This week Deloitte University Press released its annual report Global Human Capital Trends 2016 “The new organization: Different by design.”. As usual, the report is jam-packed with useful findings that affect not only human resources leaders, but all business leaders. In fact, the report’s central theme is that in order to drive positive change in our companies, we need to redesign the organization– how teams operate, how leaders operate, and overall how things get done in organizations. Culture and engagement: Both important, two separate topics. What is the difference? Deep breath. MORE >>

Employers and their background screening partners were optimistic a Supreme Court ruling in Spokeo v. Robins would establish an actual injury requirement for FCRA-based class action cases to advance through the courts. The Spokeo ruling was expected to settle the controversy created by divided lower court decisions on whether “no-injury” cases have legal standing based upon statutory violation alone or if specific injury must occur. The sudden passing of Justice Antonin Scalia on February 13, 2016 deprives the Court of a highly respected Justice and a prominent, frequently decisive vote. MORE >>

Appreciating employees is hard work, if you want to do it right. Genuine appreciation should look and feel personal and it should reflect the way that someone’s work and dedication has made an impact on the workplace, on their coworkers and on the projects that have been delivered. As the number of online searches for employee appreciation ideas that don’t involve money rises from year to year, I can’t help but wish that these managers would also try and find authentic ways to recognize and reward their employees. Here it goes: Send a personal letter to your employee’s family. You get the idea. MORE >>

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before — why do humans have two ears but only one mouth? To listen twice as much as we speak. Okay, it’s not exactly a joke, but it rings pretty true, doesn’t it?). Despite that well-worn adage, we humans still tend to be pretty bad at listening. Companies, it seems, are even worse. Despite the explosion of programs designed to increase employee engagement over the past ten years, only 32.5% of U.S. workers are engaged in their jobs ( Gallup ). What are companies doing wrong? They’re Just. Listening. The Secrets of Highly Engaged Companies, Revealed. MORE >>

I’m not interested in doing a post-mortem on projects, policies or relationships. In theory, it makes sense to take stock of an event when it’s over. It sounds healthy to compile a list of “lessons learned.” ” But you know what happens with a post-mortem? Not much. You make a list, file it away, and forget about it. Then you’re surprised when you fail again. Duh.). Over the past six months, I’ve been trying a new approach called a  pre-mortem. Before I do anything, I ask myself a simple question: how could this fail? Life is sticky. Take a second. MORE >>