Resources

Recently, Illinois became the first state to break ground on what could be the next big trend affecting organizations and their employees preparing for retirement. Signed into law on Jan. 4, the Illinois Secure Choice Savings Program Act requires companies to automatically enroll their employees in – or give them access to –personal Individual Retirement Accounts (IRA) funded through payroll deductions.

Every job candidate hopes to hear these words from prospective employers: “Opportunity is bountiful here.” If your organization makes such a claim, but cannot live up to it, you’ll find yourself stuck in a revolving door of turnover.

Last year, one major home-improvement chain made national news when it announced it would introduce a new sales associate, OSHbot, a customer-service robot that assists shoppers in finding the products they’re looking for in stores. The announcement prompted HBO’s Last Week Tonight show, hosted by John Oliver, to produce a segment on the importance of real, human sales assistants in home-improvement stores. Oliver’s argument was that sales assistants are not there to help people buy things; they’re there to “stop couples from tearing each other apart.”

Some employers believe they know everything about the company, but we believe your employees would disagree. And it’s not entirely your fault. As businesses scale from small start-ups to large enterprises, the lines of communication between management and the rest of the workforce begin to blur, making it all the more challenging to remain in tune with all parts of your organization.

With each passing day, technology advances, allowing us to not only do more, but do so faster and easier. To keep up with that quickened pace, businesses must tap into their most visionary people, which is why developing leaders of your workforce is so crucial.

Human resources managers will take on a much more prominent role in the near future, acting as a business adviser and strategic partner. The days of entering new-hire data into multiple systems is long gone, as centralized human capital management technology has freed HR personnel from the daunting administrative processes, allowing them the time to be more strategic.

As spring inches closer and closer, HR teams can expect another round of resumes submitted for internships. Along with the flood comes the debate of whether you should be hiring interns at all.

With today’s cable television options numbering into the hundreds, Bruce Springsteen’s 1992 dismissal of the medium as “57 Channels (and Nothin’ On)” looks positively quaint. Clearly, hungry viewers reaching for the remote control are bound to find something that appeals directly to them, if not several somethings.

As we celebrate the life and legacy of Martin Luther King Jr., let us all take a moment to remember the great leader that he was. Like today’s entrepreneurs, King was a visionary, but his achievements didn’t come easy. In fact, they came at a cost, yet he persevered and never backed down. King is a role model for so many, but entrepreneurs in particular can take note of these four valuable lessons he taught us:

Earlier this month, the Internal Revenue Service released Notice 2015-2, containing new guidelines to assist employers in making retroactive adjustments for 2014’s employer-provided excludable transit benefits.

According to a LinkedIn announcement made last Wednesday, President Barack Obama will call upon Congress today to pass the Healthy Families Act. This bill would require companies to give workers up to seven days of paid sick leave per year.

Every business will face its fair share of challenges, whether from stiff competition, government regulations, economic downturns or HR issues. The truth is that challenges are the stuff of life; overcoming them is what makes people and companies great. But for nonprofit organizations, the impact of tribulations can be amplified by restricted budgets and a smaller workforce. Key to surviving and growing in the midst of today’s obstacles are knowledge and preparation.