Today’s post comes to us from Workforce Institute board member David Creelman.

Resumes play an odd role in recruiting. No one likes them, yet everyone feels they are essential. The main problems with resumes are that they are not reliable predictors of performance, and that they unfairly screen out talented people who lack the “right” education and experience.

Assessments are a potential alternative to resumes. This isn’t to suggest resumes would be completely replaced — just that they would play a minor role in the recruiting process. A suite of assessments could potentially cover technical skills, soft skills, and personality in a way that would more accurately predict performance than traditional screening and selection methods.

Normally, when we talk about assessments, we think in terms of tests such as cognitive-ability tests, personality tests, or tests of technical skills. However, in the context of this blog, we should include interviews as a type of assessment test. The point in question is whether we can move resumes to a minor role in recruiting.

Here’s how an assessment-focused approach to recruiting would potentially work:

  1. A company posts a job.
  2. Anyone interested must complete the online assessments. (If they’ve done an assessment before when applying for another job, they won’t need to do it again. They can re-submit the results, which are presumably stored on some kind of blockchain service).
  3. Candidates are automatically short-listed, and the hiring decision is made based on some further assessment, probably an interview.

You can imagine some issues that need to be worked out, but none of those issues is a showstopper.

If assessments actually work and are widely adopted, then three stakeholders would be affected: organizations, candidates, and universities.

For organizations, it would be a clear win. They would reach a wider talent pool and do a better job of identifying the most qualified candidates from that pool.

For candidates, the big winners would be high performers who had been overlooked because of bias, lack of educational credentials, or a lack of obvious experience. Imagine a grocery store cashier who never went to university and never had a job in public relations. However, he or she is an excellent writer who is extremely well organized and adept at deeply connecting to their community. While nothing on their resume would qualify them for the job, they might excel at any assessment of their ability to work in public relations. The assessment-based approach would be life changing for them.

For universities, well that’s where it gets interesting. If a university did a fabulous job of building abilities, then people graduating from that university would ace the assessments. The degree itself would be worthless, but the abilities developed would be golden. Do most universities excel at developing ability to the point that the degree itself is irrelevant? You tell me.

It’s worth noting that Tesla already leans heavily toward assessments (including tough interviews) rather than relying on a resume. Perhaps a future based on assessments rather than resumes is already upon us.

Today’s post comes to us from Workforce Institute board member and HR Bartender, Sharlyn Lauby. It is a direct response to The Workforce Institute Weigh-In question for February on how to create a culture where employees feel comfortable providing feedback.

We all know that listening is important. When it comes to work, listening allows us to gain understanding. And better understanding results in more positive work relationships and improved results. Which is why we need to get listening right.

However, as important as listening is, it can be equally difficult to do. Listening takes work and effort. One of the ways we can become better listeners is by understanding the different types of listening, so we can catch ourselves if we’re not listening the way we should.

The reason I wanted to mention these forms of listening is because there’s another form of listening that we really need to spend time working on. Empathetic listening is about connecting understanding with empathy. Think of it as one step up from active listening. Not only do we want to understand what someone is saying, but we want to empathize with their reason for saying it.

When employees feel that they will not only be heard but that it’s safe to be themselves, it builds psychological safety within the organization. And it is psychological safety that helps the organization become more inclusive. The first step is empathetic listening to feedback.

So, how do we become better empathetic listeners?

Get rid of distractions. This isn’t about technology being evil. It’s not. Even technology companies understand the need for pushing your device to the side for a few moments to listen to someone. Don’t let distractions derail the conversation. If you feel that it would be hard to stay focused, ask if you can schedule the conversation for another time.

Check your biases. If we want to be empathetic, we need to recognize any possible biases that could influence the conversation. We might have history with an individual that could influence the conversation — either positive or not-so positive.

Stay in the moment. Depending on the conversation, it might be a challenge to stay focused. Ask if you can take notes so you don’t need to interrupt. It could be tempting to start formulating a response. Stay focused on the other person and their feedback. Learn to be comfortable with silence if the other person needs time to compose their words.

Ask good questions. If we need additional information, questions are a great way to follow up. Closed-ended questions allow us to obtain clarity. Open-ended questions provide additional insights. Knowing the right questions to ask can send the message that we’re trying to learn and connect with the other person and their reason for the conversation.

Confirm understanding and empathy. There are two things we want the other person to know. First, that we understand what they said. And second, that we’re able to connect with them (empathize) about it. This means that we need to be willing to empathize in terms of acknowledging our own feelings.

The real key to empathetic listening, of course, is the empathy part. Empathy is one of those concepts that’s very easy to describe and very difficult to do. Empathy is when we’re emotionally able to put ourselves in another person’s position. It’s where the “connection” with another person happens.

Sometimes when we think about empathy, we only think about bad or sad situations. Empathy is tricky, especially when we’re talking about mixed emotions. Here’s an example: Let’s say an employee comes into your office and says, “My partner just got a new job in another city.” You don’t know if the employee is excited because it’s a great opportunity for their partner OR if they’re mad because now they have to move to another city OR they’re nervous because they want to ask you about remote work. Or maybe a little bit of all three.

This is why we need to listen to the employee. We can’t insert our biases into the conversation. Find out how they’re feeling and be supportive. It creates the connections that we need for positive working relationships. And it’s those relationships that will help the organization become more inclusive.

As HR professionals, we are busy. We are busy handling the day-to-day tasks and responsibilities that come along with our job, we are busy handling our lives outside of work, and we are busy trying to stay on top of all the tips and trends that help make workplaces better!

Perhaps, though, we are too busy to focus on something that is vital to making everything else work — ourselves.

Listen to the latest episode of the People Purpose Podcast, as Julie and Chas explore what HR (and all professionals) can do to address their own wellbeing.

Key points:

Today's post comes to us courtesy of Workforce Institute board member, best-selling author and Managing Partner at Workplace Intelligence, Dan Schawbel.

The reason why workers don't ask their manager, co-workers, or HR for help when they are experiencing stress, anxiety, and burnout is because of the stigma attached to mental health. They don't want to be judged or viewed as ineffective employees by talking about their suffering, especially during this recession when companies are laying people off.

The problem is that three out of every four workers have struggled with mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic and 80 percent would consider quitting their current job for one that focused more on employee mental health. When employees don't feel comfortable talking about their mental health their productivity declines, they become dissatisfied and start applying for jobs elsewhere.

While there's no denying the power of a human one-on-one mental health conversation, workers would much rather turn to technology instead. In a global study by my firm and Oracle of over 12,000 workers in eleven countries, we found that only 18 percent of people would prefer humans over robots to support their mental health. When asked about this preference, workers said robots provide a judgment-free zone (34%), an unbiased outlet to share their problems (30%), and receive quick answers to their health-related questions (29%).

Technology doesn't care about your job title, gender, ethnicity, sex or if you have anxiety or depression, it treats you the same no matter who you are. While it's not acceptable to call your therapist or manager at 4:00 AM asking for help, technology never sleeps and is your support system 24/7. Furthermore, we will never have a billion therapists to meet the needs of the global population, so we need technology to help scale support and treatment for mental health.

Based on our research, humans have a vital role to play when it comes to mental health. At least one of your friends has a therapist but aren't vocal about it due to the stigma. And, your manager may be able to give you a "mental health day off", but you could be too afraid to ask because of the stigma. Our study found that humans are better than robots when it comes to relating to their feelings (45%), understanding the pressures of their job (37%), and interpreting their feelings when they don't know how to explain them (37%). As someone who has had multiple therapists in my life, I can attest to the importance of empathy, compassion, and understanding they have that I wouldn't receive from a machine.

We can relate to humans more than machines concerning our health because while machines may need maintenance or upgrades, we need an emotional connection to heal our mental and emotional wounds.

But technology has a vital role to play in supporting workers and therapists. Without it, therapists wouldn't be able to conduct their business nor would managers be able to check-in with their employees. By understanding the "job description" of both robots and humans, we can provide both scalable yet individualized mental health attention that all workers need even if they aren't vocal about it.

Both humans and robots have a role to play in addressing the mental health epidemic that continues to grow due to our public health crisis. Employees expect companies to be part of the solution since long working hours have caused much of the stress, anxiety, and burnout they've been experiencing. Workplace productivity and mental health have an inverse relationship - as productivity goes up, mental health has gone down. While companies have profited greatly from higher levels of productivity it will come at the cost of higher attrition and lower employee satisfaction and morale. And, burned-out workers will become less productive and more unhappy.

That's why companies have to put mental health technology services and solutions on the agenda because we can't possibly expect employees to fend for themselves without an institution and community to support them during these troubling times.

Today's post comes to us from the executive director of The Workforce Institute, Dr. Chris Mullen, Ph.D., SHRM-SCP, SPHR.

I have some great news for you: Nine full months of 2020 are in our rearview mirror which means we've only got roughly two and a half months left of this, let's say unusual and challenging year, to slog through. Like many of you, I am very hopeful that 2021 is going to bring less disruption and chaos and a lot more peace, harmony and business-as-usual.

Having said that, this year has certainly provided learning opportunities aplenty, and some research that UKG recently released along with our friends over at The Human Capital Institute (HCI) provides some interesting insight on a few of these lessons.

In a year when most businesses had to figure out how to update employee policies to include mask requirements, keep headcounts in line with changing revenue, facilitate remote work, address new government laws and relief measures, enable new safety procedures, and help employees cope with unprecedented change and upheaval, HR had a lot on its plate this year. Just treading water through all this was a feat, but to effectively overcome these challenges, every organization needs strong partnerships between the HR function and the business to synchronize their response to rapidly evolving conditions.

A note on those “rapidly evolving conditions”: I fall into the category of people who believe that change is one of the only constants in life, but boy, if there was ever a year that proved that out, it was 2020. We're calling this constantly in-flux environment “the resilience economy”, and it requires a new level of agility from both HR practitioners and the people managers with whom they work to anticipate, rather than simply react to fluctuating needs of the business and its people. High value partnerships that set clear priorities through continuous communication and collaboration are now indispensable for sustaining organizations.

So, what did this research uncover about what successful organizations are doing to create strong partnerships between HR and the business? The below chart outlines the three major challenges organizations face when it comes to building strong partnerships between HR and people managers and how to overcome them:

A few data points to back up these findings:

As I said at the outset of this post, I'm really hoping that 2021 turns out to be the well-behaved and boring sibling to the hellion that was 2020, but even if that does happen and next year is a serene voyage on calm waters, we need to take the lessons of 2020 with us and focus on creating the strongest possible relationships between HR and people managers as possible. If strong relationships can get us through a year like 2020, just think what we'll be able to achieve in a “normal” year.

Today's post comes to us from Workforce Institute board member Neil Reichenberg.

A survey titled Mind Over Money, released in January 2020 by Capital One and The Decision Lab, found that 77% of Americans report anxiety over their financial situation, with 58% believing that finances control their lives. More than 40% stated that their financial stress makes it difficult for them to concentrate at work. Similarly, the 2020 Workplace Benefits Report issued by Bank of America found that less than half of employees are feeling financially well, which is a 12% drop from two years ago. Almost 60% of employees say they do not have control over their debt.  

The Bank of America study also found that 62% of employers feel extreme responsibility for their employees' financial wellness, which is up from 13% in 2013, while more than 80% of employers believe financial wellness leads to greater productivity, more loyal employees, and more engaged and satisfied employees. Employees cite lack of access to guidance as the greatest barrier preventing them from making progress towards their financial goals.  

Given these facts - which echo our own December 2019 survey - on a similar topic - it was with great interest that I read a recent report by The Center for State and Local Government Excellence (SLGE) titled Financial Literacy Programs for Local Government Employees which highlights the financial well-being programs of two local governments. A previous SLGE survey found that while only 26% of state and local governments offer a financial literacy or education program, 68% of state and local government employees said they would be likely to participate if one was offered.  

The City and County of Denver, CO was one of the local governments discussed in the report.  Denver restructured its employee well-being program to be data-driven and allow targeting of those wellness areas that are employee priorities. The well-being initiative had the support of Denver's top leadership. The program is based on four wellness pillars: financial, mental, physical, and professional. Data was collected and aggregated based on different metrics. The data was provided to the 32 governmental agencies on the four pillars and how each agency compares to the rest of the city.

To address financial well-being, Denver identified several potential interventions:

Areas that may be targeted include low retirement savings by providing more education so that employees understand how a deferred compensation retirement plan can supplement the city's pension plan and how to take advantage of the pre-tax benefits when participating in the flexible spending accounts for health care, dependent care, and parking. Denver provides annual financial incentives to employees who participate in its wellness program that can include earning a $600 health spending account deposit or health insurance premium reduction for 2021. Denver provides employees with short, interactive, financial-focused learning experiences online.  

Each agency has a wellness champion who coordinates the agency's activities, communicates activities and incentive details, and works with the HR office to ensure access to programs and resources. Wellness champions network with each other to share ideas on ways to keep employees engaged with this initiative. Agency leaders determine which leading and lagging measures they can use to determine progress and when they may need to change the course of action. By returning a portion of annual premium payments, the city's healthcare providers are an ongoing source of funding that keeps the program operating.

The Bank of America report noted the business reasons for expanding financial wellness programs. The report stated, “Employees now want to see education and support that will help them not just save for retirement, but also help with everyday financial decision - from making retirement savings last to managing healthcare costs, managing debt more effectively, using budgeting and saving techniques and balancing competing financial goals.”

In a year like the one we find ourselves in with a global pandemic and widespread unemployment and economic hardship, helping employees feel more in control of their finances is something all employers should be striving to do. Recognizing that financial well-being is a critical component of overall employee health will help employers better serve their employees and keep them happier and more loyal.

Today's post comes to us from Workforce Institute board member and Skeptical Guy, John Hollon. 

Here's a lesson I keep learning over and over: You need to sit up pay close attention when somebody does something wildly out of character.

Have a calm and reasoned friend who suddenly goes off and gets loud and crazy over something? When that happens, you need to focus on what they're saying because people don't just suddenly change their character.

Whatever is causing that to happen is probably something important that you REALLY want to know about.

This is true for organizations, too, and that's why I pay close attention when a solid one like Gallup says that when it comes to performance management:

"It's time to burn the boats, leave old performance practices behind, and create a performance management strategy that is adaptive, responsive and calibrated to the new workplace."


Time to burn the boats? Like what Hernán Cortés did to motivate his men when he began his conquest of Mexico? That's something I would expect from a crazy HR blogger and not from a highly respected research giant.

The sorry state of performance management

What got Gallup spouting off was the very thing that organizations everywhere complain about -- the sorry state of performance management. There's nothing new about that, of course, and back in 2013, I reported that only 28 percent of companies thought they were doing performance management well.

But Gallup has more urgent concerns, and now they're making the case that:

"The COVID-19 pandemic has thrown performance management systems into chaos. ...How do you make performance goals fair and meaningful in this topsy-turvy, ever-changing, uncertain-future environment? ...Before the pandemic, many organizations believed they had modernized their performance management system. But now, the boardroom buzzword "agility" has finally become an urgent need. Whatever happens, you can be certain that the marketplace will be shifting for many months, if not years."


Gallup is right about performance management being a big problem, but it's not because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

No, performance management is still an issue because a great many organizations, and managers at all levels, have never really taken performance management terribly seriously.

That's what happens when the process of helping people improve and grow becomes just another task for overworked managers to squeeze in among all the other things they're responsible for.

It's what companies get when they take what should be THE most important thing for supervisors to focus on, and instead, turn it into just another managerial task.

Gallup does dig into what they define as "the Three Essential Characteristics of Modernized Performance Management," and while that sounds good, I don't find these "essential characteristics" of performance management to be all that different from what has been done before.

Here are the "essential characteristics" from Gallup. See what you think. They are:

They may sound good, but ask yourself, is this is a "burn the boats" strategy for better performance management?

You know the answer to that -- No, it's just a tinkering and streamlining of what organizations should have been doing with performance management all along.

The answer is actually pretty simple

The most relevant characteristic is No. 2, because "ongoing conversations, timely recognition, and informal dialogue on a weekly basis" has been a critically important part of managing people for a very long time.

The problem has been that not enough leaders and managers take the time to spend more time with their team, and having those conversations, informal dialogue, and the recognition of good work.

Great performance management isn't hard, but it does take time and consistent effort. The more time a manager spends with people, the more time the people want, and the better work they do. Most managers know this, but most managers also seem to always have something more important to do than deal with performance management.

In the end, what Gallup has done is wake us up by a call to "burn the boats" so that we would pay attention to the fact that, other than a little modernizing, great performance management is really just about more focus and face time with your people.

That's all it is -- time consuming, but simple when you get right down to it. Let's hope more leaders listen and heed Gallup's call.

Today's post comes to us from Workforce Institute board member David Creelman.

There used to be a safe space for corporate social policy which would roughly align with what mainstream media was saying. If the New York Times and CBS said “this policy is good for America” then a company could simply go along. No one in corporate leadership had to think too hard on whether they should take a pro or anti-communist stance or whether it was okay to celebrate Columbus Day.

However, with increased polarization in many aspects of society, that broad consensus has broken down and now just about any position is seen as unacceptable by a significant segment of the population. Even a simple decision about face masks can label a company as pro-Republican or pro-Democrat (though thankfully, for public health purposes this fact hasn't deterred many large employers from mandating them anyway). In years past that wouldn't have mattered too much, but at the moment the degree of distrust between the two political camps is extremely high (Something we at The Workforce Institute were thinking about in our predictions for this year way back in January).

This polarization affects both external communications, often handled by the Public Relations (PR) department, and internal communications, often managed by the Human Resources (HR) department. In fact, the whole distinction between internal and external communication is almost moot in today's world of social media. This means the two departments must work together more closely than ever on messaging.

Not only must PR and HR work together, they must work much harder than in the past. We are in a world where the U.S. Federal Office of Management and Budget has banned training based on Critical Race Theory. The question for both HR and PR is whether they have a sufficiently deep understanding of Critical Race Theory to take a position that won't get the company into trouble. Do you know enough about why J.K. Rowling has been banned from certain bookstores to navigate the issues around the so-called trans-exclusionary feminists?

Since you almost certainly don't want to get into the topics in detail, you need a communications strategy that somehow keeps you out of trouble without this in-depth knowledge. This is doubly hard because some activists will claim that not taking a position on these matters means you are supporting the opposite position.

The bottom line is that this blog is a warning. What used to be relatively easy has become extremely difficult. The first step towards a solution is understanding the magnitude of the polarization and its impact on communication. Next, you must set out to create project teams that can find ways to address the new communication challenges so that your internal and external voices are consistent and reflective of your brand values.

Today's post comes to us from Workforce Institute board member Martin Armstrong.

Times are changing, and so is the role of the HR Business Partner (HRBP). When business executives think of HR, they typically think of HRBPs being responsible for creating a great place to work through employee engagement programs, establishing an open-door policy, dealing with 20% of the employee population who don't follow guidelines, processing HR transactions, managing employee relations issues, recruiting, training, learning and development, and administering benefits and compensation plans.

From a historical standpoint, the role of the HRBP was best captured in Dave Ulrich's 1997 book, “Human Resource Champions.” The HR Model that Ulrich developed was designed to help organize HR into four roles: Strategic Partner, Change Agent, Administrative Expert and Employee Champion. 

Twenty-two years later, Ulrich was interviewed in August of 2019 by David Green of myHRfuture and suggested that “the most important thing that HR can give an employee is a company that wins in the marketplace.”

While HR professionals may possess traditional and trending HR skillsets such as people analytics, strategic workforce planning, design thinking, consulting, and stakeholder/change management, Ulrich added, “it's not just about the skill you've got, it's how those skills will drive outcomes that make a difference in what matters.”

Companies that win in the marketplace demonstrate that they have the ability to successfully execute a business strategy, have a keen understanding of their industry, are financially disciplined, and capitalize on organizational capabilities that drive results.

To this end, business unit executives are likely to extend to HR an invitation to a business discussion, but only if the executive believes that HR understands the business, and in addition, proactively contributes to solving business challenges that are needed for the company to win in the marketplace.

HRBPs can maintain a seat at the table by using business acumen

In August 2019, Josh Bersin wrote an article in Human Resource Executive titled “8 Skills HR Business Partners Need for Success.” Among the eight skills described, his article listed two critically important individual competencies: Digital Acumen and Business-Language Knowledge.

Bersin describes digital acumen as “having the ability to analyze and interpret data, and to use it to help business leaders better understand workforce needs and incorporate results into workforce strategy and planning.” With respect to Business-Language Knowledge, Bersin argues that “to ensure credibility, HRBP's need to speak “in business” as this derives from knowing the details of the business they are serving and understanding its jargon and acronyms.”

Senior HR executives agree - HR isn't about HR, it's about business. The question then becomes, how can HRBPs increase their business acumen competency? According to Peter Cappelli, the Director of The Wharton School's Center for Human Resources, there are three tips that HR professionals can consider to sharpen their business acumen:

  1. Recognize that good HR is about making choices - based on a sound understanding of a company's business strategy, knowing what to do and when is the first step to figuring out different ways companies can compete and succeed.
  2. Learn enough finance to understand the factors that drive shareholder value - becoming fluent in the language of numbers and balance sheets will help HR articulate how HR metrics can lead to improved performance and a stronger bottom line.
  3. Choose your continuing education options wisely - beware of HR courses that use outdated curricula that don't reflect the issues of today. Spend time researching continuing education content that will increase your HR and business acumen.

HRBPs can also turn Business Intelligence into HR Business Intelligence by converting the massive amounts of employee data into meaningful and useful information that business units may use to make informed decisions that impact financial statements.

The cost of labor, variable compensation, unrecorded paid time off, absenteeism, recruiting/speed to hire, simplifying required training, and streamlining the use of required HR systems and tools impact money and time, two precious commodities that business executives cherish most.

Understanding the business requires HRBPs to meet with company leadership, rank-and-file employees and, where applicable and possible, even with customers. Leaving the comfort of their offices to find out how the business really works (or doesn't) will enable HRBPs to determine how HR policies, compensation plans, and other practices can help the business achieve its goals, and add value to customers, investors, and communities.

This post is submitted by Joyce Maroney, executive director of the Workforce Institute. Following is the final segment of our global study examining the attitudes of Generation Z - teenagers and early 20-somethings - in the workplace. In order to be an employer of choice for these newest workers, you need to be able to answer the question, "What does Gen Z expect at work?"

Completing a three-part series from The Workforce Institute at Kronos and Future Workplace, “How to Be an Employer of Choice for Gen Z” uncovers the motivations and aspirations of today's youngest working generation, including those yet to officially enter the workforce. You can find parts one and two of this research at the following links:

Part Three, our final report related to this research, completes our findings based on a survey of 3,400 Gen Zers across Australia, Belgium, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, the U.K., and the U.S. We find that money still talks; good managers matter more than ever; work needs to be interesting; and, while schedule stability is important, flexibility is non-negotiable.

I've been sharing these results with people via speeches and articles for a few months now. One of the things I like to emphasize is that many of the insights we have hear from Gen Z would probably be true of any generation, especially at the point in their lives when they were entering the workforce. Pay matters a lot. Benefits matter increasingly more as you get older and your parents are no longer supplying them to you.

What I found most interesting, and perhaps somewhat more particular to Gen Z, is the equal weight they give to pay (51%) AND work that is meaningful (51%) when asked what would motivate them to work harder and stay longer at a company.

What you'll find in the data below, though, is that Gen Z cares a lot about the same things that motivate their workplace forebears. They are not so different from their elders in what they want at work, but they may be more likely to ignore your calls - or take someone else's - if their expectations aren't met.

Part Three Key Findings:

Today's post comes to us from Workforce Institute board member David Creelman and Lee Webster, Director of Standards Development at the Healthcare Management Institute at the University of Texas Medical Branch.

The ISO (International Organization for Standardization) develops and publishes standards in industries as varied as healthcare, technology, food safety, and agriculture. Besides facilitating international trade, the existing 22,500 ISO standards ensure that products, services, and systems work safely and effectively. The reason your child's car seat is safe is due to seat manufacturers adhering to ISO 13216-3:2018 Road vehicles -- Anchorages in vehicles and attachments to anchorages for child restraint systems -- Part 3: Classification of child restraint system and space in vehicle.

There are currently twelve ISO standards for HR that are helping to elevate the profession. Experts from 56 countries are involved in the eight current standards projects. You might have thought that HR was too “soft” for standards, but standards have had a hugely positive impact for other areas once considered “soft” such as safety and quality.

ISO standards are not legally mandated, however it normally makes sense to use, for example, the ISO standard for calculating turnover, rather than spend time inventing your own idiosyncratic measure. Since standards present effective, interoperable solutions, organizations that apply them experience an immediate operational competitive advantage.

ISO Standards for Human Capital

To our minds, the most exciting ISO standard in HR is the recently released one on human capital reporting: ISO 30414. This standard aims to provide meaningful, comparable, and consistent data to boards and investors about human capital. If this helps bring serious investor attention to human capital it will bring a new energy to the HR function.

The human capital standard covers core HR areas such as:

How You Can Get Involved in Setting the Standards

Besides adopting existing standards, interested parties may directly participate in standardization activities. Standard setting is led by dedicated expert volunteers and the process works hard to get input and consensus from a wide range of stakeholders. It's easy to get involved in standards setting through local national “mirror” committees (in the U.S. these are called Technical Advisory Groups, “TAG”).

The heart of the process is that a group of experts comes up with a draft standard, which is then commented on by anyone with an interest in the topic. The working group responds to the comments and eventually, when there is sufficient consensus, the international member countries of ISO vote on the standard. If approved, ISO then publishes the standard. Yes, getting all this consensus can be a slow process! The human capital standard took three years to put together.

To learn more about ISO HR standards development, please go to https://www.iso.org/committee/628737.html

In the U.S., the sister organization to ISO is the American National Standards Institute (ANSI).

The institution overseeing the coordination of ISO HR standards is the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB). You can get involved by emailing Mr. Lee Webster at lswebste@utmb.edu

Today's post is courtesy of board member Bob Clements, President at Axsium Group,  a leading workforce management consulting firm.

One of the hottest topics in HR today is the employee experience, which can be defined as the sum of every interaction between an employee and employer from hire to retire. Creating a great employee experience helps employers attract and retain talent and increase employee engagement along the way.

The employee experience is often confused with employer branding, employee perks or even a new approach to HR. HR professionals struggle to understand what a great employee experience looks like and often lack the right tools and techniques to create one.

The good news is that a similar model exists in your marketing department. According to Gartner, two-thirds of companies believe that they compete, not on price or product selection, but customer experience. Journey mapping has become the technique of choice for those designing customer experiences.

Journey mapping allows marketers to all-but-literally get inside the customer's head by modeling how the customer feels and behaves as she interacts with the company either in a physical or virtual environment. And, it turns out that journey mapping is just as relevant for designing the employee experience. While the technique remains the same, the subject and her landscape are vastly different.

Journey mapping is an empathetic design process accomplished by putting oneself in the subject's shoes. But, what happens when that subject is you? What the employee is seeing, hearing, thinking, feeling and saying is not only fundamentally different than the customer, it is also shackled by bias, fear, and self-interest.

If that weren't enough, the stakes are higher. The employee is interacting with the design much more frequently than a customer, so the pain points are more poignant. Additionally, the customer may redirect his choices more easily whereas the employee's livelihood is tied to his choice to accept or deny his employee experience.

Navigating inferior technology, outdated processes and policies, cultural undercurrents, and the demand of the job is a tangled web. Journey Mapping aims to untangle it. The output isn't a map, per se, but a list of opportunities. And, those opportunities form the foundation of a great employee experience.

Have you tried journey mapping your employee experience?  Please tell us about it in the comments section.

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