Optimizing Your Workplace Culture Via Employee Surveys

With the upending of the workplace over In one example, a recent Deloitte survey of millennials shows job loyalty increases when employers address specific employee workplace preferences, such as diversity and inclusion, sustainability and re-skilling programs.

As part of this, organization leaders and managers should ask: “how can I re-recruit and re-engage my employees and, in some cases, my leaders?” An actively disengaged employee, for example, can spread trouble (and reduced productivity and morale) throughout an organization.

One practical way to begin this effort is through employee engagement surveys. This type of survey can you help gain an accurate picture of how employees view their work lives real-time. In other words, as noted in a recent New York Times article, “employee surveys . . . can help you engage with employees before any bubbling tension builds to mutiny.”

To be sure, when employees have the opportunity to give their feedback on the nature of their workplace, it helps answer the question for leadership: “how do I make this a place where people want to be and have the opportunities to do great things?”

Employee engagement surveys help organization leadership stay in tune with their employees, allowing them a way to get to know what’s important to them. This dynamic, in turn, gives leaders a concrete way to improve overall employee satisfaction and culture.

impactAction: If you would like to learn more about developing an employee survey in your organization, contact us at info@impacthrllc.com or 443-741-3900.

FTC Issues Final Rule on Non-Compete Agreements

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) this spring announced its final decision to void existing noncompete agreements nationwide in an effort to promote business innovation and growth.

“Noncompete clauses keep wages low, suppress new ideas, and rob the American economy of dynamism, including from the more than 8,500 new startups that would be created a year once noncompetes are banned,” said FTC Chair Lina M. Khan. “The FTC’s final rule to ban noncompetes will ensure Americans have the freedom to pursue a new job, start a new business, or bring a new idea to market.”

This new rule is set to take effect on Sept. 4, 2024, barring potential delays in litigation. With this ruling, employers will be required to send formal notice to all current and former employees under a non-compete agreements, explaining the non-compete will no longer be enforced. Employers must amend current employment agreements that violate this ruling prior to that date.

Existing non-competes held by senior executives are the exception to this rule, which distinguishes senior executives as “workers earning more than $151,164 annually and who are in policy-making positions.”

Subsequently, the FDA encourages employers to look to trade secret laws and non-disclosure agreements as a means of protecting themselves and their assets.

impactAction: If you have concerns about how this ruling will affect your business, contact us at info@impacthrllc.com or 443-741-3900.

SHRM Reimagines Benchmark DEI Initiatives

The Society for Human Resources Management (SHRM) announced a major shift in the organization’s diversity initiatives earlier this month, according to a Forbes magazine report.

SHMR disclosed, in an effort to strongly prioritize “inclusion,” the organization would no longer employ the diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs that have become standard corporate practice over the last few years.

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“Effective immediately, SHRM will be adopting the acronym ‘I&D’ instead of ‘IE&D,’” SHRM’s announcement stated. “This strategic decision underscores our commitment to leading with Inclusion as the catalyst for holistic change in workplaces and society.”

Per the announcement, the group promises that they are not abandoning equity entirely; rather, equity will be integrated into inclusion-related efforts. SHRM encourages other organizations to adopt this same approach in what they have labeled the I&D movement.

In an interview with Axios, SHRM President and CEO Johnny C. Taylor said DEI measures have been ineffective. Citing a 2021 Gallup poll, Taylor argues that positive working relations between black and white employees have reached a new low.

“We’re going to lead with inclusion, because we need a world where inclusion is front and center,” says Taylor. “And that means inclusion for all, not some people. Everyone has a right to feel that they belong in the workplace and that they are included.”

SHRM’s decision has received some backlash; HR experts as part of SHRM’s membership have expressed disappointment in what they believe is a step in the wrong direction. Others are taking the opportunity to reexamine the impact of equity in the corporate setting.

WorldatWork HR professional, L. Marta Turba, encouraged individuals to look beyond the acronym to better understand equity as an imperative piece of the HR world.

“Determining whether diversity, equity or inclusion should lead the path to organizational success mirrors the age-old ‘chicken or the egg’ dilemma,” Turba said. “The reality is that equity, equality, diversity and inclusion all work synergistically in important ways to create environments where workers and organizations both excel.”

To be sure, impactHR remains steadfast in promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion within our own team and clients.

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Optimizing Your Workplace Culture Via Employee Surveys

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