Even with all the excitement around our transition to the New Year, many of the colleagues, executives and managers I speak with describe a feeling of mental fog and slowness, as well as hesitancy in gearing up for the coming year.

As one meme stated: "Before I commit to 2021 I am going to need to see a list of terms and conditions." 

As we’ve learned in 2020, there are some things you simply can’t predict about the year ahead from the vantage point of the present. 

After all, how many of us had a pandemic-induced lockdown and acceleration of remote work adoption on our “trends to watch” lists at the end of 2019? But the major upheavals of this year also give us a pretty good hint at some of what we can expect for the future of work and human resources in 2021.

When it comes to the broad field of Human Resources, everything from complexities related to COVID-19 safety and vaccination policies to potential changes in compliance and regulatory priorities from a new US presidential administration will be in the spotlight.

2020 was quite a year! From the COVID-19 pandemic and fundamental shifts in the ways we work, to significant social upheaval in response to racial injustices, the need for better, more inclusive thinking is greater than it has ever been!

Get ready for 2021 with our Top 10 most popular resources from 2020 – eBooks, white papers, and webinar recordings – with Herrmann's community of inclusive leaders, culture champions, and learning & development catalysts.

Zoom fatigue is real. It’s so real that even the term “Zoom fatigue” is getting tired. But we’re also dealing with a reality that will require virtual team work and collaboration for many of us at least for the near future — and maybe longer. 

Beyond the pandemic, the trendlines are signaling a move toward more remote working, shopping and learning going forward. That means video conferencing, remote team distribution, and virtual, technology-driven collaboration, in some form or fashion, are here to stay.

Companies like to say people are their most important asset. A new mandate from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) puts that old axiom into sharp focus. 

The human capital disclosure rule, which went into effect on Nov. 9, 2020, and is part of the SEC’s broader project to modernize Regulation S-K, requires publicly traded companies to disclose specific information about their human capital resources and any measures or objectives the company focuses on in managing the business — such as those that address the attraction, development, engagement and retention of employees.

Like so many events this year, the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade had to change things up a bit in 2020 to accommodate a COVID-19 world. But the floats ride on, and there’s one new participant in the line-up that caught our eye.

Highlighting the fact that only 24% of jobs in the STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) fields are held by women, Olay introduced the Her Future is STEM-sational float as a way to remind parade viewers about “the importance of maximizing women and their accomplishments.” It’s part of the company’s 10-year commitment to double the number of women in STEM and triple the number of multicultural women in STEM.

For years, businesses and employees have debated whether working from home was a good thing. In 2020, that debate came to an abrupt end when the COVID-19 pandemic forced the decision. The traditional office environment gave way to remote work, whether or not that’s what you (or your boss) was prepared for.

Since then, some companies have returned to the traditional office setting, but flexible, remote, and hybrid-remote workforces are likely here to stay.

A study in the UK found that 82% of businesses there are considering changing their future working practices to allow more staff to work remotely.

And PwC’s US Remote Work Survey reveals that 83% of office workers want to work from home at least one day a week. That same survey also found that more than half (55%) of employers anticipate that most of their workers will do so beyond the pandemic.

When you’re talking about a people-driven function like Human Resources (it’s in the name, after all), Big Data might not be the first thing that comes to mind. But the HR function has actually moved at a faster pace than many others in integrating analytics and business intelligence into its practices.

A study by Oracle found that 98% of respondents agreed that they can use data to predict workforce needs, 94% use it to predict turnover, and 94% say it gives them insight into employees’ career goals.

However, one of the authors of that study cautions that this doesn’t mean everything’s “rosy in the world of HR analytics.”

At our core, we are a diversity company. Our specific focus at Herrmann is on cognitive diversity, but ultimately, our technology and tools are about helping people value and leverage diversity and create more inclusive organizations. This is what we do for clients, and it’s something we’re continually working on internally as a fully remote team ourselves.

Over the last six months or so, we’ve had some candid and eye-opening discussions as a team about diversity in all its dimensions and what it means to be equitable and inclusive, both at an individual level and as an organization.

We’ve seen firsthand how powerful it is when you give people a safe space for these sometimes difficult but necessary conversations and the opportunity to expand their worldview.

We’ve seen more interest and attention lately around diversity and inclusion in the workplace than we have in years — maybe ever. Even so, in many organizations, it’s still an uphill battle to move beyond a statement of commitment to actual action.

If you’re struggling to get top-level buy-in for broader diversity and inclusion efforts, it may be time to rethink your approach. Read on for some tips on how to be more persuasive in your conversations with executives and to learn how you can use technology and data to strengthen your argument.