Diversity of perspectives, experiences, cultures, genders and age is essential to any U.S. organization’s success today. It’s that collection of differences that pushes a company’s ability to innovate and grow in a fast-paced, competitive environment. Learn where they stand, what they’re doing now and what they can do to move forward.
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Companies have been employing digital technology for years, but they are only now committing themselves to pursuing durable digital transformations. The shift signals a changed outlook from recent years, when digitization efforts tended to be more tactical than strategic. Companies invested in technological upgrades, remaking individual functions such as sales support and customer service. But a clear majority of companies now invest in digital transformation for long-term growth, not short-term improvements, according to a recent survey of finance executives.
Innovation doesn’t happen in a straight line. A wide diversity of perspectives and experiences is needed to spark the new connections so critical to innovation.
With the current volatility in the global economy and ongoing technological innovation and disruptions, gender diversity is more important than ever.
When it comes to preparing their people for the future, U.S. CEOs know there’s work to do. They’re increasingly concerned about finding the right skills for growth.
Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) policies are becoming more and more popular, and with good reason. As the capabilities of tablets and smartphones continue to rapidly expand, the mobility revolution has been a boon for businesses and employees alike, enabling greater productivity and more flexibility. BYOD amplifies those efficiency gains, reducing administrative headaches for the business and encouraging employee participation. The key is to find an appropriate balance that protects the business while allowing employees to take advantage of the technology.
At the heart of risk management is a gloomy truth: You can never achieve zero risk. In a world of limited resources there are always tradeoffs to be made: how much to invest here and how much there, how much risk to tolerate and how much to mitigate or insure against. To answer those questions, risk quantification is necessary—to estimate how likely an outcome is to occur and more importantly, what will the cost be; translating complex real-world events into dollar figures that can enable rational decision making is critical to effective risk management.
Workplace harassment costs employers millions of dollars every year through poor employee morale, higher absenteeism, reduced productivity and costly settlements and lawsuits. Employers need to create the right culture, supported by appropriate policies and training. With the recent stunning revelations from Hollywood, the Media and Washington have clearly signaled that sexual harassment remains a serious social issue.
Now that the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act is law, it is helpful to have a checklist for determining how tax reform changes your employee benefit programs and a chart outlining the key benefit plan limits for 2018. Also in this issue of HR Focus, we revisit what sexual harassment is and what employers should be doing to prevent it, address it and help protect themselves from potential liability.
The Tax Reform Act contains sweeping changes and impacts all taxpayers, from individuals to businesses, and the rules for each category are different.