While companies and small businesses are continuing to struggle to hire talent in this time of transition, this is a moment to reflect on perhaps how corporate culture can reassess defining a path towards more robust inclusion and shape greater innovation in the economy of the 21st century.

As organizations both large and small review their talent management processes it is important that leadership rethink their disability hiring strategy beyond the framework of diversity, equity, and inclusion, but see it as an anchor that can have a ripple effect across the entire progression of evaluating human capital management.By rethinking this new methodology, it is important to recognize the correlation between psychological safety and the lived experience of disability.

For years the relationship between work and the disability community has been fraught with friction contributing to a general miscommunication between the corporate ecosystem and the larger disability community ranging from non-profits, advocates, and government agencies.

Psychological safety is the belief that you won't be punished or humiliated for speaking up with ideas, questions, concerns, or mistakes.

In a business context the definition can be identified as author Timothy R. Clark described an “incubator of innovation” where “individuals feel 1) included 2) safe to learn, 3) safe to contribute, and 4) safe to challenge the status quo.” It is these very tenants that allow for a more open, honest, and inclusive exchange to take place, where the stigma of disability can become a relic of the past and organizations can develop a true sense of radical honesty and more importantly trust in the potential capability of this pool of human capital.The challenge now is can organizational culture amplify the need for psychological safety as a tool to reconsider the locus of persons with disabilities in the employment cycle.

For one, the coronavirus pandemic has profoundly impacted the very nature of work forcing business leaders to envision new ways of engaging the world of work, human interaction, and most importantly the very needs of their employees.

To combat high employee turnover, small businesses are taking steps to boost employee retention through benefits.More than 163,000 U.S. businesses have closed since the beginning of the pandemic, according to the last Yelp Economic Average report.

Over 1,000 small business owners revealed a 20% uptick in turnover rates over the past 12 months, according to a new survey from Principal Financial Group.

Almost all believe the pandemic impacted the turnover.Benefits are one way to recruit and retain top talent, yet small businesses often avoid offering employee benefits due to the cost.

When considering employee benefits, small businesses rank affordability (50%) and their ability to attract and retain employees (42%) as most important, according to the Principal Financial Group survey.“It’s encouraging to hear from so many business owners who are taking the time to better understand why their employees are leaving so they can proactively address these concerns for current and prospective workers,” Mark West, national vice president of business solutions for Principal, said in a release.

“We’re committed to working with employers to ensure we have benefit offerings that are targeted to their employee needs, especially as they evolve in the wake of COVID-19.”More than half of the small business owners served by Principal say they want to reward their key employees with more benefits.

Seventy-four percent have a plan in place to add voluntary benefits and 59% plan to add qualified retirement plans, according to the Principal data.Financial wellness benefits and HR and legal services are also in demand among small businesses.

“Listen to your heart” is not only the name of a chart-topping ballad (by Swedish pop music group Roxette), but also very popular advice when it comes to making decisions in life.

Is it possible to learn this much-underrated skill, and if yes, how?

And why is it so important to master this skill when you’re a manager?First things first, to be able to listen to someone, you need two well-functioning ears and of course another person who you’re interacting with.

There’s of course the option of you talking to yourself, but we’ll come to that later.Hearing vs ListeningIn general, we don’t need to push any particular button to listen to our interlocutor, it comes naturally.

As you can see, communication and listening in particular isn’t as easy and natural as it might seem at first glance.Four ears principleMoreover, it’s not only about what the person actually says (facts), but also about the perspective the person has and who they are (self-revelation), how the sender of the message relates to the other person (relationship) and of course the underlying intention the speaker has (appeal).For a better understanding, here’s a graphic that shows all four sides of communication.

It beautifully illustrates that we’re not listening with only one ear, but with four!Listen carefullyBe aware that there’s always noise interrupting a conversation as well.

On International Women's Day, We wish every woman employee the best of success and prosperity.

Yoga is a powerful natural state that can inspire you in many ways.

“When you perform yoga, you establish a connection between your body and mind and become more aware of yourself.

Happy Yoga Day to you.”

It changed how employers and customers expect work to be delivered.2021 will bring more of the same.

We will travel less, work remotely, meet virtually, and continue to work differently.

How do we keep employees safe—in or out of the office?In the many conversations I have with ServiceNow customers, the focus is often on optimizing service delivery cost and productivity.

When you design service delivery with the employee in mind, processes improve, costs go down, and the employee experience gets better.Evolution of shared servicesThe origins of service delivery were decentralized, with many duplicate services, processes, and technologies.Over time, organizations consolidated delivery into shared services and then into a multi-functional service delivery model managed in silos but with a common service management regime in place.Today, pioneers of enterprise service delivery are pursuing digital employee experiences (digital EX) through integrated business services.

This usually means introducing global service owners and an integrated delivery network, as well as a head of integrated business services who reports to the board.To date most large enterprises have been functioning under a hybrid model—falling somewhere in between the fragmented beginnings of their service delivery efforts and the move toward multi-functional shared services.This comes as no surprise, as there’s no way to jump from one phase to another overnight.

Step one is the adoption of self-service capabilities.When self-service is used to address these repetitive requests, it frees up the agent to focus on more complex issues.

To all fathers everywhere, and to those who may be missing their father today.

THANK YOU, for being our HEROES, you are the rock on which we stand, you are the foundation on which we build.