Sherrie Suski outlines several HR initiatives for 2019.

1. 2019
Human Resources
Initiatives

2. Employees are at
their best when
they are well.
Financially,
physically,
emotionally and
socially
Learning
Opportunities
that span the
entire enterprise.
Think about
Talent planning
and not just
succession
planning
Flexibility in how,
when and where
people work
In conjunction
with automation
and machine
learning has the
ability to
revolutionize HR
Flexibility Artificial
Intelligence
Learning Holistic
Wellness
HR Initiatives

3. Flexibility
Gone are the days of the 9-5p workdays sitting at a desk in a traditional office
environment. For one, employees are working longer and looking for ways to
integrate their work and home lives.
• Companies need to embrace flexible work arrangements
– Is it possible for the employee to work from home a certain number of days or hours per
week
– Is flexibility within the work day possible- late starts? Or flexibility within the day to take 2-3
off and go work out or attend a child’s school event?
– What about flexibility with in the office environment? Are here areas set up that an employee
can move around to throughout the day?
• According to FlexJobs’ 7th annual survey of more than 3,000 respondents
interested in work flexibility, 65% of workers think they would be more
productive at home than working in a traditional office environment. With a
continuing tight labor market and some of the lowest unemployment we have
seen in our lifetimes, flexibility is going to be key.

4. Fewer Distractions- 75%
Fewer Interruptions- 74%
Reduced Stress from Commuting- 71%
Minimizing Office Politics- 65%
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Benefits of Flexibility

5. Learning Opportunities
Learning is a life long adventure and it should be no different in the workplace.
• Many companies will typically offer Succession Planning programs, but these
programs apply to a small percentage of the workforce.
• Talent planning programs apply to the entire workforce and offer lattice and
ladder opportunities for everyone
– Ladder opportunities offer training that is geared toward a person taking on a higher level
position
– Lattice opportunities are geared toward a person learning a different skill set with the goal
being to increase their organizational impact horizontally across the organization
• Training should be a combination of F2F, webinar, and self serve content.
They can be led by HR, SME’s identified throughout the organization or outside
resources.

6. Holistic Wellness Programs
Typically, when we think of wellness, we think of physical wellness. While this is
critically important, there are multiple types of wellness that can contribute to our
employees being their best everyday!
• Wellness portals and platforms are slowly gaining traction in the workplace.
Vitality and Sonic Boom are two of the best. Both offer content as well as
contests to keep employees on track.
– Emotional Wellness- do employees have opportunity to connect with each other both within
and outside of the regular workday?
– Psychological Wellness- do employees have support systems in place to assist when they
need help?
– Physical Wellness- are opportunities woven in to the work day to encourage wellness-
standing desks? Walking trails? Walking meetings?
– Financial Wellness- Money troubles plague a large percentage of he population. Is training
being offered about the basics- how to budget and how to save for retirement? How to get
out of debt?

7. 52% of employees reported financial insecurity
28% said it was affecting their health
28% said it was a distraction at work
66% of employees who reported financial stress
reported feeling depressed
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Financial Stress
The latest employee financial-wellness survey by PricewaterhouseCopper found:

8. Artificial Intelligence and
Automation
AI and Automation have the opportunity to make a significant impact on the world
of HR. So much of HR’s responsibility is tied up in rout and routine tasks.
• Artificial Intelligence is the capability of a machine to imitate intelligent human
behavior
– Applications could include:
• Sending out new hire forms and checking them for completeness
• Following up with a candidate on their status
• Scheduling the interviews
• Check-in’s
• Completing all new hire paperwork and transferring it directly to the HRIS
• Almost half (47 percent) of this year’s respondents to the 2018 Global Human
Capital Trends survey from Deloitte say that their organizations are deeply
involved in automation projects, with 24 percent using AI and robotics to
perform routine tasks, 16 percent to augment human skills, and 7 percent to
restructure work entirely.