Employers have been using defined contribution plans to attract and retain top talentsince the launch of 401(k)s in 1978. These plans transferred most of the risk involved with defined-benefit plans from the employers to the employees. The only problem? Managing a 401(k) comes with high administrative costs that most small businesses can’t afford. As a result, only 53% of workers at private companies with fewer than 100 employees have access to employer-sponsored retirement plans.

HR was traditionally viewed through a narrow lens — a function that relied on intuition to make decisions with no real way of measuring their impact. The closest HR managers got to analytics was reporting on a handful of metrics, such as headcount, employee retention, and turnover. However, they rarely got involved in extracting insights for business leaders and driving company-wide decisions.

Today, analytics is at the center of HR. Known as people analytics, it’s what enables businesses to make informed strategic decisions about workforce and talent management. 73% of HR professionals say that people analytics will remain a top priority for their organizations until at least 2025, according to LinkedIn.

Your company will experience higher efficiency, happier employees, and better decision-making by relying on people analytics. More businesses are beginning to realize these benefits and are investing in analytics solutions to gain a competitive edge.

Your work experience, accomplishments, and education largely define your career as a human resources professional. But a competitive certification tucked in your title and resume can go a long way in positioning yourself as a true expert and leader.

Earning human resources certifications will equip you with the latest knowledge and validate your skills. What’s more, it’ll likely result in a boost in pay — 31.6% to be exact, according to research by PayScale.As a bonus, you’ll get access to professional communities of like-minded individuals who share your values and goals.

Earning a professional certification for educational and networking reasons is commendable. However, the investment won’t pay off if you’re not careful when shortlisting programs. It’s vital that whatever certifications you pick align with your goals and are well-recognized in the industry. This roundup of the best HR certifications will provide a firm starting point for your research and your path toward human resources superstardom.

No matter your role or function in a business, there never seems to be sufficient time and resources to accomplish everything you’d like to while operating at the highest possible level. But there are tools that can help. 

Human resources processes require significant thought, strategy, and time, whether you have five, 50, or 5,000 employees. And in today’s climate of companies competing for limited talent, you want your human resources practices to be smooth and effective, not only for you but for your team members, as well. Fortunately, many options are available for you to get the support you need to manage your workforce.

In 2020, businesses were forced to abandon many of their strategic plans due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Soon after the virus made headlines worldwide, the focus became preventing the spread of the virus through the workforce, adjusting product and service distribution and delivery methods, and managing customer needs in a new environment of social distancing.

One of the initiatives that received little, if any, attention was employee development. For many organizations, training and development expenses were reduced and eliminated in some cases. Additionally, the demand on HR significantly increased as attention was directed toward safety protocols, COVID sick leave, furloughs, and layoffs. There was little time for traditional training and development in the immediacy of the tragedy unfolding one year ago.

With the vaccine rollout well underway in 2021, leaders are eyeing recovery with the goal of not only reaching 2019 performance levels but exceeding them. According to a LinkedIn Learning Report, one critical strategy to a successful recovery is to reprioritize employee professional development, which 94% of employees believe to be a reason for staying at a company longer.

Over the past year, the COVID-19 pandemic impacted many areas of business operations, notably human resources. Between navigating furloughs, keeping up morale, and reconfiguring workflows to accommodate remote work, professionals with HR duties played a pivotal function for organizations. Additionally, COVID-19 magnified pre-existing business challenges with supply chain, competition, and access to capital, forever changing certain industries as a result.

The continuing impacts of the coronavirus pandemic mean HR systems and functions, as well as compliance risk, will continue to be challenging in 2021. Many employers have turned to outside HR resources as a way to alleviate the overload, especially if they’ve reduced staff or are looking to ramp up hiring and onboarding in the coming year.

Communication with employees is the foundation of success for any business. It's even more crucial during a crisis.

With so much uncertainty surrounding the present and future impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, leaders are forced to address issues they never have before. Some are finding that their current internal crisis communication plan needs tailoring to tackle the unique challenges posed by COVID-19. For others, this will be a crash course in crisis communications.

To effectively communicate with employees during difficult times, it's essential to keep employees' psychological wellness in mind by being transparent, empathetic, and responsive. Here are a few tips you can follow to keep workplace morale from sinking, promote productivity, and position your company to be an employer of choice on the other side of the crisis.

Research from the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) shows companies that invest in a detailed, effective onboarding program retain 50% more of their new hires than their competitors. Similarly, employees who have a positive onboarding experience are 69% more likely to stay employed at their current company for at least three years. With the unemployment rate reaching new lows, signaling a decrease in potential new hires, it’s more important than ever to invest time in crafting a good onboarding experience.

Have you ever left a job fair feeling like your top accomplishment was the distribution of your company’s latest promo item (stress ball, anyone?) to people who will likely toss it the minute they get home?

In theory, exhibiting at job fairs provides a boost to the candidate search and hiring process. In reality, job fairs require thorough preparation and out-of-the-box tactics to be an effective recruiting strategy.

If you are planning to attend job fairs in 2019 and come away with more than empty boxes, these tips are for you.

Too often, the human resource professional is so caught up in putting out daily fires that it can be difficult to take a big picture, 365-degree view of the industry. Taking the time to plan and prepare for the future is essential to a successful HR strategy long-term, and that’s why we sat down with two HR leaders to discuss their thoughts on the industry and the biggest opportunities for success and failure in 2018.