Description: 🎙️ Tune in to our latest podcast episode on MRA's November Talent Report for the latest insights and trends in the world of talent. From innovative recruitment strategies to emerging skills in high demand, join us as we explore what's new in the month of November and gain valuable insights to stay ahead in the competitive job market! 

Resources:

Talent Report+ Webinar Series 

MRA Membership 

About MRA 

Let's Connect:

Guest Bio - Jim Morgan 

Guest LinkedIn Profile - Jim Morgan 

Host Bio - Sophie Boler 

Host LinkedIn Profile - Sophie Boler 

Transcript:

Transcripts are computer generated -- not 100% accurate word-for-word.

00:00:00:00 - 00:00:21:03UnknownHello 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 - 00:00:44:10UnknownNow it's time to thrive. All right. Welcome, everybody, to this episode of 30 Minute Thrive. It is time 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. So thanks for joining us again, Jim. Well, this month we focused on tomorrow's talent strategies.

00:00:44:10 - 00:01:08:08UnknownToday, meaning what worked five years ago is no longer applicable. And in fact, what worked five weeks ago might not even work today. So starting out with the recruiting and retention innovations, where is the focus here? What's going on here? Well, I think a lot of time is being spent right now on pay transparency. And we talked about this a little bit after our comp trends event a month or so ago.

00:01:08:10 - 00:01:29:23UnknownBut it's now, you know, really getting the attention, I think, of a lot of the people we're seeing states and communities start to put trade pay transparency policies in place. And so now I think these are folks, though, that are, you know, ready to go, that have good job descriptions, a good pay structure, a good pay philosophy. I don't think it's going to be all that big of a deal for them.

00:01:30:00 - 00:01:46:17UnknownBut for those who, you know, have been winging it and just said, well, we don't really have a structure, we just kind of make it up as we go or we don't really have a pay for lots of fee or job descriptions. You know, we're kind of there, but not quite, I think are now seeing that this is a good time to get all of that in alignment to.

00:01:46:17 - 00:02:11:20UnknownThen we do. If you come in to ask me about where am I and what's going on and what's the schedule for my job, I should be able to at least, you know, give you that information. And I think because employees now are coming in so much better equipped, because they're looking at all kinds of data, too, and saying, hey, I read, yeah, I should be making this, I should be doing this, I should be getting this, which may be accurate, may not.

00:02:11:22 - 00:02:31:22UnknownBut they're trying to build their best case for saying, I deserve this. And as a professional, I think you have to be ready to come back with we use these salary surveys, we collect this type of data and this is really where your salary is at. And that's great that you found this one job in downtown Los Angeles where they're paying seven times what we're paying.

00:02:31:24 - 00:02:55:16UnknownBut if you really look at that job, it's not really your job. It's in a different type of economic climate, in a whole different situation, in a different industry. So that doesn't apply. So I think we're really just seeing the people arm themselves and get themselves organized to really be able to handle those employee questions. Yeah, absolutely. And we have a podcast actually coming up with a recruiter for memory, so that'll be interesting to see what she kind of says.

00:02:55:18 - 00:03:15:04UnknownOn pay Transparency within like the recruiting recruiting world. Yeah, and I'm sure that she'll have some stories about, yeah, you know, I'll see an inside job where they say this job news $500,000 and you're sort of like, that's not what people are really offering, right? Or well, kind of going off of that recruiting and retention and moving into talent thinking.

00:03:15:06 - 00:03:45:11UnknownYou highlighted the fact that the role of the manager continues to evolve and where those are responsible for hiring, supervising and leading are now being asked to do more and do their job. Even better. So can you kind of expand on that, that idea and that thought and any examples that you're seeing? Yeah, they are becoming sort of the shock absorber in this whole organizational structure and a lot of it is falling back to them, which is probably the place that it should be because they are the closest to their to their folks.

00:03:45:13 - 00:04:14:19UnknownBut a lot of them didn't sign up for that, you know, 25 or 30 years ago. And so now we're seeing the emphasis on performance reviews and having conversation with your employees, staying in touch with them. The annual review is not a surprise when you it's the one time you talk to them, but you're really communicating with them every single day, knowing not only how their work is going, but how their life is going and understanding who the people are that are working for you.

00:04:14:21 - 00:04:37:12UnknownWe're seeing a lot of it in communications where there might be some disruption on the on the floor within your team or there's disagreement. It's not our I'm going to run day and have them fix this. And is our expectation as you will deal with it, you know, as it happens. And so we're seeing a lot more pressure on them to, you know, just kind of keep things within your team and you've got the skills to do it.

00:04:37:12 - 00:04:57:18UnknownSo you figure out what's the best way to deal with some of those things. Facilitating conversations across with other teams and within the people within their team, like making sure they're talking to each other. And if there's a difficulty, you're in there trying to help them, you know, figure out what that is. We're now seeing it in artificial intelligence.

00:04:57:20 - 00:05:26:02UnknownDo you know what your people are up to? Does your company have a goal? Is an objective statement out there making sure your people are using it for good and not evil and just understanding what some of the ramifications of it might be. So they're really being called on to be the thought leaders right on the spot with their people, helping their people, helping them with performance, helping them really with everything that's affecting their ability to do their job.

00:05:26:04 - 00:05:44:17UnknownAnd that includes, you know, work life balance and all the remote work and the flexibility. There's a lot on their plate right now. Yeah. They're also a full time therapist for their team. And that's very true of the mental health aspect. Yes. And really, you know, it's like your family. You got to get in there and deal with the goods and the bads.

00:05:44:23 - 00:06:15:19Unknownyeah, absolutely. There's a lot on their plates. There is. And more coming. Well, let's talk about our creativity now. So you mentioned how employers are continuing to try different ways to engage employees in the DIY space specifically. So do you have any plans or initiatives that you're seeing here around DIY initiatives? You know, I think people are always just looking for a way to take what they're doing and make it a little bit better and what are the opportunities for us to do that.

00:06:15:21 - 00:06:34:13UnknownAnd we're seeing a lot of it. Food's a big deal, you know, I mean, it's used for rewards. It's used for bringing people together, you know, all the breaking bread at the table sort of, you know, allows people to have conversations. And so we're seeing, you know, companies now that they may use those as diversity equity and inclusion opportunities.

00:06:34:15 - 00:07:07:08UnknownMaybe they're bringing in food from a certain culture and maybe they have people who work for them that are in that culture. So rather than just, here's food from this, right, This this culture giving people the opportunity to say, here's the history behind this, here's what it means, here's what food means in my culture and some of the different things that go with that and using it as almost an educational opportunity and to say, this is great, we're all getting to eat, but let's learn a little bit more about what this means and how important it is to to different groups.

00:07:07:10 - 00:07:26:14UnknownWe're seeing the HR people now get more involved in the hiring process and even down to what are the questions we're asking in interviews and what are we looking for just to see? Is there any unconscious bias in there? Do we have people who maybe have been asking the same question for a long time and the meaning of that question maybe has changed.

00:07:26:14 - 00:08:01:09UnknownAnd so really taking kind of a top to bottom look at what's happening as we're bringing people in and as we're beginning to to onboard them. And we've seen them move with our companies that, you know, the holiday schedule or the days off schedule isn't quite as strict as it was where it's Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter, traditional things that maybe did apply to a wide variety of the workplace at one point, but now giving the people the flexibility to say that may not be the holiday that meets their their ethnic or cultural needs.

00:08:01:09 - 00:08:22:18UnknownAnd so you have floating holidays to use for the things that are part of you and your culture and your family history. So just understanding that that might be, you know, obviously not the same for everybody. And the last one we're seeing again is people are just taking a look at their handbooks, which maybe have been around for decades.

00:08:22:20 - 00:08:52:19UnknownBut things that were written 25, 30, 35 years ago have a different meaning than they did then than they do in 2023 and 2024. So scanning it with an eye towards unconscious bias, I do these things still apply. Are they appropriate? And again, no. You know, male intent can, you know, intended, but nobody's looked at it. And so before that becomes an issue, getting out in front of some of those things.

00:08:52:21 - 00:09:20:02UnknownSo just being ever vigilant to make sure that everything we're doing in the DEI spaces is up to par and an up to date. Yeah, I love all those ideas and I think those are great action steps too that people can take away with right after this podcast. Even I think a big question is what C-suite leaders are thinking right now and where their thoughts and concerns really lie heading into this next year, 2024.

00:09:20:04 - 00:09:45:21UnknownYou know, we've talked about this several times, too, with the C-suite. If there's one thing that they hate, the uncertainty and if there's one thing that's out there right now, it's uncertainty. So there's a variety of things that they're, you know, kind of got their eye on as we head into 2024. Employee engagement is one, you know, all of the surveys will say, well, you know, employee satisfaction is one thing that means, okay, you know, I'm showing up, I'm doing my job.

00:09:45:23 - 00:10:09:12UnknownBut engagement means I'm I'm into it. I am a part of this and I own it. And, you know, for most companies, that number might be in the 20, 25, 30%, which sounds extremely low. But if you start thinking about the people who really, you know, are coming to work every day, fired up, ready to go, ready to take on the new challenge, you do, you know, maybe not have a vast majority.

00:10:09:12 - 00:10:29:24UnknownIt might be they're doing a good job. There's no doubt about that. But are they really looking for that next opportunity for the organization? So I think that that's a big one. Finding and attracting talent continues to be one. And then, you know, hanging on to them, developing, developing their hiring managers to be great leaders. And this goes back to what we just talked about a couple of minutes ago.

00:10:30:01 - 00:10:49:15UnknownWho are those people that are willing to take on all of those tasks, do it willingly and on their own and are willing to take the next step because those are the people that we're going to build our organization around. So what's our obligation as the employer to make sure that those people are getting all of the the benefits and the training that they need?

00:10:49:17 - 00:11:13:06UnknownAnd so benefits are a big deal. We talked about this I think, last month. We're at that generational tipping point where the millennials and the Zs are going to outnumber the boomers and the Xers, and there are certain benefits that mean something to everybody. But, you know, if I look at the 25 year olds, if I look at your generation coming into the workplace, you've got a lot more student loan debt in your generation than we did in mine.

00:11:13:08 - 00:11:34:23UnknownSo that's a bigger deal for you. The life work balance is a bigger deal. The flexibility is a bigger deal than when I started. So are there benefits along that that matter? We joke about pet insurance, but there's a lot more of you that have animals than kids. So, you know, is that a bigger deal? And and some of them are kind of silly, but they mean things to people.

00:11:34:23 - 00:12:09:23UnknownAnd so I think as we try to figure out how do we make our benefits have value to people, companies are taking a hard look at, you know, what matters to our incoming people that we make sure that we're keeping them satisfied, you know, with the things that they're what they're getting. And then I think, you know, trying to build that culture of family within their organization, within their team, within their company, what are the things that we can do that our current employees are welcoming to the new people that are coming in or providing opportunities, whether again, that's around food or whatever it might be for people to get to know each other, not

00:12:09:23 - 00:12:32:08Unknownonly within the workplace, but what some of their interests might be outside. It also, you and I might be in different departments, but if we both love dogs, love volleyball, went to the same college, it gives us additional things to talk about and we get to know each other a little bit better. And that becomes, you know, part of the workplace and part of making me want to be there.

00:12:32:10 - 00:12:52:11UnknownAnd so I'm not. We build some of that family and that trust within our organization. Yeah, I'm just going off of that culture piece. It's funny because I just had a friend the other day. She's four, she's fully remote and now her company wants to build on their culture. So now they're requiring all those employees to be in the office four days a week.

00:12:52:11 - 00:13:10:00UnknownAnd you know, she's not too happy about it. But it's to build their culture. And they weren't happy with how their culture was at that current point. So, yeah, and that's a, you know, a 100% legitimate issue for a company that's, you know, whether it was the pandemic, whether it was going to a mall, whatever it might be.

00:13:10:02 - 00:13:33:11UnknownBut some companies, that's a big part of, you know, who they are. And then I think the challenge for the employer becomes how do we make this a place where she actually wants to come to work? Exactly. And whether we're doing fun things, we're getting to know each other. We've got a coffee bar and milkshakes on Friday. I don't know what it is, but, you know, how do you create that as the place that it's like I want to be because it's better for me.

00:13:33:11 - 00:13:59:18UnknownYeah. And that's, you know, that's just another challenge for employers. Well, from the field, it looks like you've pulled some stats from an air survey on workforce retention. So can you kind of summarize what's seen here in the survey? Yeah, a couple of more. We just talked about that balancing act for employers to find the benefits that have the greatest value, the satisfaction and understanding of those benefits and what does each generation want.

00:13:59:20 - 00:14:22:17UnknownSo I think you're going to see a lot of play in that. It might not be dramatic. We're still going to have retirement savings. We're still going to have days off in vacation, we're still going to have health care. But where do we work? Around the edges on some of those and even within those around health care, especially the digital space, how much of it is on my phone, how much of as an app, how much of it is telemedicine?

00:14:22:18 - 00:14:42:23UnknownYeah, those are things that, you know, that matter to people. So I think you're going to see some of that. The burn burnout, it was interesting. The headline was All the younger generations. I have this incredible, you know, burnout rate. And if you actually read through the data, it was high for for millennials and Gen ZERS but it was high for everybody.

00:14:43:00 - 00:15:07:03UnknownAnd I think, you know, one I think that's human HR? to say, boy, I got more going on than I know what to do with. I'm burnt out. I do think we're going through a world of adjustment right now, post-pandemic or changing the role of the manager. We've got this whole remote thing, we've got this culture thing. There's just a lot going on right now and I think people just feel like I got a ton on my plate and I have to figure it out.

00:15:07:03 - 00:15:30:21UnknownSo, you know, that maybe is to be somewhat expected. And then the digital space, not only, as I just mentioned, for health care, but how do we make that a good place, whether that's what's our, you know, our video conferencing experience, what's our team's experience, what's the culture of our own group? How do we not let the distance and the digital separating us from things?

00:15:30:21 - 00:15:54:17UnknownBut to your friends point how do we, you know, make her understand that that collaboration, the face to face to human matters without alienating her from the job that she's like, I don't want to be here again today. Right. Managing that I think remains and will be for quite a while. A big one for supervisors, hiring managers and employers in general.

00:15:54:21 - 00:16:18:11UnknownYeah, that's a good point. You also had Alicia Kaiser, vice president of HRA and three insurance, join you for this talent Report webinar, and she gave some insight into talent strategy, best practices, and she specifically gave a lot of great advice on career paths. So do you have any key points from her presentation that you want to share?

00:16:18:13 - 00:16:46:04UnknownYeah, this is a very talented individual. She's a lot of fun to have on and just very smart, you know? And she was just talking about how they in trying to develop a learning culture in their organization. Part of it was career mapping that for every employee we're sitting down and trying to figure out where do you want to be, where do you want to go, and then what's the learning and development You have to do to get there and not dictated by AM3 and the employer?

00:16:46:04 - 00:17:12:19UnknownBut really saying to the employee, You own this, yeah, we will help you, we will get you there, we will provide the resources, but you need to own where you're trying to get to and know the skill that it's going to take to help you. So they've engaged their own employees. I think she said like 99, some percent of the training they do is by their own employees that they're people are interested in teaching and training the other people that come work for them.

00:17:12:20 - 00:17:33:04UnknownSo if you're in the customer space, they've got the customer skills and how to deal with their folks and how to get there. If you're a representative to some of their clients, what do you need to know and how do you need to get there? And we can, you know, take you through that. And putting in place now a learning management system so they can see these are all the offerings we have.

00:17:33:06 - 00:17:51:01UnknownIt's pretty clear that if you want to get from Spot A to spot B, this is the training that you're going to have to go through. And that doesn't guarantee you a spot, but it puts you in a position that if that spot is available, you've done what you can to position yourself to be the next choice. And so it's really it's always in front of people.

00:17:51:01 - 00:18:12:24UnknownIt's a day to day thing, but that continuous learning, continuous to get better is a big part of who they are and how they function. And so that's something that they just keep in front of their people at all times. Yeah, I something I took away was sometimes the younger generations. Jen's ears are looking to the employer to say, Hey, what opportunities do you have next for me?

00:18:12:24 - 00:18:37:17UnknownOr How are you going to help me grow now? But she kind of, I don't know, gave good insight into, like you said, it's it is about the employee owning that career growth and career path in career mapping. So they have to be completely serious on it too. It's not all on the employer to say, hey, you're going to do this next year and get this the following year and this this year.

00:18:37:17 - 00:19:00:21UnknownBut it's on the employee to kind of take that first step or initiative on those projects. Yeah, And those are the kinds of conversations I think people have to have because I could do a project with you and maybe you are a with is an Excel spreadsheets. I was really impressed with your analytical whatever and say, Hey, we're going to have a finance position, open it up and you're looking at me like that's the last thing in the world that I want to do.

00:19:00:21 - 00:19:19:14UnknownAnd so I think the more that the employee takes ownership of it and as an employer and as a manager, that speaks to me this day. All right. At least she's taken the time to invest in herself. Or Marissa's looking at me to say, Why don't you tell me what you want me to do? Yeah. That initiative, I think, is a big first step, too.

00:19:19:14 - 00:19:50:23UnknownAnd that that resonates with Matt. Absolutely. Well, this month in charts, you've included some data on population and some projections there. So what does the data exactly show? I think the big the biggest one in the first one was look, it was a look at the US population around race and ethnicity between 2010 and 2050. And you see you know, the white non-Hispanic go from 65% in 2010 to 46% in 2050.

00:19:51:00 - 00:20:12:04UnknownThat's a pretty dramatic drop. Takes it below the 50% line. But the bigger point that I was trying to make, and that is the difference in the generations, is going to become very dramatic. And if you look at what's the makeup of the people that are in our schools versus what's the makeup of the people that are in our nursing homes, those are two very different populations.

00:20:12:06 - 00:20:32:11UnknownAnd for schools, for employers, it's going to be a different distribution that's coming through. And, you know, are they prepared for that and are they getting prepared for the large growth that we're going to see in the Hispanic population? And that might be language issues, it might be culture issues. And are you prepared to welcome those people in and to be able to retain them?

00:20:32:13 - 00:20:51:22UnknownSo, you know, just kind of keeping an eye on the future that says we're going have a pretty dramatic turn over the course of the next couple of decades and how are we preparing ourselves for that? So that was the first one. And the second one we've been talking about is, you know, especially the upper Midwest. We are aging and we're aging, you know, relatively quickly.

00:20:51:24 - 00:21:14:22UnknownAnd we're not an attraction area for a lot of young folks. And looking at the United States, I think it was about 20, 20, 34 where the number of people we have over the age of 65 passes, the number of people we have under the age of 18. And it might be, yeah, okay, you know, whatever. Well, not only do they cross, but then they continue to spread and get further apart.

00:21:14:22 - 00:21:39:19UnknownAnd so that means we're going to have a larger older population and a smaller, younger population. So what does that mean? What does that mean for Social Security? What does that mean for health care? What does that mean for a holding on to people? Maybe that they don't retire at 60 or 65, They may be old and home to 70 or 75 and figure out what to do because there's going to be a a numbers gap there again.

00:21:39:24 - 00:21:57:12UnknownPlus, there's going to be a needs gap because that just changes who's going to take care of all of these people. You really want to, you know, get down to it. And so I don't know. We may go back to grandma and grandpa moving in with Sophie. You know, for the last 15 years of their lives. So, you know, are we ready for that?

00:21:57:14 - 00:22:16:05UnknownSo it's just, you know, so the things that are on the horizon are not that far out. The population is going to change by ethnicity, by age. And are all of us ready to to deal with that? And are employers preparing for it so that it's not all of a sudden one day they're like, what just happened? I hope they're preparing.

00:22:16:07 - 00:22:34:08UnknownWell, as we wrap up here, Jim, can you tell us what the last report of 2023 is going to cover? We're going to take a look at what's coming for 2024, and that's what we're going to focus on. We're going to do it both from a economic outlook point of view as well as an outlook point of view.

00:22:34:08 - 00:22:57:11UnknownSo I think we'll have some really interesting discussions on that. And then next on the docket, we'll be talking about artificial intelligence in HR and then kind of revisiting the whole internship, how to find them, how to attract them, how to keep them, how to manage them, and how to make sure that you're setting them up to keep them on their staff going into into the future.

00:22:57:11 - 00:23:20:07UnknownSo I think we should have some interesting conversations. Yeah, we've got a great lineup coming. Yeah. Well, Jim, thank you so much for all that great content today. And kind of recapping what you've been seeing in the world of business with an emphasis on talent this month in to our listeners, if you liked our chat and topic today, I would encourage you to comment something you learned today or anything that you want to add on to our conversation.

00:23:20:07 - 00:23:40:17UnknownWe definitely want to hear from you too. Don't forget to share out this episode and consider joining MRA if you aren't a member already. We have all the resources you need in the show notes below, including resources on this talent report. Otherwise, thank you for tuning in today and we will see you next week. And that wraps up our content for this episode.

00:23:40:18 - 00:23:59:00UnknownBe sure to reference the show notes where you can sign them to connect. For more podcast updates, check out other MRA episodes on your favorite podcast platform. And as always, make sure to follow MRA's 30 minutes THRIVE so you don't miss out. Thanks for tuning in and we'll see you next Wednesday to carry on the conversation.