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COVID-19 Reset: Developing Resilience to Move Through Uncertainty Jan 26, 2021

Show notes

The COVID-19 pandemic triggered both a global health crisis and an economic crisis. These crises have generated an extraordinary level of uncertainty, creating another crippling crisis and a considerable threat to employee well-being—anxiety.

As of September 2020, according to the Center for Disease Control, 4 out of 10 Americans have a medically diagnosed case of anxiety—and think of how many more haven't been diagnosed! The solution to this rising anxiety epidemic is to develop our resilience. In this podcast, Principal Researcher, Robin Erickson, PhD, and Distinguished Principal Research Fellow, Leo Flanagan, PhD, review their recently published report, COVID-19 Reset & Recovery: Developing Resilience to Move through Uncertainty to New Beginnings with information on why we become anxious and 12 practical recommendations for leaders and employees.

For more information on the Resilience Model mentioned in the podcast, see Leo's blog: Beating Back the Anxiety Pandemic: The Science of Resilience.

Adapting to the Reimagined Workplace: Human Capital Responses to the COVID-19 Pandemic Nov 12, 2020

Show notes

The Conference Board expects that COVID-19 will have many lasting impacts on the world of work and Human Capital processes. To gauge how organizations are reacting to the changing business environment in the context of their workforces, we conducted an online survey in September 2020 with 330 human capital executives, mostly in large companies—a follow-up on our survey from April 2020. Our findings were published in the report Adapting to the Reimagined Workplace: Human Capital Responses to the COVID-19 Pandemic. In this podcast, we share the survey findings about remote work and hiring, productivity and well-being, workforce cost reduction actions, and plans for returning to the workplace.

Aligned or at Odds? Organizational & Employee Readiness to Return to the Workplace Oct 30, 2020

Show notes

The Conference Board recently conducted two short surveys about organizational and employee readiness to return to the workplace after the lockdowns required by COVID-19. In the August survey with over 1,100 leaders across industries in 20 metropolitan areas, we found that 35% of organizations said the timing of reopening is unknown. Most organizations had implemented safeguarding measures to protect employee health, but only 59% surveyed their employees about their readiness to return. Those organizations that did survey their employees were very responsive, demonstrated by the fact that they were 20-40% more likely to put all of the safeguarding measures in place.

The September survey was focused on employees and found that only 17% of employees feel very comfortable returning. The top employee concerns were contracting COVID-19 personally, the risk of exposing family to COVID-19, and the lack of an effective, available vaccine. We also found that some groups of employees feel more pressure to return than others. Without a continuous dialogue, and in many cases, the lack of a detailed plan about returning to the workplace, it comes as no surprise that many workers are apprehensive. We suggest that organizations create a two-way dialogue with their employees and implement a Continuous Listening program if they haven't already.

Working Parents Working with Kids Aug 19, 2020

Show notes

This fall, working parents with school-age kids will be facing some tough times as they try to balance working from home and partially home-schooling their kids. Many schools will either be going exclusively remote or a combination of online and socially distanced in-person classes. And things may change suddenly if COVID-19 cases spike, or if someone at the school tests positive.

How can employers help their employees navigate these unpredictable times and, frankly, their potentially upended work schedules?

Our panel of Conference Board experts (and parents), Gad Levanon, Vice President Labor Markets, Amy Abel, Vice President Human Capital, and Elizabeth Crofoot, Senior Economist Labor Markets, discuss the following topics:

How many families in the US are affected by remote learning?
What are the problems that working parents are facing?
How are the most innovative companies helping workers balance their roles as employees and parents?

Steve Odland Discusses COVID-19 Survey of C-Suite Aug 03, 2020

Show notes

The Conference Board CEO Steve Odland discusses our C-Suite survey on COVID-19 with Wharton Business Daily's Dan Loney on SiriusXM.

Engaging Employees through Employee Resource Groups Jul 30, 2020

Show notes

In this podcast, guests from Barilla Group, Kristen Anderson, Luisa Ercoli, and Megan Christie, speak with Laura Sabattini, Principal Researcher at The Conference Board, about their diversity and inclusion and Employee Resources Groups (ERGs) strategy, including how Barilla was able to engage workers across regions and in their plants.

The podcast highlights insights from the recently published case study on Barilla's ERGs strategy, which focuses on driving a positive work culture. Core elements of Barilla's approach are

Senior leadership sponsorship

Consistent communication globally

Recognition of ERG leaders

Clear guidelines that allow local flexibility

Knowledge share among ERGs

Case study: https://www.conference-board.org/topics/employee-resource-groups/barilla-whats-next-egs;

Additional resources: COVID-19 Reset & Recovery: Employee Groups as a Crucial Resource for Organizations and Leaders; What is Next for Employee Groups?

Nielsen Corporation: Employee Resource Groups Growing Inclusion through Allyship Jul 21, 2020

Show notes

During the COVID-19 crisis, Nielsen's D&I team worked with its ERGs to shift priorities and respond to the unique challenges created by the pandemic. Nielsen's ERGs are tasked with helping both the firm's associates and its senior executives communicate more effectively throughout the crisis.

Full case study can be found here.

Reopening the Workplace amid COVID-19: What HR Departments Should Consider Jul 08, 2020

Show notes

On the DriveThru HR podcast, The Conference Board's Rebecca Ray discusses what HR departments need to be thinking about as they develop plans for reopening their workplaces amid COVID-19.

Alternative Credentials: A Relevant Solution for Today Jul 07, 2020

Show notes

With looming and potentially long-lasting unemployment as a result of COVID-19, both workers and organizations must reconsider the credentials they have and those they need now and in the future. Job losses as a result of the COVID-19 crisis may tempt employers to cherry-pick workers with traditional qualifications. However, relying solely on traditional talent pools may be a shortsighted strategy for any company likely to find itself in turbulent and even chaotic conditions. By all means, they should scoop up rare talent that might become suddenly available, but companies would also be wise to look for diverse talent to help them adopt fresh thinking and recognize new opportunities.

Join Distinguished Principal Research Fellow, Deb Cohen, PhD, and Principal Researcher, Robin Erickson, PhD, as they discuss our latest report, Different in Degree: Closing the Talent Gap with Alternative Credentials and share the different types of credentials, how to evaluate them, and how organizations can benefit from using them.

For other Human Capital topics in the wake of COVID-19, see COVID-19 Pandemic Resources & Support for HC Community Curated Resources.

Using Human Capital Analytics to Understand the Internal Customer, Before, During, and After a Crisis Jun 16, 2020

Show notes

During times of high stress, such as during the COVID-19 pandemic, there will be a sense of urgency to make decisions and a corresponding risk of acting without fully considering the consequences of those decisions. Substantial research has been conducted in decision-making effectiveness, and overwhelmingly, the research concludes that successful decision making requires the availability of information (specifically financial information) and its deployment in a variety of financial management techniques. The target of most decisions during the COVID-19 pandemic have focused on human capital deployment – for example, how to: · reduce staff size, · increase staff size, · keep employees safe from COVID-19, · get technology to people working from home as appropriate, · counsel employees in emotional distress, · optimize productivity, · get products made and delivered to customers, · pivot the business model and associated human capital needs to stay relevant. An accurate underlying assumption is In the absence of data, decision-making processes will be compromised. Given that most of the decisions made will impact employees and employee programs to respond to COVID-19, it is more important than ever to create and rely on human capital data. Human capital teams must be strategic in gathering and analyzing that data to inform decisions. Organizations that have base-line performance data from before COVID-19 may be positioned to better understand whether decisions made during and post-COVID-19 are achieving desired human capital performance and ultimately business outcomes. Even if base-line data has not yet been created, it is not too late to curate data from past performance so that you can "path-correct" going forward. This report will describe five areas of human capital where the use of data is critical in decision-making: productivity, health and wellbeing, engagement and rewards, ways of working and leading, and diversity & inclusion. Each section will describe common metrics before COVID-19, how the pandemic has changed how we collect data, and the potential long-term effects that will remain in place after the pandemic.

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