October 18, 2023 • 24 mins
Description: 🎙️ Tune in to our latest podcast episode on MRA's October Talent Report! Discover the insights you need to stay ahead in the dynamic world of business, with a special focus this month on "Building the Generational Bridge." Don't miss out on the latest trends and best practices that will elevate your talent management game!
Resources:
Let's Connect:
Guest LinkedIn Profile - Jim Morgan
Host LinkedIn Profile - Sophie Boler
Transcript:
Transcripts are computer generated -- not 100% accurate word-for-word.
00:00:00:00 - 00:00:21:03 Unknown Hello everybody and welcome to 30 minute Thrive, your go to podcast for anything and everything HR, powered by MRA, the Management Association. Looking to stay on top of the ever changing world of HR? MRA has got you covered. We'll be the first to tell you what's hot and what's not. I'm your host, Sophie Boler, and we are so glad you're here.
00:00:21:05 - 00:00:22:21 Unknown Now it's time to thrive.
00:00:23:00 - 00:00:40:14 Unknown Welcome to this episode of 30 Minute Thrive. It is that time again to go over this month's Talent report with Jim Morgan, MRA's vice president of Workforce Strategies. So we'll dive into what he's been seeing this month in the world of business in October. Thanks for coming on the podcast. Always a pleasure to be here.
00:00:40:16 - 00:01:01:02 Unknown All right. So let's go over what you're seeing this month. Women have been coming back to the workforce in high quantity. So what's driving this? What's the deal with this? I think there's a couple of things going on. Obviously, women have always been in the workforce, but I think post-pandemic, what we're starting to see now is women are still the primary childcare provider.
00:01:01:02 - 00:01:18:19 Unknown And so I think they may have been at home more or might have been in a profession that allow them to work from home more. And now everything is sort of leveled out. Again, everybody's trying to figure out, you know, exactly what they're going to do. But right now, we've got women in the workforce or at least looking for a job at 77.8%.
00:01:18:19 - 00:01:40:03 Unknown That's the highest it's ever been in the United States. So that is a as another opportunity, I think, for people, you know, to go find folks. And that totals 815,000 people this year. So in terms of companies that are trying to say, you know, where is the talent? What is going on? We are seeing a little bit of a shift in that women for a whole bunch of different reasons.
00:01:40:03 - 00:02:05:01 Unknown But I think primarily post-pandemic are coming back into the workforce and in larger numbers than they ever have before. So going into your talent thinking section, you highlighted what was found by the PDC Employer Benefits Perspective Survey on companies wanting their health plans to improve the employee experience overall and really meet the needs of diverse employees over four generations.
00:02:05:03 - 00:02:45:03 Unknown So where do these employee concerns really lie within benefits? There are a couple of things that that really stood out. One was this desire for digital health care. And you know, we never did telemedicine until the pandemic and actually found out that that was pretty effective for certain things. There are times when obviously you want to come and see your doctor, but the opportunity to use digital to use that type of technology, whether that's in telemedicine, whether that's apps on our phone, whether that's collecting our own biometrics, I mean, you have wristwatches now that can collect all kinds of different data for us.
00:02:45:05 - 00:03:07:13 Unknown And then having your data available in such a way that it can move from care provider to care provider. And you will see my doctor and then I have to go see a pharmacist and maybe have to see a specialist that it's easy for the employee to say, Here's where my information is, you will get it. So the digitizing of a while that has been a big thing.
00:03:07:15 - 00:03:32:17 Unknown The second one was employers trying to look at what's the clinical value o
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:04):
Hello everybody and
welcome to 30 minute Thrive,your go to podcast for anything
and everything HR, powered by MRA,the Management Association.
Looking to stay on top of the everchanging world of HR?
MRA has got you covered.
We'll be the first to tell you what's hotand what's not.
I'm your host, Sophie Boler,and we are so glad you're here.
(00:25):
Now it's time to thrive.
Welcome to this episodeof 30 Minute Thrive.
It is that time againto go over this month's Talent report
with Jim Morgan, MRA's vicepresident of Workforce Strategies.
So we'll dive into
what he's been seeing this monthin the world of business in October.
Thanks for coming on the podcast.
Always a pleasure to be here.
All right. So let's go over whatyou're seeing this month.
(00:47):
Women have been coming backto the workforce in high quantity.
So what's driving this?What's the deal with this?
I think there's a couple of thingsgoing on.
Obviously,women have always been in the workforce,
but I think post-pandemic,what we're starting to see now is
womenare still the primary childcare provider.
And so I think they may have been at homemore or might have been
(01:08):
in a professionthat allow them to work from home more.
And now everything is sort of leveled out.
Again, everybody's trying to figure out,
you know, exactlywhat they're going to do.
But right now, we've got women
in the workforceor at least looking for a job at 77.8%.
That's the highest it's everbeen in the United States.
So that is a as another opportunity,I think, for people,
(01:29):
you know, to go find folks.
And that totals 815,000 people this year.
So in terms of companies that are tryingto say, you know, where is the talent?
What is going on?
We are seeing a little bit of a shiftin that
womenfor a whole bunch of different reasons.
But I think primarily post-pandemicare coming back into the workforce
and in larger numbersthan they ever have before.
(01:51):
So going into yourtalent thinking section, you highlighted
what was found by the PDC EmployerBenefits Perspective Survey on companies
wanting their health plansto improve the employee experience overall
and really meet the needs of diverseemployees over four generations.
So where do these employee concernsreally lie within benefits?
(02:13):
There are a couple of thingsthat that really stood out.
One was
this desire for digital health care.
And you know, we never did telemedicineuntil the pandemic
and actually found out that that waspretty effective for certain things.
There are times when obviouslyyou want to come and see your doctor,
but the opportunity to use digital
(02:34):
to use that type of technology,whether that's in telemedicine,
whether that's apps on our phone,
whether that's collecting our ownbiometrics, I mean, you have wristwatches
now that can collect all kindsof different data for us.
And then having your data availablein such a way that it can move
from care provider to care provider.
(02:56):
And you will see my doctorand then I have to go see a pharmacist
and maybe have to see a specialistthat it's easy for the employee
to say, Here'swhere my information is, you will get it.
So the digitizing of a whilethat has been a big thing.
The second one was employerstrying to look at
what's the clinical value of whoevertheir provider is.
(03:17):
So if I'm using ABC Health Care,
how easy is it for me to get to a clinic?
What's the cost for me to visit the clinicand what are their results?
Do they have good outcomesfrom visiting the clinic?
So companies being one
a little bit more critical aboutwhat's the value of the investment here.
And secondly,how easy is it, how convenient is it
(03:41):
for our employees so that health careis not a half full for them?
Yeah, it's something,you know, that they're easily able to do.
They also are starting
to look at what's being calleddiverse benefits.
You know, are we unconsciously biasedagainst certain types of benefits
that maybe would be good for folks inobvious one is holidays?
You know, you may have a companythat traditionally was you get Christmas.
(04:04):
You know well,not everybody celebrates Christmas.
And so moving to floating holidays to say,look, you've got two holidays
to celebrate, whateveryour beliefs might be or just whatever
your interests are.
If there are beliefsthat you want to follow.
So that accommodates.
You know,almost everyone also starting to look at,
you know, child care is somethingthat's a bigger deal.
(04:26):
It's very expensive.
How do we accommodatesome of that financial planning?
Some people had access tofinancial planning maybe more than others.
And so how do we sort of levelthat playing field
So all of our employeeshave that sort of opportunity.
You know, and then lastly, I thinklooking at the workforce of the future
flexible benefits,
(04:46):
we'll talk about that a little bit laterwhen we talk about generations.
But you want different things in Iowafor a whole bunch of reasons.
Not just because you're coolerand more here than I am, but lifestyle.
Yeah,it isn't that I'm looking for right now.
So being flexible with what our parentsor what our employees are looking for
and then on the recognition side,
(05:07):
really startingto hear more of from companies about
how much their employees value,whether it's being recognized
for birthdaysand anniversaries is for jobs.
Well done from projectto completed the swag, the lunches,
all that stuff matters to people,and it actually matters again
to the younger generationsfor sort of this sense of belonging.
So we're seeing more.
(05:27):
How do we prepare for thatnext generation?
How do we make sure we're offeringthe things that they truly want?
Looks like each hoursgot a lot of work out there.
And they do.
They always doit. Just keep getting more. Yeah.
Well, let's talk about some other recentsurvey results.
What were some of your findingsthis month in terms of C-suite happenings?
What are theycurrently focusing on right now?
(05:49):
Yeah, we looked at the FortuneDeloitte CEOs survey just to see kind of
what's going on.
And then we've done our own survey dataon the Fortune Deloitte one.
One of the interestingthings was for the first time in
few years now
talent was displayed by geopoliticsand that was the number one
concern and is been talentfor as long as we can remember.
(06:11):
But just the thingsthat are going on around the world,
whether that's in Israel,whether that's Ukraine and Russia,
there'sjust a lot of things up in the air.
There's a lot of disruptionand that has caught the attention
of the CEOsin looking at their outlook for things.
About half of the people in their surveysaid they think there's
(06:32):
a recession coming within the next year.
This recession has kind of beensix months away for two years now.
And I think everyone's waiting againfor that other shoe to drop.
And we keep thinking, well, that mighthave been it and that might have been it.
And yet it doesn't quite happen yet.
And within our own surveys here at MRA,
(06:53):
it was amazing the number of companiesthat were budgeting
from better times next year,but thinking the economy
as a wholewas still headed for a recession.
So that dichotomy is really interestingthat my company is going to do okay,
but the economy is not.
And I don't knowif that's an upper Midwest thing.
We have a kind of a talentshortage here still,
(07:13):
and so if people are working, you know,I'm looking like must be good out there.
Yeah. But they still thinkoverall that there's this
potential of a recession on the horizon.
And then lastly,the whole technology area,
technology in general in terms ofhow do we use it for efficiency?
How do we use itmaybe for automation in manufacturing?
(07:35):
How do we use it for better processesand moving things along quicker?
And then,
you know, the big monster on the blockright now, artificial intelligence.
What does that mean for us and companiesnow scrambling
to put together what's our policyin artificial intelligence?
How do we make sureour employees know what it is?
How do we use it for goodand not for evil?
(07:56):
And that's causing again, you know,I think HR, because a lot of times
are the keepers of this type of policyon the forefront to say,
how are we going to build this?
We have people that are already using it,
peoplewho probably still don't know what it is.
And we've got to kind ofgive them the guideposts that say this is
where it can be used, this is how we thinkour company can benefit from this.
(08:17):
Here are the cautionsand making sure that everybody sort of up
to speed on what's going on.
Yeah, absolutely.
And I guess now's a great time to plug.
We do have an upcoming podcaston HR technology
and using kind of the new innovationsin AI and in HR.
So stay tuned for that.
And then great timing on your part,
because it's really companiestrying to figure out a
(08:40):
AI does these wonderful things, butit's got its own biases and occasionally
it hallucinates in termsof creating its own information.
So I think, you know, just the smartmoney is on.
Use it for things to get you started,but you still got to take a look
and you got to know where it came from.
You've got to sort ofhas to make sure it's accurate.
And I think a lot of HR departmentsare looking at it.
(09:02):
And I would say what where is a good placeto use this and where should we not?
Yeah, absolutely.
And we're also talking about technologyoutside of AI because all eyes are on
AI right now, but it's like, what elsedo we need to be aware of right now?
So that'll be a good one.
Yeah, but kind of moving on from yourfrom the field section,
you lost some key factors that U.S.
workers considerwhen considering a company for employment.
(09:26):
So what did you find withlike what were some of those factors.
Yeah, this was some of this was from EagleHill Consulting and they were looking at
Gen Z and millennials primarily to say,you know what matters to them.
Yeah.
D y is big with these two groupsbigger than their predecessors.
it came up as a key factorin 77% of the Gen
(09:48):
Z folks, 63% for millennials.
They grew up in a different world.
They're more culturally,I think, aware of what's going on.
They grew up in a more diverse societycertainly than I did.
And so that's important to them.
And they're seeing it in theireveryday life.
They see it in the workplace as wellwith those groups.
Again, things that matter to them aroundcollaboration, safety,
(10:13):
a sense of belonging,culture, employee resource groups,
all of those are designed really aroundmaking them
feel at home in their workplaceand that matters to them.
And so companies really are taking a hardlook at
how do we make them feel comfortable here,how do we make them want to be here?
That's sort of the work life balanceand the remote work that they're
(10:36):
looking at, try to making their workplaceattractive place to be,
whether that's let's makeit look like a Starbucks
and people want to come inor let's make it look like
there are things going on herethat are really of interest.
So it's not even a decision whetheryou want to stay home or go to work.
I kind of want to go in there
and see what's going onand still have that option of remote work.
So how do we make people feel comfortable?
(10:58):
How do we make them feel?
Part of the team is really where they'respending an awful lot of their time.
Yeah, absolutely.
Well, kind of continuingthat generational conversation.
I know this month you featured the topicon building the generational bridge.
So do you have any kind of key pointsthat you can summarize
from that presentationor conversation in the teller part?
Yeah.
(11:18):
And where this one came from,as were a couple of years away from the
generational tipping points,for lack of a better set of words.
That's when the Gen Z and the Millennialswill outnumber the baby boomers
and the Gen Xers.
And, you know, obviouslythis always happens
one generation that's older and moves outand a new one comes in.
But I think the characteristics of the twoyounger generations around technology,
(11:41):
cultures, society is just very differentthan the two that are, you know,
the actors and the boomers.
And so I think that does makea difference.
And companies are now having to paya little bit more attention
to that, to say, you know,what does that mean?
And the couple of examples
that we talked about on the talentreport were, you know, what?
What do you value?
So if I think about it from a benefitspoint of view, and again,
(12:03):
going back to whatwe were just talking about,
you may be thinking,you know, I've got some student loan debt,
I would like some help in paying backthat it doesn't
really matter to me all that much,but I am closer to retirement.
So how much money do I have in my 401k?
I'm neither one of us.
Probably. Health caremay not be the biggest deal for us.
You could still be on your parentsfor a couple of more years.
(12:25):
I don't have three kids running aroundthat are in their accident years.
Yeah.
So I'm
looking for a different health care planthan I would have been ten years ago.
And so how do we get in touchwith what our folks are looking for?
Because the benefits are a big deal.
And I've said it before, it'snot a benefit unless I think they benefit.
And so if right nowNetflix is of great value to you
(12:46):
and maybe to everybody acrossevery generation, they I want a screen,
I want a streaming servicethat's a relatively cheap benefit.
And if people really value that, well,good for us.
And what are we offering that?
You know, it
no one's taking advantage of thatand we're paying good money for that.
Maybe we should reevaluate.
So I think there's a real emphasisright now for companies to really know
what's important to their employees.
(13:07):
You know, try to be a little bitmore flexible in their benefits
and then providing the thingsthat really matter to them.
So I think benefits is a big one.
And I think there are big differenceswith different generational groups.
We've got up. Yeah,
cross
generationalteams we spent an awful lot of time on
and companies kind joyously trying to say,you know what,
(13:28):
if you and I are on the same team, we'regoing to bring very different perspectives
then if it's by people who look like meor find people who look like you
and I can quickly stereotype,okay, well, I've got more experience.
I've probably seen more things.
We've tried these different things.
I know what worked and what didn't work.
And so I can bring that, you know,you can bring a whole new perspective.
(13:52):
You can bring probably some technologythat I've never heard of.
I might say we tried to do that before,and you'll be in a position to say, Yeah,
but did you try it this way? Yeah.
And so the benefits of bringing togetherdifferent groups of people,
one, it's a great way to build a teamwithin the organization.
It breaks down some stereotypes,
and the more that I get to knowyou, the smarter I see you are done.
(14:15):
Sort of.
yeah.
23 year old kidthink she knows everything.
Well, she does know stuff.
And by working with you,that's how I begin to find that out.
And you can look at me like, God,this guy's a dinosaur.
He'll never brand a new idea to the table.
And you might find out,No, I've got a couple.
So there are benefits to that.
Then there's the managing of itand how we look at work, when we work, how
(14:37):
we work, you know, making sure, you know,the team members that I might like to
I don't know.
I need to be out by 3:00 on Wednesdaysbecause I've got some group I go to.
Yeah, you are a big biker in Fridayafternoon to your biking tag.
You know, little things like that.
They just say, okay, let me know my peopleand they know the best time
to maybe get this group of diverseinterests together.
(15:00):
Yeah.
And then, you know, I think looking outfor the potential roadblocks, though.
Yep, we've got stereotypes.
We've got to breakthrough some of those things.
The challengesof biases that are out there.
Communications might be different,the technology might be different.
So how are we going to communicatewith each other?
But then in the end, you know,we do start seeing
(15:24):
using the even reverse mentoring to say,what can I learn from selfie?
And that's not a way that you reallyif the two of us showed up,
you could ask the vast majority,okay, who's was mentoring who
Traditionally, it'd be okay.
I'll mentor Sophie.What does Sophie have for me?
How can Sophie help me better understandsocial media
so I can better promotesome of the things that I'm doing?
(15:47):
What has Sophie learned as a more recentgraduate from college of how people are
using some of the things, different leadsthat I might be working with every day?
How can she teach me how to use Tik-tokto promote my videos?
And you know, the speeches?
I'm so, you know, two ways.
I'm happy to share what I know,but I have to be open
then to learning a little bit more about,you know, what it is that you know.
(16:09):
So I think it was really
talking about all the different thingsthat we bring to the table
and how do you get those generationsto utilize the skills that each one's got.
It's issue that is all this time.
Yeah, but I think it's even bigger nowand we've got more opportunities.
That bridge is a big one to cross, right?
Yeah, absolutely.
(16:30):
Well,I hope I can be a reverse mentor for you.
Jenny Patrick, you play
well, and I have to bring up your quoteto your quarter of the month as it relates
to this times of rapid technologicalor social change divide generations.
Right now we have both.
So can you explain whyyou chose this quote for this month?
If you take the technology part out of it?
(16:50):
Let me just start with the social part.
If you think of the last few generations,you know, my
grandparentsrace was pretty much segregated.
And with my parents, they started to seesome of the integration.
There was women's rights,there were people of color's rights.
Then my generation, there were protestsand yours early on, assassinations.
(17:11):
And it was very, very much turmoil.
And then you start moving into generationsthat are growing up together.
We have different social issues now.
We have Black Lives Matter.
So, you know, things just keep changing.
And that social world, as we evolveand hopefully try to get better,
then you throw in the technologybesides that.
And that's the partI think, that had never been there.
(17:32):
Social really changes the way we do thingsand now technology
in the last two generations and even justthe last generation, it changed
everything the way that we communicate,the way that we go out and see people.
You throw a pandemic in there.
We all learned how to do zoom and videoand everything else.
And you combine those two thingsand all of a sudden people have access
(17:55):
to all this information.
They have the ability to communicatein 100 different ways.
And you have all ofthese social issues at play.
It really is
another it's another place where it caneither divide us or bring us together.
And so I can either have my viewson social issues
and yours are a couple of generationslater, and I have my ability
to manipulate technologyand year to generation and later
(18:18):
you can see how that would Thrive thingsknow further apart.
And so that was I've heard thaton a webinar and I just thought, you know,
when you put those things together,that has the potential to really separate
everybody or,you know, if you did forget it
as a chance to bring us together,how do you manage both at the same time?
Because I view it
well this month in charts,you included some data around memories.
(18:39):
2023 compensate in turn survey in webinaras well as data
from Memories 2020 through National IDand Engineering survey.
So can you explain what was shownin all of the charts and graphs
that were on the talent report,like an hour long seminar,
put it end to 2 minutes here for you.Go take a look at the Talent report
if you have it,and then you'll understand.
(19:00):
You know, I would say, you know,the biggies were as everybody
expected on this, the total overallcompensation was a little about 4%.
You know,for those who have filed this forever,
it was 3%, 3%,maybe to nine, maybe three one.
Last year.
We went over for this year,you know, over for I'm guessing next year
will probably be close to four.
But I think it might settle downa little bit.
(19:23):
But over 4% was sort of the comp trend
for the general population.
The engineering was a little bit higherat engineering and industrial,
you know, high level.
Those folks are getting harderand harder to come by.
And so that drove that a little bit.
Probably.
We spent the most time
talking about pay transparency,that being Thriven by a couple of things.
(19:46):
One, younger generationsthat are a little more open with their pay
and their benefits.
You know, they findI am going to make $62,000
and next thing you know, it's postedon four different social media platforms
and everybody knows,
whereas few generations agoit was like, don't tell anybody.
Yeah. So that's happening.
There's now some legislationthat's out there that's starting to
(20:07):
tell employers you need to release
pay ranges or you need to,you know, be able to explain all that.
So we're not there right nowby our own employers.
Survey resultsthat most of them are at a level
where they hopetheir employees can understand
how to read their paycheckand know what the deductions are.
And we're quite a ways away fromdoes everyone know their pay range?
(20:28):
Do they know where they fall in it?
Do they know your pay philosophy?
And so how do companies moveif there's the legislation
continues to rolland it's out already in some states,
some municipalities, citiesand counties have put in place,
how do you begin to explain compensationto the average employee
so they understand your philosophy,They understand ranges
(20:49):
because the first is that will be,if you tell me I'm at 90% of my
rage, I'll be talking about I'm waybetter than average I should be.
And I'm wondering 10% and trying toexplain what the data is for compensation.
So I think
that's going to be a big one.
And I think you're going to see more
and more companiestalking about pay transparency.
Where are they going to fall in that?
And keeping an eye on statehousesand federal issues
(21:13):
to see what other legislationthey pass in the future.
And I actually know a friendwho they're looking for a job
and as they're scrolling through jobopenings, they won't even look at the jobs
that don't list the salaryor the salary range.
So I guess, yeah, that is a big deal.
And yeah, and then you get some ofthe services out that are out there.
(21:33):
Some are much better than others.
But somebody in one of our roundtablesaid, Yeah, there was a job
and the pay range was 50 to $300000.
God, yes.
All right.
Well, where do I fall about to cover it,
you know,So that's not a real helpful either. Yep.
So you're going to be up against
all the data that's out there,all the different organizations
that are putting it out.
Some are very good, are not so good.
(21:55):
But as an employeenow, one of the examples we used in
comp trends was they can go into Chad GPT
and go into some other artificialintelligence and say, I'm 42 years old,
I have 15 years of experience,I have a degree in engineering, I'm
in Shawano, Wisconsin, and I want to knowhow much money I should make.
And it's going to give them an answer,whether it's good, bad or indifferent.
(22:16):
But they're looking at it like, well,artificial intelligence told me
i think they should makeand they walk into HR And so now HR is up
against artificial intelligenceplus other people's survey results,
plus people taking data from new york cityand comparing it to shawano, wisconsin.
So that's just another areawhere the human resources people
really after themselvesbe prepared with data and information
(22:40):
and now have to start educatingtheir hiring managers so they too
can answer some of those questionswhen their staff members come to them.
Right. For health.
There's another thing on the plate,another saying, well, as we wrap up, we're
always going to ask,can you give us a sneak peek on what
November's talent reportwill be? The topic?
Yeah, we're going to talkabout talent strategies.
And I know we've talked about thata thousand times,
(23:01):
but we're going to try to takea little bit different
look at it and look out to the futurea little bit and say,
you know, what are innovative companiesdoing to attract and retain
and what does the future of worklook like a little bit?
And so as companies, we're startingto make some adjustments in whether that's
work life balance, remote work benefits,all that type of stuff.
What are innovative
(23:22):
companies doing to make sure that they'regoing to have the talent supply chain?
Gotcha. Well, you heard them.
You got to tune in for it.
Well, Jim, thank you again for the recapon this month's talent report.
I appreciate it.
And to our listeners,if you liked our chat
and you like the topic today,
I would urge you to commentthe most valuable piece of information
that you learned today
or any current trends or topicsthat you've been seeing this month
(23:45):
in the HR world.
Don't forget to share out the episode
and consider joining MRAif you aren't a member already.
We have all the resources you needin the show Notes below,
including resources on this Once Talentreport.
Otherwise, thank you for tuning inand we'll see you next week.
Hello everybody and
welcome to 30 minute Thrive,your go to podcast for anything
and everything HR, powered by MRA,the Management Association.
Looking to stay on top of the everchanging world of HR?
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We'll be the first to tell you what's hotand what's not.
I'm your host, Sophie Boler,and we are so glad you're here.
(00:25):
Now it's time to thrive.
Welcome to this episodeof 30 Minute Thrive.
It is that time againto go over this month's Talent report
with Jim Morgan, MRA's vicepresident of Workforce Strategies.
So we'll dive into
what he's been seeing this monthin the world of business in October.
Thanks for coming on the podcast.
Always a pleasure to be here.
All right. So let's go over whatyou're seeing this month.
(00:47):
Women have been coming backto the workforce in high quantity.
So what's driving this?What's the deal with this?
I think there's a couple of thingsgoing on.
Obviously,women have always been in the workforce,
but I think post-pandemic,what we're starting to see now is
womenare still the primary childcare provider.
And so I think they may have been at homemore or might have been
(01:08):
in a professionthat allow them to work from home more.
And now everything is sort of leveled out.
Again, everybody's trying to figure out,
you know, exactlywhat they're going to do.
But right now, we've got women
in the workforceor at least looking for a job at 77.8%.
That's the highest it's everbeen in the United States.
So that is a as another opportunity,I think, for people,
(01:29):
you know, to go find folks.
And that totals 815,000 people this year.
So in terms of companies that are tryingto say, you know, where is the talent?
What is going on?
We are seeing a little bit of a shiftin that
womenfor a whole bunch of different reasons.
But I think primarily post-pandemicare coming back into the workforce
and in larger numbersthan they ever have before.
(01:51):
So going into yourtalent thinking section, you highlighted
what was found by the PDC EmployerBenefits Perspective Survey on companies
wanting their health plansto improve the employee experience overall
and really meet the needs of diverseemployees over four generations.
So where do these employee concernsreally lie within benefits?
(02:13):
There are a couple of thingsthat that really stood out.
One was
this desire for digital health care.
And you know, we never did telemedicineuntil the pandemic
and actually found out that that waspretty effective for certain things.
There are times when obviouslyyou want to come and see your doctor,
but the opportunity to use digital
(02:34):
to use that type of technology,whether that's in telemedicine,
whether that's apps on our phone,
whether that's collecting our ownbiometrics, I mean, you have wristwatches
now that can collect all kindsof different data for us.
And then having your data availablein such a way that it can move
from care provider to care provider.
(02:56):
And you will see my doctorand then I have to go see a pharmacist
and maybe have to see a specialistthat it's easy for the employee
to say, Here'swhere my information is, you will get it.
So the digitizing of a whilethat has been a big thing.
The second one was employerstrying to look at
what's the clinical value of whoevertheir provider is.
(03:17):
So if I'm using ABC Health Care,
how easy is it for me to get to a clinic?
What's the cost for me to visit the clinicand what are their results?
Do they have good outcomesfrom visiting the clinic?
So companies being one
a little bit more critical aboutwhat's the value of the investment here.
And secondly,how easy is it, how convenient is it
(03:41):
for our employees so that health careis not a half full for them?
Yeah, it's something,you know, that they're easily able to do.
They also are starting
to look at what's being calleddiverse benefits.
You know, are we unconsciously biasedagainst certain types of benefits
that maybe would be good for folks inobvious one is holidays?
You know, you may have a companythat traditionally was you get Christmas.
(04:04):
You know well,not everybody celebrates Christmas.
And so moving to floating holidays to say,look, you've got two holidays
to celebrate, whateveryour beliefs might be or just whatever
your interests are.
If there are beliefsthat you want to follow.
So that accommodates.
You know,almost everyone also starting to look at,
you know, child care is somethingthat's a bigger deal.
(04:26):
It's very expensive.
How do we accommodatesome of that financial planning?
Some people had access tofinancial planning maybe more than others.
And so how do we sort of levelthat playing field
So all of our employeeshave that sort of opportunity.
You know, and then lastly, I thinklooking at the workforce of the future
flexible benefits,
(04:46):
we'll talk about that a little bit laterwhen we talk about generations.
But you want different things in Iowafor a whole bunch of reasons.
Not just because you're coolerand more here than I am, but lifestyle.
Yeah,it isn't that I'm looking for right now.
So being flexible with what our parentsor what our employees are looking for
and then on the recognition side,
(05:07):
really startingto hear more of from companies about
how much their employees value,whether it's being recognized
for birthdaysand anniversaries is for jobs.
Well done from projectto completed the swag, the lunches,
all that stuff matters to people,and it actually matters again
to the younger generationsfor sort of this sense of belonging.
So we're seeing more.
(05:27):
How do we prepare for thatnext generation?
How do we make sure we're offeringthe things that they truly want?
Looks like each hoursgot a lot of work out there.
And they do.
They always doit. Just keep getting more. Yeah.
Well, let's talk about some other recentsurvey results.
What were some of your findingsthis month in terms of C-suite happenings?
What are theycurrently focusing on right now?
(05:49):
Yeah, we looked at the FortuneDeloitte CEOs survey just to see kind of
what's going on.
And then we've done our own survey dataon the Fortune Deloitte one.
One of the interestingthings was for the first time in
few years now
talent was displayed by geopoliticsand that was the number one
concern and is been talentfor as long as we can remember.
(06:11):
But just the thingsthat are going on around the world,
whether that's in Israel,whether that's Ukraine and Russia,
there'sjust a lot of things up in the air.
There's a lot of disruptionand that has caught the attention
of the CEOsin looking at their outlook for things.
About half of the people in their surveysaid they think there's
(06:32):
a recession coming within the next year.
This recession has kind of beensix months away for two years now.
And I think everyone's waiting againfor that other shoe to drop.
And we keep thinking, well, that mighthave been it and that might have been it.
And yet it doesn't quite happen yet.
And within our own surveys here at MRA,
(06:53):
it was amazing the number of companiesthat were budgeting
from better times next year,but thinking the economy
as a wholewas still headed for a recession.
So that dichotomy is really interestingthat my company is going to do okay,
but the economy is not.
And I don't knowif that's an upper Midwest thing.
We have a kind of a talentshortage here still,
(07:13):
and so if people are working, you know,I'm looking like must be good out there.
Yeah. But they still thinkoverall that there's this
potential of a recession on the horizon.
And then lastly,the whole technology area,
technology in general in terms ofhow do we use it for efficiency?
How do we use itmaybe for automation in manufacturing?
(07:35):
How do we use it for better processesand moving things along quicker?
And then,
you know, the big monster on the blockright now, artificial intelligence.
What does that mean for us and companiesnow scrambling
to put together what's our policyin artificial intelligence?
How do we make sureour employees know what it is?
How do we use it for goodand not for evil?
(07:56):
And that's causing again, you know,I think HR, because a lot of times
are the keepers of this type of policyon the forefront to say,
how are we going to build this?
We have people that are already using it,
peoplewho probably still don't know what it is.
And we've got to kind ofgive them the guideposts that say this is
where it can be used, this is how we thinkour company can benefit from this.
(08:17):
Here are the cautionsand making sure that everybody sort of up
to speed on what's going on.
Yeah, absolutely.
And I guess now's a great time to plug.
We do have an upcoming podcaston HR technology
and using kind of the new innovationsin AI and in HR.
So stay tuned for that.
And then great timing on your part,
because it's really companiestrying to figure out a
(08:40):
AI does these wonderful things, butit's got its own biases and occasionally
it hallucinates in termsof creating its own information.
So I think, you know, just the smartmoney is on.
Use it for things to get you started,but you still got to take a look
and you got to know where it came from.
You've got to sort ofhas to make sure it's accurate.
And I think a lot of HR departmentsare looking at it.
(09:02):
And I would say what where is a good placeto use this and where should we not?
Yeah, absolutely.
And we're also talking about technologyoutside of AI because all eyes are on
AI right now, but it's like, what elsedo we need to be aware of right now?
So that'll be a good one.
Yeah, but kind of moving on from yourfrom the field section,
you lost some key factors that U.S.
workers considerwhen considering a company for employment.
(09:26):
So what did you find withlike what were some of those factors.
Yeah, this was some of this was from EagleHill Consulting and they were looking at
Gen Z and millennials primarily to say,you know what matters to them.
Yeah.
D y is big with these two groupsbigger than their predecessors.
it came up as a key factorin 77% of the Gen
(09:48):
Z folks, 63% for millennials.
They grew up in a different world.
They're more culturally,I think, aware of what's going on.
They grew up in a more diverse societycertainly than I did.
And so that's important to them.
And they're seeing it in theireveryday life.
They see it in the workplace as wellwith those groups.
Again, things that matter to them aroundcollaboration, safety,
(10:13):
a sense of belonging,culture, employee resource groups,
all of those are designed really aroundmaking them
feel at home in their workplaceand that matters to them.
And so companies really are taking a hardlook at
how do we make them feel comfortable here,how do we make them want to be here?
That's sort of the work life balanceand the remote work that they're
(10:36):
looking at, try to making their workplaceattractive place to be,
whether that's let's makeit look like a Starbucks
and people want to come inor let's make it look like
there are things going on herethat are really of interest.
So it's not even a decision whetheryou want to stay home or go to work.
I kind of want to go in there
and see what's going onand still have that option of remote work.
So how do we make people feel comfortable?
(10:58):
How do we make them feel?
Part of the team is really where they'respending an awful lot of their time.
Yeah, absolutely.
Well, kind of continuingthat generational conversation.
I know this month you featured the topicon building the generational bridge.
So do you have any kind of key pointsthat you can summarize
from that presentationor conversation in the teller part?
Yeah.
(11:18):
And where this one came from,as were a couple of years away from the
generational tipping points,for lack of a better set of words.
That's when the Gen Z and the Millennialswill outnumber the baby boomers
and the Gen Xers.
And, you know, obviouslythis always happens
one generation that's older and moves outand a new one comes in.
But I think the characteristics of the twoyounger generations around technology,
(11:41):
cultures, society is just very differentthan the two that are, you know,
the actors and the boomers.
And so I think that does makea difference.
And companies are now having to paya little bit more attention
to that, to say, you know,what does that mean?
And the couple of examples
that we talked about on the talentreport were, you know, what?
What do you value?
So if I think about it from a benefitspoint of view, and again,
(12:03):
going back to whatwe were just talking about,
you may be thinking,you know, I've got some student loan debt,
I would like some help in paying backthat it doesn't
really matter to me all that much,but I am closer to retirement.
So how much money do I have in my 401k?
I'm neither one of us.
Probably. Health caremay not be the biggest deal for us.
You could still be on your parentsfor a couple of more years.
(12:25):
I don't have three kids running aroundthat are in their accident years.
Yeah.
So I'm
looking for a different health care planthan I would have been ten years ago.
And so how do we get in touchwith what our folks are looking for?
Because the benefits are a big deal.
And I've said it before, it'snot a benefit unless I think they benefit.
And so if right nowNetflix is of great value to you
(12:46):
and maybe to everybody acrossevery generation, they I want a screen,
I want a streaming servicethat's a relatively cheap benefit.
And if people really value that, well,good for us.
And what are we offering that?
You know, it
no one's taking advantage of thatand we're paying good money for that.
Maybe we should reevaluate.
So I think there's a real emphasisright now for companies to really know
what's important to their employees.
(13:07):
You know, try to be a little bitmore flexible in their benefits
and then providing the thingsthat really matter to them.
So I think benefits is a big one.
And I think there are big differenceswith different generational groups.
We've got up. Yeah,
cross
generationalteams we spent an awful lot of time on
and companies kind joyously trying to say,you know what,
(13:28):
if you and I are on the same team, we'regoing to bring very different perspectives
then if it's by people who look like meor find people who look like you
and I can quickly stereotype,okay, well, I've got more experience.
I've probably seen more things.
We've tried these different things.
I know what worked and what didn't work.
And so I can bring that, you know,you can bring a whole new perspective.
(13:52):
You can bring probably some technologythat I've never heard of.
I might say we tried to do that before,and you'll be in a position to say, Yeah,
but did you try it this way? Yeah.
And so the benefits of bringing togetherdifferent groups of people,
one, it's a great way to build a teamwithin the organization.
It breaks down some stereotypes,
and the more that I get to knowyou, the smarter I see you are done.
(14:15):
Sort of.
yeah.
23 year old kidthink she knows everything.
Well, she does know stuff.
And by working with you,that's how I begin to find that out.
And you can look at me like, God,this guy's a dinosaur.
He'll never brand a new idea to the table.
And you might find out,No, I've got a couple.
So there are benefits to that.
Then there's the managing of itand how we look at work, when we work, how
(14:37):
we work, you know, making sure, you know,the team members that I might like to
I don't know.
I need to be out by 3:00 on Wednesdaysbecause I've got some group I go to.
Yeah, you are a big biker in Fridayafternoon to your biking tag.
You know, little things like that.
They just say, okay, let me know my peopleand they know the best time
to maybe get this group of diverseinterests together.
(15:00):
Yeah.
And then, you know, I think looking outfor the potential roadblocks, though.
Yep, we've got stereotypes.
We've got to breakthrough some of those things.
The challengesof biases that are out there.
Communications might be different,the technology might be different.
So how are we going to communicatewith each other?
But then in the end, you know,we do start seeing
(15:24):
using the even reverse mentoring to say,what can I learn from selfie?
And that's not a way that you reallyif the two of us showed up,
you could ask the vast majority,okay, who's was mentoring who
Traditionally, it'd be okay.
I'll mentor Sophie.What does Sophie have for me?
How can Sophie help me better understandsocial media
so I can better promotesome of the things that I'm doing?
(15:47):
What has Sophie learned as a more recentgraduate from college of how people are
using some of the things, different leadsthat I might be working with every day?
How can she teach me how to use Tik-tokto promote my videos?
And you know, the speeches?
I'm so, you know, two ways.
I'm happy to share what I know,but I have to be open
then to learning a little bit more about,you know, what it is that you know.
(16:09):
So I think it was really
talking about all the different thingsthat we bring to the table
and how do you get those generationsto utilize the skills that each one's got.
It's issue that is all this time.
Yeah, but I think it's even bigger nowand we've got more opportunities.
That bridge is a big one to cross, right?
Yeah, absolutely.
(16:30):
Well,I hope I can be a reverse mentor for you.
Jenny Patrick, you play
well, and I have to bring up your quoteto your quarter of the month as it relates
to this times of rapid technologicalor social change divide generations.
Right now we have both.
So can you explain whyyou chose this quote for this month?
If you take the technology part out of it?
(16:50):
Let me just start with the social part.
If you think of the last few generations,you know, my
grandparentsrace was pretty much segregated.
And with my parents, they started to seesome of the integration.
There was women's rights,there were people of color's rights.
Then my generation, there were protestsand yours early on, assassinations.
(17:11):
And it was very, very much turmoil.
And then you start moving into generationsthat are growing up together.
We have different social issues now.
We have Black Lives Matter.
So, you know, things just keep changing.
And that social world, as we evolveand hopefully try to get better,
then you throw in the technologybesides that.
And that's the partI think, that had never been there.
(17:32):
Social really changes the way we do thingsand now technology
in the last two generations and even justthe last generation, it changed
everything the way that we communicate,the way that we go out and see people.
You throw a pandemic in there.
We all learned how to do zoom and videoand everything else.
And you combine those two thingsand all of a sudden people have access
(17:55):
to all this information.
They have the ability to communicatein 100 different ways.
And you have all ofthese social issues at play.
It really is
another it's another place where it caneither divide us or bring us together.
And so I can either have my viewson social issues
and yours are a couple of generationslater, and I have my ability
to manipulate technologyand year to generation and later
(18:18):
you can see how that would Thrive thingsknow further apart.
And so that was I've heard thaton a webinar and I just thought, you know,
when you put those things together,that has the potential to really separate
everybody or,you know, if you did forget it
as a chance to bring us together,how do you manage both at the same time?
Because I view it
well this month in charts,you included some data around memories.
(18:39):
2023 compensate in turn survey in webinaras well as data
from Memories 2020 through National IDand Engineering survey.
So can you explain what was shownin all of the charts and graphs
that were on the talent report,like an hour long seminar,
put it end to 2 minutes here for you.Go take a look at the Talent report
if you have it,and then you'll understand.
(19:00):
You know, I would say, you know,the biggies were as everybody
expected on this, the total overallcompensation was a little about 4%.
You know,for those who have filed this forever,
it was 3%, 3%,maybe to nine, maybe three one.
Last year.
We went over for this year,you know, over for I'm guessing next year
will probably be close to four.
But I think it might settle downa little bit.
(19:23):
But over 4% was sort of the comp trend
for the general population.
The engineering was a little bit higherat engineering and industrial,
you know, high level.
Those folks are getting harderand harder to come by.
And so that drove that a little bit.
Probably.
We spent the most time
talking about pay transparency,that being Thriven by a couple of things.
(19:46):
One, younger generationsthat are a little more open with their pay
and their benefits.
You know, they findI am going to make $62,000
and next thing you know, it's postedon four different social media platforms
and everybody knows,
whereas few generations agoit was like, don't tell anybody.
Yeah. So that's happening.
There's now some legislationthat's out there that's starting to
(20:07):
tell employers you need to release
pay ranges or you need to,you know, be able to explain all that.
So we're not there right nowby our own employers.
Survey resultsthat most of them are at a level
where they hopetheir employees can understand
how to read their paycheckand know what the deductions are.
And we're quite a ways away fromdoes everyone know their pay range?
(20:28):
Do they know where they fall in it?
Do they know your pay philosophy?
And so how do companies moveif there's the legislation
continues to rolland it's out already in some states,
some municipalities, citiesand counties have put in place,
how do you begin to explain compensationto the average employee
so they understand your philosophy,They understand ranges
(20:49):
because the first is that will be,if you tell me I'm at 90% of my
rage, I'll be talking about I'm waybetter than average I should be.
And I'm wondering 10% and trying toexplain what the data is for compensation.
So I think
that's going to be a big one.
And I think you're going to see more
and more companiestalking about pay transparency.
Where are they going to fall in that?
And keeping an eye on statehousesand federal issues
(21:13):
to see what other legislationthey pass in the future.
And I actually know a friendwho they're looking for a job
and as they're scrolling through jobopenings, they won't even look at the jobs
that don't list the salaryor the salary range.
So I guess, yeah, that is a big deal.
And yeah, and then you get some ofthe services out that are out there.
(21:33):
Some are much better than others.
But somebody in one of our roundtablesaid, Yeah, there was a job
and the pay range was 50 to $300000.
God, yes.
All right.
Well, where do I fall about to cover it,
you know,So that's not a real helpful either. Yep.
So you're going to be up against
all the data that's out there,all the different organizations
that are putting it out.
Some are very good, are not so good.
(21:55):
But as an employeenow, one of the examples we used in
comp trends was they can go into Chad GPT
and go into some other artificialintelligence and say, I'm 42 years old,
I have 15 years of experience,I have a degree in engineering, I'm
in Shawano, Wisconsin, and I want to knowhow much money I should make.
And it's going to give them an answer,whether it's good, bad or indifferent.
(22:16):
But they're looking at it like, well,artificial intelligence told me
i think they should makeand they walk into HR And so now HR is up
against artificial intelligenceplus other people's survey results,
plus people taking data from new york cityand comparing it to shawano, wisconsin.
So that's just another areawhere the human resources people
really after themselvesbe prepared with data and information
(22:40):
and now have to start educatingtheir hiring managers so they too
can answer some of those questionswhen their staff members come to them.
Right. For health.
There's another thing on the plate,another saying, well, as we wrap up, we're
always going to ask,can you give us a sneak peek on what
November's talent reportwill be? The topic?
Yeah, we're going to talkabout talent strategies.
And I know we've talked about thata thousand times,
(23:01):
but we're going to try to takea little bit different
look at it and look out to the futurea little bit and say,
you know, what are innovative companiesdoing to attract and retain
and what does the future of worklook like a little bit?
And so as companies, we're startingto make some adjustments in whether that's
work life balance, remote work benefits,all that type of stuff.
What are innovative
(23:22):
companies doing to make sure that they'regoing to have the talent supply chain?
Gotcha. Well, you heard them.
You got to tune in for it.
Well, Jim, thank you again for the recapon this month's talent report.
I appreciate it.
And to our listeners,if you liked our chat
and you like the topic today,
I would urge you to commentthe most valuable piece of information
that you learned today
or any current trends or topicsthat you've been seeing this month
(23:45):
in the HR world.
Don't forget to share out the episode
and consider joining MRAif you aren't a member already.
We have all the resources you needin the show Notes below,
including resources on this Once Talentreport.
Otherwise, thank you for tuning inand we'll see you next week.
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