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.

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.”

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.

If creating better team management wasn’t already a priority, investing in resilient leadership development programs appears top of mind for more organizations this year. Companies realize the need to create resilient leadership to help guide teams through the year’s challenges and uncertainty.

This article is a guest post from Susanne Duke the founder of MARNI&Co., a consultancy that helps small and medium-sized companies sell and market like big brands.

Cognitive diversity is the inclusion of not only people with different ways of thinking but backgrounds, skills, strengths, and opinions. Teams that come together from differing departments encourage collaboration and innovation, creating a competitive advantage with customers.

This article is a guest post from Ashley Blackburn, Director of Programs at Uncharted Learning.

Do you know what your brain “looks” like?

I didn’t, until about 3 months ago when I completed a Whole Brain® Thinking assessment (called the HBDI®) and participated in a debrief workshop as a professional development event led by our friends at Miami University’s John W. Altman Institute for Entrepreneurship. Through this experience, I gained exciting new insight into my own thinking and that of everyone around me - students I’ve taught, colleagues I’ve worked with on teams, supervisors I’ve reported to, even my personal connections.

The video featured here is part of a series of Whole Brain Thinking topics presented by Ann Herrmann-Nehdi. 

CEOs and key leaders need to be more agile than ever in today’s onslaught of change impacting organizations. This requires a stretch for many leaders I am working with.