Empathy is the ability to understand and share the feelings, perspectives, or experiences of another person, and for workplace leaders, empathy is a communication skill that helps transform debates into conversations premised on understanding of shared experiences. In this episode of Honest HR, host Monique Akanbi is joined by workplace consultant and Ellequate founder/CEO Nicole Armstrong to discuss topics including the relationship between empathy and vulnerability, leveraging empathy to...

Civility is a cornerstone of workplace culture that allows people and businesses to thrive by fostering respect and empathy among everyone. However, according to SHRM research, U.S. workers report that incivility is increasingly prevalent in their workplaces. In this episode of Honest HR, host Wendy Fong speaks with TrainXtra Chief Civility Officer Sejal Thakkar about her framework for helping organizations make workplace civility happen, the elements of effective civility trainings, and the...

AI represents the next wave of technological advancement for society, and is expected to transform how work gets done across every industry. In this episode of Honest HR, SHRM CHRO Jim Link, SHRM-SCP, joins host Monique Akanbi to discuss everything HR professionals and business leaders should know about AI and integrating it into their organizations.

Workplace romance: It’s complicated. But it happens, and employers need to know how to deal with it. In this episode of Honest HR, host Amber Clayton is joined by SHRM researcher Casey Sword to present the findings from her work on SHRM’s latest research in the area of workplace romance, share real stories related to romance in the workplace, and discuss how HR professionals should handle them.

We live in the age of data, and everything important to an organization’s people management function gets measured. In this episode of Honest HR, host Wendy Fong speaks with Dr. Milton J. Perkins, Senior Vice President at ActOne Government Solutions, about the transformative potential of people analytics, their role in helping HR professionals create workplaces where employees genuinely want to be, and steps for leveraging them at your organization.

In this episode of Honest HR, hosts Amber Clayton, Wendy Fong and Monique Akanbi come together to look back on the biggest HR and workplace trends of 2023, and look ahead with their expectations for 2024.

In this episode of Honest HR, host Amber Clayton and SHRM Knowledge Center Advisors Robyn Hopper and Rue Dooley continue with Part 2 of their two-part mini-series of listener-submitted stories of bad bosses, give more advice on handling problematic people managers, and close out the session with a set of redeeming stories of outstanding bosses who were there for their employees in amazing ways.

If you’ve ever had a bad boss, not only did they make work miserable, but also probably gave you a good story to tell later on. In this episode of Honest HR, host Amber Clayton is joined by SHRM Knowledge Center Advisors Robyn Hopper and Rue Dooley to read listener-submitted stories of bad bosses, identify their problematic behaviors, and give advice on solving for them in your workplace.

As both laws and attitudes toward marijuana continue to change, the question for employers is likewise, “Then how does my organization’s HR and approaches to people management need to change?”. In this episode of Honest HR, host Amber Clayton is joined by Holland & Knight attorneys Dana Feinstein and Travis Nelson, who provide insights and guidance for employers navigating the complex issues surrounding marijuana in the workplace, with a focus on legal compliance, accommodation, and...

Generative AI programs (like ChatGPT) have tremendous potential to deliver new efficiencies and capabilities to the workplace, but what do these new tools mean for HR, both in using them, and the myriad of concerns they raise? In this episode of Honest HR, host Wendy Fong speaks with Karl Ahlrichs, Senior Consultant at Gregory & Appel, on how HR professionals can use AI ethically and responsibly, and develop the critical thinking skills necessary to do so.

In this episode of Honest HR, host Wendy Fong speaks with Kelly Hermann, Vice President of Accessibility, Equity & Inclusion at the University of Phoenix, to discuss findings from the university’s report on Workplace Accessibility - HR Professionals Accommodations for Employees’ Disability’s Research Report (2023), action steps for HR professionals and people managers focused on creating more accessible and inclusive workplaces for employees, and the future of disability and accessibility...

In this episode of Honest HR, host Amber Clayton speaks with Rich Safeer, M.D., Chief Medical Director of Employee Health and Wellbeing for Johns Hopkins Medicine and author of A Cure for the Common Company: A Wellbeing Prescription for a Happier, Healthier, and More Resilient Organization about why the workplace is the perfect venue for achieving real improvements in people’s health, how mental health and wellness is a team sport, and steps to begin transforming your organization

A good mentor/mentee relationship creates a safe, nonjudgmental space to provide guidance and advice, and that’s just as true for mentorships dedicated to the HR profession. In this episode of Honest HR, host Monique Akanbi is joined by Sheila Thomas and Firdosh Bhathena, a real-life HR mentor/mentee pair, to share their HR mentorship story, discuss why mentorship is important in an HR career, and shatter the popular myths of mentorship.

In this episode of Honest HR, host Amber Clayton speaks with SHRM CHRO Jim Link about the importance of pay equity and ensuring fair and equal pay practices for all employees regardless of gender, race, age, or other protected characteristics, but also the business case on why pay equity is in an organization’s best interest, and above all, the steps you can take toward achieving pay equity at your organization.

In this episode of Honest HR, host Amber Clayton speaks with SHRM CHRO Jim Link about the importance of pay equity and ensuring fair and equal pay practices for all employees regardless of gender, race, age, or other protected characteristics, but also the business case on why pay equity is in an organization’s best interest, and above all, the steps you can take to achieve pay equity at your organization.

Managing employee attendance is challenging: Employers and people managers need to know not only if employees are showing up to work, but also what to do if they don’t. In this episode of Honest HR, host Amber Clayton speaks with SHRM Knowledge Advisors Barbara Holland and Julie Schweber about handling scenarios such as fishy doctors’ notes, no call/no shows, and above all, the importance of getting all the information before moving toward adverse action.

In this episode of Honest HR, host Monique Akanbi speaks with Mary Wright, Manager of the SHRM Foundation’s Apprenticeship Program, about apprenticeships’ helping to sidestep the war for talent, and how the SHRM Foundation’s HR Registered Apprenticeship Program (RAP) is helping HR departments develop their own superstar HR professionals.

Amid talent scarcity, the benefits that employers offer their employees have emerged as a key differentiator in attracting and retaining talent. In this episode of Honest HR, the hosts discuss the importance of expanding the benefits organizations typically offer and consider more imaginative employee benefits you may not have previously considered.

In this episode of Honest HR, host Wendy Fong continues her discussion with HR consulting/talent management specialists Karen DeLise, Adrianna Gabriel and Allison Levine from CCI Consulting to discuss everything to learn from the past, present and future of a multigenerational workplace experience.

In this episode of Honest HR, host Wendy Fong and special guests Karen, Adrianna and Allison from CCI Consulting discuss everything to learn from the past, present and future of a multigenerational workplace experience.

One of the most contentious events of 2022 was the U.S. Supreme Court's decision (Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization) overturning Roe v. Wade. In this episode of Honest HR, host Amber Clayton is joined by SHRM Chief of Staff Emily M. Dickens and Janell Stanton, senior associate/head of the employment law group at Wagner, Falconer, & Judd, Ltd. to discuss implications for work, workers and the workplace,

In this episode of Honest HR, host Wendy Fong is joined by Buck Gee (Cisco Systems, Committee of 100) to discuss why AAPI employees go under-promoted, stories on breaking the stereotype of the model minority and how to challenge leadership when climbing the corporate ladder.

In this episode of Honest HR, host Amber Clayton is joined by Paula Harvey, SHRM-SCP, vice president of human resources and safety at Schulte Building Systems, to make sense of the Great Resignation's new talent acquisition landscape and discuss how to make your organization turnover-proof.

In this episode of Honest HR, host Amber Clayton, Director of SHRM’s Knowledge Center, continues the conversation on sound hiring with SHRM Knowledge Advisors Rosa Hardesty and Patty Graves on topics that include how to avoid filling a job too quickly, what to do when a new hire emerges as a bad employee and what they each love most about hiring.