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HR Brew

HR 101

Amanda Schiavo

hr-brew.com

Welcome to HR 101. Class is now in session. Today’s discussion is about paid volunteer time-off (VTO).

 to be the first big bank to offer its employees paid VTO, introducing the initiative in 1976. It was a relatively novel idea at the time, but one the organization felt would not only benefit the community it served, but its employees.

Since then, other employers have slowly adopted their own VTO policies. In 2002, 19% of employers offered paid VTO, according to SHRM data shared with HR Brew via PR rep Anne Sparaco. By 2023, that number had reached 28%.

 Some employers that currently offer paid VTO include toy company 

, which provides its employees with four hours of paid VTO each month. Apparel retailer 

 offer their employees 40 and 32 hours of paid VTO annually, respectively.

VTO can provide employees with professional development opportunities, and provide employers with a way to attract and retain talent, according to HR services firm 

Many employees today are mission-driven and want to work for organizations that 

 and help make positive changes in the world. Indeed, employers that offer employees purpose-driven programs related to volunteering and charitable giving see 52% lower turnover among newer employees, according to a 2022 survey by 

When did volunteer time-off begin?

Paid time-off to volunteer can help employees’ skills development, and employers’ recruitment and retention efforts.

HR 101: The history of VTO

Welcome to HR 101. Class is now in session. Today’s discussion is all about the modern-ish history of 

. Mass layoffs are those that affect at least 33% of total active workforce at a single company site and are not the result of a worksite closure, according to 

Mass layoffs, outside the context of an economic downturn, were rare, with less than 5% of US employers announcing layoffs in 1979, according to 

. In the 1980s, though, they became a more common strategy.

General Electric Chairman Jack Welch became known as a proponent of laying off employees “as a sign of corporate competitiveness,” according to Quartz, and between 1980 and 1985, he was responsible for eliminating one in four jobs across GE, earning him the nickname “Neutron Jack.”

Other corporate executives followed suit, including Robert Allen, the CEO of AT&T, who famously laid off thousands of employees in 1996 when the company announced it would split into three business units. He then received a $6.7 million raise that he said he felt “no pain” accepting, 

Then there was “Chainsaw” Al Dunlap, who was known for helping businesses turnaround by cutting staff and closing factories. When he ran Scott Paper in the 1990s, he laid off 11,200 workers, part of what earned him $100 million in “salary, stock profits, and other compensation,” according to his obituary in 

 this year, with tech and retail giants slashing their workforces. Snap, Amazon, and Google-parent Alphabet have all announced layoffs in the name of cutting costs, as have 

, a flavored-syrup company, on the other hand, hasn’t had a single mass layoff in its nearly 100-year history. Part of its business strategy is to ensure that no matter how hard things get, employees are never left out in the cold.

“Certain industries hire as many people as they can, and if they don’t need those people, will lay them off,” Torani CEO Melanie Dulbecco, previously told HR Brew. “Everyone says [they can’t exist without layoffs], but if you stop and think about the underlying reasons we make these choices, then there are ways to avoid that.”

How did modern-day mass layoffs become a thing?

It wasn’t until the 1980s that mass layoffs as we know them today started happening outside the context of a financial crisis.

HR 101: Let’s discuss modern-day mass layoffs

Welcome to HR 101. Class is now in session. Today’s discussion will focus on the history of LGBTQ+ rights in the workplace.

 During the Cold War, the US Senate considered gay government employees a 

 (insert eyeroll here). As such, President Eisenhower signed 

 in 1953, prohibiting members of the LGBTQ+ community from federal government and military employment. (It was eventually 

Following the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, LGBTQ+ activists began to push for workplace rights, according to the 

, protesting outside several government and military buildings—including the Civil Service Commission, the Pentagon, and the White House—for their right to work within these institutions.

, the first federal gay rights bill addressing workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation was introduced in Congress. It was sent to the Judiciary Committee, but never considered, 

. Seven years later, Wisconsin became the first state to outlaw discrimination based on sexual orientation, CNN noted.

” in 1993, essentially banning members of the military from openly identifying as LGBTQ+. This policy remained in effect until 2011, when President Barack Obama repealed it.

 ruled that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibited employment discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

 Strides have been made in the LGBTQ+ community’s fight for equality in the workplace, and today these employees have more support from their employers than in the past. In 2023, 78% of LGBTQ+ employees 

 the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) said their organization’s leaders care about making greater DE&I efforts. Employers have also made progress by offering benefits that specifically support their LGBTQ+ workers.

. SHRM noted that in 2023, 75 anti-LGBTQ+ bills were signed into law. And while many LGBTQ+ employees have seen greater support from their leaders, some may not have seen the same from their colleagues. More than one-half (55%) of LGBTQ+ employees who were surveyed by Glassdoor in May 2023 have witnessed or been the target of anti-gay or anti-trans comments at work, 

“It’s important to support LGBTQ+ employees by evaluating your workforce culture and benefit strategy,” Megan Spina, principal of insurance brokerage firm Brown & Brown, told SHRM. “From a management and leadership perspective, these include manager and employee awareness trainings, supporting or partnering with employee resource groups, and gathering information from the LGBTQ+ population on their needs and perceptions of the benefits programming.”

The history of LGBTQ+ rights within the workplace

Strides have been made in the LGBTQ+ community’s fight for equality in the workplace, but there is still more work to do.

HR 101: Let’s discuss the history of LGBTQ+ rights at work

Welcome to HR 101. Class is now in session. Today’s discussion is all about fertility benefits.

 Fertility benefits, including IVF and egg-freezing coverage, as well as family planning, adoption, and surrogacy support, were rare as recently as 2015. Indeed, 

 found that less than one-quarter (24%) of large employers (with more than 500 but fewer than 20,000 employees) covered IVF, and only 5% covered egg freezing.

Among the employers offering fertility benefits were 

, both of which announced coverage for egg freezing in 2014 as part of an effort to attract and retain more women employees.

According to the Mercer data, 19% of large employers offered eggfreezing benefits by 2020. Additionally, 42% of employers were offering IVF by that year.

Fertility benefits aren’t just a win for employees—they can also help employers recruit and retain talent. Some 65% of global workers who responded to a March 2023 survey by 

 said they would switch jobs for fertility benefits, and 72% said they would stay with a company that offered such benefits longer.

 As the 2020s roll on, more employers are adding fertility benefits like IVF to their compensation packages. Four in 10 US employers—including 

 the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans, up from 30% in 2020.

While the current political landscape has cast a shadow over family planning benefits, some employers are doubling down on their decision to offer them, 

. It’s no wonder why: When 63% of US employees agree that companies should offer fertility benefits, according to an HR Brew/Harris Poll survey, doing so might help employers attract talent.

The history of fertility services as an employee benefit

The popularity of fertility benefits has grown in recent years. 

HR 101: A brief history of fertility benefits 

Welcome to HR 101. Class is now in session. Today’s discussion is all about Elton Mayo, aka “

 Born in 1880, Mayo was an Australian psychologist, sociologist, and organizational theorist who conducted extensive research on human behavior in the workplace.

 during WWI, when serving on government boards as an advisor on organizing work during the war. In 1922, he shared his research on issues in the way managers and employees related to one another on a US speaking tour. Some of his research on the workplace involved workers at textile mills in Pennsylvania. While observing them in 1923, he noted the impact that providing workers with breaks throughout the day had on their productivity.

In 1926, Mayo became a research professor at the Harvard Business School. Two years later, he started what would become his most famous research initiative, the 

, at the Western Electric Company’s Hawthorne Works in Illinois. Mayo, along with fellow Harvard professors Fritz Roethlisberger and William J. Dickson, studied how various changes in work environments impacted productivity.

Mayo retired to England after WWII until his death in 1949.

There’s still much to learn about the effect socialization can have on workers. In 2016, a survey of small business owners by 

 found that for nine in 10, “fostering a sense of community is important to the success of their business.” And in 2022, 

 found that having a “best friend” at work can have a positive impact on collaboration, innovation, and productivity.

“In the past, many people defined their careers by their loyalty to companies. Today, most people report that working with a great team is their primary motivator,” according to the Gusto report. “Talented employees tend to stay with their companies longer because they enjoy collaborating with colleagues.”

How Elton Mayo laid the foundation for HR

Today’s HR leaders are following in the footsteps of this organizational pioneer.

HR 101: Who was Elton Mayo, the father of HR?

Welcome to HR 101. Class is now in session. Today’s discussion will focus on the history of performance reviews.

 Performance reviews may have come about in WWI, when the US military established a merit rating system to help leaders identify the soldiers who should be transferred or discharged as a result of their performance, according to 

The idea of evaluating workers based on performance caught on in corporate America, and by the end of WWII, around 60% of US employers had adopted this practice.

 was passed, requiring the federal government to create appraisal systems to evaluate its employees. It also established the now-familiar performance rating scale of “outstanding, satisfactory, and unsatisfactory.” Four years later, the Incentive Awards Act allowed federal employers to reward employees “for superior accomplishment, suggestions, inventions, special acts or services, or other personal efforts,” according to the US Office of Personnel Management.

By the 1960s, around 90% of US employers had a performance review system, Harvard Business Review noted.

 for how performance reviews would be conducted for the next few decades. Welch created the “forced ranking” system, through which employees were judged against each other, rather than against a set of standards, the Society for Human Resource Management 

. Welch’s system was met with mixed reviews, with critics suggesting it could result in managers playing favorites.

Over time, some employers reconsidered the effectiveness of forced ranking, with Goodyear and Ford ditching the system in the early 2000s.

 Just 26% of global employers say their performance review strategy is effective, according to a 2022 survey 

In 2011, professional services firm Kelly Services became one of the first big companies to abandon performance reviews in favor of more frequent, informal feedback sessions due to questions about their effectiveness, according to 

Adobe followed suit in 2012, the site noted, and by 2016, companies including Deloitte and PwC revamped their reviews to focus more on 

 communicates with and delivers feedback to employees.

“​​Your talent wants fairness, equity, and transparency above all else,” Jason Medley, CPO for coding test and interview platform Codility, wrote in 

. “There is simply no way to achieve this in a once-per-year meeting. Your talent wants more, and let’s be honest: So do you.”

HR pros, we want to hear from you! Tell us about your performance review strategies by emailing 

The history of performance reviews 

“I can’t wait for my performance review!”—said no employee ever.

HR 101: The history of performance reviews 

Welcome to HR 101. Class is now in session. Today’s discussion will focus on the evolution of corporate learning and development (L&D).

 L&D is “the training and the education that businesses [provide to] their employees” that enables them to do their jobs better, Ben Betts, CEO of workplace learning solutions provider Learning Pool, told HR Brew.

, L&D has centuries-old roots in apprenticeship programs. But it wasn’t until 1872, when Hoe and Company, a printing-press maker, opened a school to train its employees, that it started to become formalized.

Over the next few decades, employers would create various methods of workplace training, like the “Show, Tell, Do, and Check” method developed by Charles R. Allen in 1917 for shipyard workers. In 1942, the nonprofit Association for Talent Development (then known as the American Society for Training Directors) was founded to support employers in training their employees.

The 1960s saw the birth of corporate universities—like McDonald’s 

—and the creation of instructional design programs, teaching those in the programs to create L&D materials.

With the 1980s and 1990s, came the introduction of e-learning (think, those CD-roms that came with textbooks, Betts said), and in the 2000s, the explosion of smartphones allowed HR to provide their employees with corporate learning at their fingertips.

 for its 2024 Workplace Learning Report expressed concern about employee retention, but the survey found that L&D is key to keeping talent. So, perhaps it’s no wonder that around 90% of employers now offer their employees an e-learning solution, according to data from software development company 

E-learning has evolved since the 2000s, and it’s gotten more creative. Some HR teams, for example, have gamified corporate learning. LinkedIn took this approach, 

 their L&D employees to watch as many minutes of LinkedIn Learning courses as they could over a three-month period. The challenge resulted in employees investing more time in L&D.

“It’s hard to convince employees to take time out of their day to learn, despite all the benefits learning offers,” Paul Petrone, senior content marketing manager at LinkedIn, wrote in a blog post about the challenge. “That makes it incumbent on us as L&D professionals to find creative ways that’ll inspire more employees to learn.”

So what do you think? Will you be making greater investments in L&D? Email 

The evolution of corporate learning 

Some 90% of employers surveyed by LinkedIn are concerned about employee retention, but many believe they can solve the challenge by providing better career learning opportunities.