the health risk list. 

No doubt you have heard of 3M, a company that has been in business for over a century and has been in the Fortune 500 most of that time. While most know the name well, few understand the company’s roots, or even what it really does.“3M” is based off the company’s original name of Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing.  The company was launched in 1902, and as the name implies, it was originally involved in mining (which, as it turns out, was a short-lived focus). Today, 3M operates in a variety of industries and consumer markets, and produces over 60,000 products under dozens of different brands (the N95 mask is one of those products). Based just outside of St. Paul, Minnesota, the company generates more than $30 billion in sales and has almost 100,000 employees.

When organizations decide to embark on a culture renovation, the focus is—understandably—on what needs to change. Whether it’s recent poor business performance, a new CEO, an internal scandal, or an acquisition, culture change is usually instigated by an event that signals it is time for something different. Rarely do companies initiate culture change when everything is going well, even though that is probably the best time to consider it. Some of the largest failures in corporate history were by companies that were lulled into complacency by their previous success.It’s natural to put a great deal of initial energy into the unhealthy cultural traits that need to disappear, be reversed, or remade. If you are considering a culture renovation, one of the first steps is to resist that urge and, instead, focus on what you want to keep.

The U.K. Government recently launched a campaign carrying the slogan “Stay Home, Save Lives. The new Covid-19 variant is spreading fast.” The campaign was widely shared on social media. On the surface it sounds quite innocent and noble, but the graphic that accompanied the campaign caused a firestorm. Three scenes showed stay-at-home activities: women cleaning, a woman ironing, and a woman home-schooling children. There was a man in a fourth scene, relaxing with his family on a sofa. The campaign evoked immediate criticism and was withdrawn after going viral on social media where many accused the government of being sexist and reinforcing age-old stereotypes. The government responded by saying the ad did “not reflect” its “view on women”.

UPDATE: Our research: From Cube to Cloud™: The Next Era of Work  is now available:It’s impossible to read any business publication these days and not come away with the understanding that senior executives, functional leaders, and other business professionals are spending a lot of think time under the same topic umbrella—the future of work. 

Just-in results from the latest i4cp survey confirm that employers continue to prefer encouraging, and not requiring, employees to receive COVID-19 vaccinations.Most of the just over 400 respondents (62%) surveyed last week say they encourage employees to be vaccinated or plan to; only 4% require or plan to require the injections. In both cases, 30% of leaders say they’re still considering their options.

In the aftermath of the January 6th attack on the U.S. Capitol, organizations around the country fired employees who were found to have participated in the insurrection. From real estate agents to college professors, attorneys, military veterans, law enforcement officers, and even the CEO of a data analytics firm, individuals who posted images and videos of themselves on social media taking part in unlawful behavior were terminated by their employers for cause. And some organizations are still investigating the particulars of the possible involvement of their employees.

With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the family of organizations that make up the Providence healthcare system faced a severe shortage of healthcare workers. Long before the pandemic hit, myriad forces had been at work that portended a crisis-level talent shortage in healthcare. Specifically, enrollment of students in nursing schools had been nowhere near the rate needed to meet current and future needs. Compounding this, nursing schools across the country were struggling to expand capacity to meet the rising demand for care in view of the national move toward healthcare reforms.In addition, nurses had been leaving the workforce in significant numbers in the U.S.; doubling in the past decade from 40,000 in 2010 to an estimated 80,000 in 2020, due in part to a significant segment of the nursing workforce being close to or nearing retirement age.

Scholar, author, and researcher on organizational leadership Warren Bennis often said, “managers do things right, leaders do the right thing.”The past 12 months have truly tested that mantra; 2020 found us all careening from one crisis to another: A pandemic that has killed more than two million people worldwide, global economic crisis that has left ten-of-millions of the most vulnerable unemployed, social upheavals that put a spotlight on the harsh reality of racial inequality, and political turmoil that tested the democracies in many countries.

As the Hiring Manager for numerous roles reporting directly to me at several leading organizations, I have been very involved in the Talent Acquisition (TA) process. As such, I am quite familiar with what is required regarding time allocation, additional resources to interview, preparation, documentation, follow-through, decision making, and the management of simultaneous regular/irregular priorities and responsibilities. I’ve partnered with many TA professionals and have developed an enormous amount of respect and admiration for their role and responsibilities. At the start of the year, I was placed into the role on the opposite side of the table – the interviewee, or candidate, instead of the interviewer, or Hiring Manager. The entire year has been a huge eye opener on what is required for Job Acquisition, compared to Talent Acquisition. There is a saying, “it’s a full-time job to find a full-time job!”, a statement that couldn’t be more realistic, now that I’ve experienced it. Another statement, “I wish I knew then what I know now” is even more accurate regarding the job-seeking process. Upon a successful placement into my next role, I will be much more empathetic, compassionate, and respectful of the candidates seeking their next job.

A solid employee listening strategy is imperative to organizational performance both when times are good and in times of crisis. Prior to the events of 2020, the Institute for Corporate Productivity’s (i4cp) groundbreaking study, Culture Renovation: A Blueprint for Action found that 41% of high-performance organizations used frequent and short employee pulse surveys to gauge employee sentiment while only 28% of low-performance organizations utilized this approach. The study also found that while 27% of high-performance organizations leveraged always-on continuous feedback technology, this was true in only 7% of lower-performing organizations.With the multiple crises of 2020 and the numerous and various impacts on employees across the globe, the importance of a listening strategy has become even more pronounced. In a soon-to-be-published study by i4cp on leadership behaviors, we found that the attribute of being highly attuned to the opinions and feelings of employees was among the most cited by nearly 700 survey respondents as much more important in 2020 than previously so.

Few companies put as much thought and energy into employee listening as Workday. Ashley Goldsmith, Chief People Officer at Workday, joined our weekly HR Strategy call recently, and shared that the pandemic reinforced the importance of a strong listening strategy.  For several years, the company has conducted a weekly pulse survey known as the Best Workday Survey every Friday (what Workday calls “Feedback Fridays”) which uses Workday’s own software to ask all employees two to three questions. Workday has rotated through over 30 questions each quarter and, like many organizations, added timely questions this past year related to COVID-19, remote work, and other changes the pandemic created.  The habit of weekly pulses has allowed the company to take quick action during the pandemic, such as providing improved mental/emotional support for employees.

Before an organization embarks on a culture renovation, there’s a very basic first step: it needs to first understand how the current culture is perceived.  Despite this “mastery of the obvious” insight, it’s amazing how many companies skip this. There’s one primary reason: too often the senior team assumes they know what the culture they have today represents.  Too often, they are dead wrong.In our research, two-thirds of organizations that successfully changed their culture first gathered sentiment and related data from the workforce to understand how employees viewed the existing culture. This has taken on new importance during the pandemic, particularly with so many employees working remotely and experiencing a work-life blend like never before. Corporate culture has unexpectedly changed this past year, like it or not, and it’s important to understand how.

GoDaddy, the world’s largest domain registrar and web-hosting company, is facing backlash for emailing employees with a holiday bonus announcement right before Christmas. Backlash? Well, as it turns out, the bonus wasn’t real – it was all part of a “test” to gauge how gullible GoDaddy’s employees are.On December 14, GoDaddy employees received an email from happyholiday@godaddy.com which announced that “2020 has been a record year for GoDaddy, thanks to you! Though we cannot celebrate together during our annual Holiday Party, we want to show our appreciation and share a $650 one-time Holiday bonus!”

Leadership accountability is the first order of business in a new administration, governmental or commercial. And it’s a must-have component underlying any strong, purpose-driven organizational culture. Incoming Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin announced this week that senior Pentagon leaders have two weeks to provide him with reports on the status of sexual assault prevention programs in the military. And he wants those reports to include leaders’ assessments of what is and isn’t working when it comes to prevention training and accountability measures instituted. 

In order to become a coach, you are coached in the process. Hence, my introduction to the practice of breathing. I never knew breathing practice was a “thing,“ but between my learning through coaching certification, my adoption of a sitting practice and a recent read, Breath by James Nestor, I am a convert.It started when my coaching partner suggested I adopt a 5-minute daily sitting practice to which I said in all seriousness, “I couldn’t possibly commit to that. I simply don’t have the time.” She then countered with the suggestion that I take 10 mindful breaths per day, which of course in my then-reality, was simply not possible. We landed with me agreeing to (and doing!) 3 mindful breaths per day because that’s all I could ‘realistically’ fit-in. I was busy, after all, crazy busy.  

In mid-2020, well into the COVID-19 pandemic, the Institute for Corporate Productivity (i4cp) partnered with Dr. Jeffrey Pfeffer on research to identify vital organizational stakeholders, their responsibilities, decision-making criteria, and other key aspects of the healthcare ecosystem. Pfeffer, a longtime i4cp Thought Leader Consortium member and the Thomas D. Dee II Professor of Organizational Behavior at Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business, has taught at Stanford since 1979 and is regarded as one of the nation’s most influential business and management visionaries. In addition, he is the author or co-author of numerous widely published articles, and his 15 books include 2018’s Dying for a Paycheck, a landmark examination of employee health, stress, and the toxic work environments and management practices that are leading contributors to those problems.  

COVID-19, widespread social unrest in the wake of the death of George Floyd, global demands for racial, social, and economic justice, and rising divisiveness in politics worldwide combined to make 2020 an unimaginably tumultuous year for everyone.The cumulative effect has been even greater for those who work in the field of DE&I. These unparalleled challenges have had the added impact of the uneven weight placed on underrepresented groups and women, which will persist into 2021.

COVID-19 almost instantly reshaped the traditional workplace. Then employees realized that if they were working remotely anyway, why not be near distant relatives or on the beach? As the pandemic continues, companies field daily requests to make temporary remote working permanent, and to allow employees to live anywhere while working from home. From the extreme of “working nomads” without a physical home, to employees moving outside large-city headquarters regions, individuals are asking to move in-state, across the U.S., or abroad to continue working remotely. Entire nations are trying to seize opportunities as countries such as Greece and some island nations in the Caribbean now offer longer-term visas.But is the reality of allowing employees to relocate as advantageous to employers as it seems? With states adjusting their laws in reaction to COVID-19, the shifting legal landscape is changing at an accelerated rate. Employers should be aware of the myriad issues occurring with remote work, and seek proper legal advice before allowing employees who work remotely to relocate. Only one working nomad on an employer’s payroll can result in serious and expensive consequences.

 Leveraging data from the largest research study conducted on organizational culture, book showcases interviews and case studies from some of the world’s top CEOs and companies 

Fervently hoped-for COVID-19 vaccines are making their way to frontline workers and beyond, but many business leaders remain undecided about their organizations’ policies on vaccinations for employees, suppliers, and other stakeholders.Data from The COVID-19 Vaccine & The 2021 Workplace, a new pulse survey by the Institute for Corporate Productivity (i4cp), shows that corporate decision-makers are more comfortable with encouraging (versus requiring) employees to get vaccinated. And many company leaders simply aren’t ready to rush into vaccination policies.

The ongoing pandemic, social unrest, political upheaval, economic uncertainty, and other stressors have organizations foreseeing even more growth in their emphasis on the mental well-being of employees in 2021.Of the six elements of i4cp’s holistic well-being model— physical, mental, financial, career, community, social— mental health is expected to far outdistance the others in heightened focus by large organizations.

 Inc. magazine today ranked the Institute for Corporate Productivity (i4cp) on its annual Inc. 5000, the most prestigious ranking of the nation's fastest-growing private companies. 

i4cp’s Next Practices Now Conference, the #1-rated event for HR executives, is going virtual in 2020. This year’s annual conference will feature live sessions showcasing top CEOs, CHROs, and thought leaders who represent some of the most progressive minds and organizations in the human capital field today.  It will also feature one of the largest gatherings of HR executives and human capital practitioners in a unique, networked environment. 

Seattle - May 31, 2020 – In response to the escalated racial tensions following the death of George Floyd, i4cp’s Chief Diversity Board, which represents leaders from dozens of major U.S. employers, invites all interested parties to join an open call for Diversity and Inclusion on Tuesday, June 2nd at 1pm ET / 10am PT.Led by Jacqui Robertson, chair of the CDO Board and Global Head of Talent, Diversity & Inclusion at William Blair, this video call will explore corporate response to this past week’s events and will include insights from top D&I executives of major organizations across the U.S. Participants will have a chance to interact and ask questions, as well as respond to polls and access pertinent research during the call.

Companies have reported an increased impact on productivity related to the coronavirus since mid-February, according to a new survey of 650 HR decision makers conducted by the Institute for Corporate Productivity (i4cp).This week’s survey found 29% of participants reporting that the coronavirus outbreak has negatively affected productivity in their organizations from a moderate to high extent; and 35% reporting that the coronavirus outbreak has affected productivity in their organizations to a small extent.

The recipients of the i4cp 2020 Next Practice Awards have been announced ahead of this year’s annual conference. Booz Allen Hamilton, Ford Motor Company, Grant Thornton LLP, and Lockheed Martin are recognized for leading-edge people practices that have positively impacted their businesses.The winners will be honored on stage at the i4cp 2020 Next Practices Now Conference (March 23 - 26) at the Fairmont Scottsdale Princess in Arizona.

Marshall Goldsmith, ranked the world’s #1 executive coach and member of the Thinkers50 hall of fame, returns to the i4cp 2020 Next Practices Now Conference following a six-year hiatus. Goldsmith has been repeatedly ranked among the top global business thinkers and is the only person to be honored twice by Thinkers50 as the #1 Leadership Thinker in the World. He is also a prolific, bestselling author and sought-after speaker.

Wilson Jones, President and CEO of Oshkosh Corporation, has joined a stellar speaker line-up that includes Kevin Johnson and Lucy Helm (CEO & CHRO of Starbucks), Dean Carter (CHRO, Patagonia), and other thought leaders at the i4cp 2020 Next Practices Now Conference in Scottsdale, Arizona March 23 – 26, 2020. Jones has been with Oshkosh, a leading industrial company that designs and builds specialty trucks, military vehicles, and other access equipment, since 2005. With the company now boasting 15,000 employees and a spot on the Fortune 500 list, Jones’ 25 years of experience in the special vehicle manufacturing industry has been essential in accelerating the company’s global expansion and new product development.

A new i4cp study examines the disability inclusion practices organizations are using to engage with workers with disabilities to meet current and future talent needs.One in five people of working age in the U.S. has a disability, yet despite well-publicized talent shortages the national unemployment rate for people with a disability is nearly twice that of the broader population. For people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD), that number climbs to 81%.

A groundbreaking research study, Automating Work: The Human/AI Intersection, is now available exclusively to i4cp members. This infographic, an extension of the study, outlines the workforce planning process and reinforces the need to deconstruct future job roles to determine which skills and capabilities will be needed as certain tasks are automated or augmented by new technology.

Every year, the top-rated  i4cp Next Practices Now Conference brings together over 400 senior human capital leaders for four days of focus on cutting-edge HR approaches and superior, high-level networking. Next year’s conference (March 23 – 26, 2020 in Scottsdale, AZ) is no exception and promises yet another line-up of amazing speakers.

Starbucks, Toyota North America, Humana, and BAE Systems among other member companies honored at the i4cp 2019 conference. T-Mobile was presented with the i4cp 2019 Member of the Year award today at the i4cp 2019 Next Practices Now conference in Scottsdale, Arizona. The award is presented annually to an i4cp member organization that has demonstrated outstanding innovations and achievement in workforce productivity.

 The recipients of the i4cp 2019 Next Practice Awards have been announced ahead of this year’s annual conference. Booz Allen Hamilton, Ecolab Inc., Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL), and ABB are recognized for leading-edge people practices that have positively impacted their businesses.  

Tina Tchen, former Assistant to the President and Chief of Staff to Michelle Obama, will share her unique perspective on sexual harassment, gender inequity, and discrimination at the i4cp 2019 Next Practices Now Conference (March 11 – 14, Fairmont Scottsdale).The conference will bring together nearly 500 human capital executives from many of the world’s largest and most respected employers. This year’s focus will be an exploration of how work is being disrupted and the implications for organizations, from the impact of automation and AI, to continued efforts to improve inclusiveness. As always, the i4cp conference is closed to vendors and consultants.

Ask four of your colleagues this question: “What is our employer brand?”

Employee resource groups (ERGs) are too often (and erroneously) perceived as nice to have workplace networks that help connect employees with similar interests, backgrounds, and experiences. New research from the Institute for Corporate Productivity (i4cp) and Elevate, however, finds that high-performance organizations view ERGs as strategic leadership development incubators, as well as a critical platform for fostering diversity and inclusivity.  In a study of 363 employers, i4cp found that high-performance organizations—which i4cp defines as those that consistently outperform their competitors in the marketplace—are 2.5x more likely to describe their employee resource groups as experiential career advancement and leadership development vehicles. We also found that leading an ERG (which previous i4cp research has shown to accelerate leadership development) sets talent up for growth and advancement in their organizations. The data shows that leaders of ERGs in high-performance organizations are:  

Work is in a state of continuous disruption. That’s why the i4cp 2019 Next Practices Now Conference (March 11 – 14, 2019 at the Fairmont Scottsdale Princess) is bringing together nearly 500 senior human capital leaders with innovative speakers—both cutting-edge thought leaders and key executives from the world’s leading companies—to discover, discuss, and analyze the practices that high-performance organizations are using to rethink work and remain ahead in this increasingly fast-paced environment. We’re pleased to announce just a few of the amazing speakers who well help facilitate this discovery process:

Seven leading organizations are recipients of i4cp's 2018 Next Practice Awards in recognition of their implementation of outstanding innovations and achievement in the advancement of people practices. i4cp's Next Practice Awards celebrate and highlight leading-edge people practices and the organizations implementing them to positively impact the bottom-line. The winners will be honored on stage at the i4cp 2018 Conference: Next Practices Now (March 26 – 29) in Scottsdale, Arizona.

i4cp and Cross to co-manage the Connected Commons, a consortium of organizations focused on the science of collaboration.The Institute for Corporate Productivity (i4cp), a leading human capital research firm that discovers the people practices that drive high performance, announced today an extended partnership with Rob Cross, Edward A. Madden Professor of Global Business at Babson College, author, and recognized thought leader in social network analysis.

Jacqui Canney, EVP of the Global People Division for Walmart Inc., will join Brené Brown, Dan Pink, Andrew Razeghi, and other thought leaders as a speaker at the i4cp 2018 Conference: Next Practices Now , the highly praised event focused on cutting-edge business practices in talent, HR, and learning. Designed for business leaders seeking new ways to use to talent to drive market growth and organizational agility, the i4cp 2018 Conference takes place March 26 – 29, 2018 at the Fairmont Scottsdale Princess. To ensure its reputation as an open and collaborative forum, the annual event is closed to vendors and consultants.

These forward-looking employers have been selected to compete for awards that recognize cutting-edge people practices. The semi-finalists have been announced for i4cp's 2018 Next Practice Awards. These annual awards recognize and celebrate leading-edge people practices and the organizations that are implementing them to positively impact their bottom-lines. The winners, who will be announced in early March, will discuss their work onstage at the i4cp 2018 Conference: Next Practices Now , March 26 – 29, 2018, in Scottsdale, Arizona.

Denise Young Smith, former head of worldwide human resources and inclusion & diversity at Apple, will share her unique insights at the i4cp 2018 Conference: Next Practices Now , the highly praised event focused on cutting-edge business practices in talent, HR, and learning. Young Smith joins the list of other tech leaders who have already been announced as speakers, including Candice Morgan, head of inclusion and diversity at Pinterest, Barbara Whye, chief diversity & inclusion officer at Intel, and Patty McCord, former head of talent at Netflix.

Patty McCord, author and former chief talent officer of Netflix, has joined Brené Brown, Dan Pink, Andrew Razeghi and more as a speaker at the i4cp 2018 Conference: Next Practices Now, the highly praised event focused on cutting-edge business practices in talent, HR, and learning. Designed for business leaders seeking new ways to use to talent to drive market growth and organizational agility, the i4cp 2018 Conference takes place March 26 – 29, 2018 at the Fairmont Scottsdale Princess. To ensure its reputation as an open and collaborative forum, the annual event is closed to vendors and consultants.

Industry’s “best human capital conference” features stellar speaker line-up of industry thought leaders and practitioners. i4cp’s 2018 Conference, Next Practices Now (March 26 – 29), the exclusive annual event for senior HR and talent leaders, has already exceeded last year’s attendance and is on pace to double attendance vs. previous i4cp conferences. Headlined by keynoters Brené Brown, Dan Pink, Ellyn Shook and other luminaries – and unique due to its ban on vendors and consultants – the conference is considered by many to be the industry’s best human capital conference.

Many companies feel sexual harassment training is ineffective today.Nearly 20% of organizations are preparing for a possible increase in sexual harassment claims, according to a new survey conducted by the Institute for Corporate Productivity (i4cp), the human capital industry’s leading research firm.  In preparation, nearly a quarter of organizations have, or plan to have, their CEO send an email communication to all employees affirming the company’s zero tolerance policy against harassment. And 20% of organizations plan to revise their current training approach.

The Institute for Corporate Productivity (i4cp) is pleased to announce that effective May 1, 2017, Madeline Borkin has been promoted to the role of Vice President of Sales.Ms. Borkin has served as a Director of New Member Development for the last five years at i4cp, and has focused on adding enterprise members to the i4cp network along with sales of other i4cp offerings such as membership to i4cp’s research working groups, benchmarking surveys, and human capital executive search. In her new role, she will oversee and add to the i4cp’s sales team to continue i4cp’s growth.

Ball Corporation, HSBC, and Celgene also honored at the i4cp 2017 ConferenceCigna was awarded the Institute for Corporate Productivity's (i4cp) 2017 Member of the Year Award this week at the i4cp 2017 Conference: Next Practices Now. The award is presented annually to an i4cp member company that has demonstrated outstanding innovations and achievement in workforce productivity.

Ford, Intel, Cigna, Ingersoll Rand, and BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee recognized with i4cp’s Next Practice AwardsFive leading organizations were recipients of i4cp's 2017 Next Practice Awards in recognition of their implementation of outstanding innovations and achievement in the advancement of people practices.

Tech giant recognized for its ongoing culture transformation Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) was awarded the Institute for Corporate Productivity's (i4cp) 2017 High-Performance Award today at the i4cp 2017 Conference: Next Practices Now. The award is presented annually to an i4cp member company that has demonstrated outstanding achievement as a high-performance organization.

11 organizations have been selected to compete for award that recognizes cutting-edge people practices.The semi-finalists have been announced for i4cp's 2017 Next Practice Awards. These awards celebrate and highlight leading-edge people practices and the organizations that are implementing them to positively impact the bottom-line. The winners will be announced at the i4cp 2017 Conference: Next Practices Now, March 20 – 23, 2017, in Scottsdale, Arizona.