HR News Roundup: #MeToo EEOC claims; new hires; boomer vacuum; diversity; lighter side and more

In our most recent HR News Roundup, we offer a selection of news that we’ve found noteworthy. It includes items on harassment claims, diversity, new hires, onboarding and more … including a few just for fun items from the lighter side.

EEOC sees uptick in sexual harassment claims from #MeToo movement
Saul C. Glazer, HR Daily Advisor

While the initial anecdotal evidence was somewhat inconclusive about whether the #MeToo movement has created an atmosphere in which more victims of past sexual harassment or sexual assault are poised to come forward, the preliminary sexual harassment data for 2018 from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) now suggests that #MeToo is beginning to make inroads into the workplace. Employers must continue to be on guard and proactive in making their places of employment free from a hostile work environment in all forms and, in particular, free from sexual harassment.

How to Make Sure a New Hire Feels Included from Day One
Sabina Nawaz, Harvard Business Review

Beth’s team was on the precipice; they could easily plummet into dysfunction. Studies show that a staggering 50-70% of newly hired managers and executives fail at their new jobs and leave within 18 months. Losing a newly hired executive can cost up to three times that executive’s salary. More importantly, a loss of trust and confidence in leadership teams can affect employee morale, turnover, service, quality, processes, and much more.

Beth and I crafted a strategy to create a foundation for a new group culture that would better integrate newcomers and current executives. The goals were to keep both parties engaged with their mission and to retain the new hires. The strategy we developed can be used by any executive to engage new hires, create healthy team dynamics, and seamlessly transition to a new group culture.

Baby boomers upend the workforce one last time
Andrew Van Dam, Washington Post

In the next five years, almost three-quarters of the companies surveyed in 2018 by Willis Towers Watson, a risk-management and insurance brokerage company, expect to face significant or moderate challenges from late retirements. But because nothing is predictable, a significant share are also worried about early ones.

Companies typically said they were more concerned than they used to be about the cost of older workers and the challenge of replacing the knowledge and skills those older workers will take with them on the way out the door. The reported rise in concern over older workers “blocking promotions of younger employees” was not as sharp, though about two-thirds of respondents said it was at least a moderate concern.

Women of color get less support at work. Here’s how managers can change that.
Zuhairah Washington and Laura Morgan Roberts, Harvard Business Review

 … despite representing about 18% of the U.S. population, women of color represented only 4% of C-Level positions in 2018, falling far below white men (68%) and white women (19%). Even graduating from a prestigious business or law school doesn’t help much. Of the 532 African-American women who earned their MBAs at Harvard Business School between 1977 and 2015, only 67 (13%) have achieved the highest-ranking executive positions, compared to 161 (19%) of African-American men and 40% of a matched sample of 150 non-African-American HBS alumni.
It’s clear that the factors preventing women of color from advancing at work are quite different from those holding white women and even men of color back.”

You’re never too small to have an HR department
Jon Hyman, Ohio Employer Law Blog

In light of the EEOC’s recent settlement of a sexual harassment and retaliation lawsuit against IHOP in which the employer paid $700,000 and establish a Huamn Resources Department. Jon talks about the settlement, noting that:

Your business is never too small for an HR department, and HR should never be an afterthought. In fact, it’s one of the most important positions to fill in any business of any size. Your people are your most important asset. No matter your product, service, or mission, without employees to make it, provide it, or carry it out, you don’t exist. Every company needs HR to recruit and hire, to create and monitor policies, to help ensure legal compliance, to implement benefits, and to strategize. Size may vary, but without any dedicated HR professionals, you are telling your employees they don’t matter, which is never the right message to communicate. And, further, when it leads to harassment complaints being ignored, it could land you at the receiving end of an expensive lawsuit.

More HR News: Quick takes

• The Three Percent Annual Raise Will Remain Status Quo in 2019
• 36% Of Employees Say Lack Of Recognition Is Top Reason To Leave Their Job
• Subtlety Is Overrated: Managers who sugarcoat their feedback aren’t doing their employees any favors.
• The underappreciated family caregiver
• ‘Scared. Ashamed. Crippled.’: How One Lawyer Overcame Living With Depression in Big Law
• Employees’ emailing and file sharing practices are the leading cause of accidental data breaches, a new survey finds
• CA: Paid sick leave laws may vary by city
• Hiring? Here’s How to Work With a Staffing Agency
• 5 effective ways to overcome setbacks in life
• NYC bans employment discrimination based on hairstyle
• College Campus Shooting Statistics You Should Know
• Talent shortage is plaguing majority of healthcare execs, according to JP Morgan survey
• Paid Family Leave: Evolving Rapidly in the U.S.
• 6 reasons why you’re a bad listener (and how to change it)

From the lighter side…

When animals and work intersect …

And sometimes the animals are the workers. Here’s a different type of workplace than most of us see: meet Inca, the “world’s smallest sheepdog,” who works on a sheep farm in Ireland. What Inca lacks in size she makes up for in courage and noise.