Category: Learning & Development

Employees are valuing career development more than ever—it’s a sign that the company is willing to invest in their future. How are businesses approaching training today? What are their pain points, and what topics are being addressed in training?

Gen Z Is Sending a Warning About Post-Layoff Culture and HR Leaders Should Pay Attention 

As layoffs continue to ripple across industries, much of the attention is understandably focused on the exiting employees and their transition in the workforce. It’s rarely acknowledged that the post-layoff period can also be a time of upheaval for remaining employees, who are often left carrying heavier workloads with tasks they were never trained for. Even rarer is how […]

The Problem With Saying ‘No problem!’

The following is not about manipulation. No, it is about thriving in a workplace environment, always being your own best advocate, and leveraging every opportunity to do so. The following is a mash up of advice from @iqra on X and Robert B. Cialdini from his book Influence: Science and Practice. As Rabbi Hillel observed […]

Why Most Employees Still Don’t Have a Will – and How Technology is Closing the Gap 

Estate planning is one of those tasks that most people know they should complete – yet many never do. Despite widespread awareness of its importance, execution remains low across the workforce. Research shows that only 32% of Americans have a will. At the same time, 64% of adults say having a will is important, underscoring a persistent disconnect between intent and […]

Closing the Feedback Gap: Why Leadership Development Is Falling Short 

Leadership development is a priority for most organizations, yet meaningful performance outcomes are only seen when the learning is applied into real-world, day to day leadership habits. One of the most persistent barriers is the gap in how feedback is delivered and acted upon.  Recent research from Borderless shows that while 96% of employees believe regular feedback helps them improve, nearly half say […]

Why “Build Your Own Benefits” Is Reshaping Total Rewards Strategies

Employers have made meaningful strides in expanding benefits in recent years, from IVF and menopause-related care to adoption support. Yet even as the range of offerings increases, the underlying structure of employer benefits has remained largely unchanged: standardized plans, fixed packages and limited flexibility for individual needs. At the same time, workforce expectations are becoming […]

SPARK HR Day 1 Recap: Taking Off the Blinders—Sarah Devereaux on the Future of Systems Thinking

Sarah Devereaux, HCI Leadership Coach and Advisor, and former Head of Executive Development at Google, opened her SPARK HR session with a startling reality check: HR is carrying a massive burden. Between market shifts and organizational restructuring, the pressure to find solutions is at an all-time high. However, the “laser focus” HR leaders have relied […]

The Human Skills HR Must Prioritize to Make AI Work 

An employee uses AI to generate a recommendation in seconds. It looks polished, confident, and complete. But it’s flawed. Without the skills to question or validate that output, the mistake moves forward faster than ever before. This is the reality organizations are facing as AI in HR adoption accelerates.  The biggest challenge with AI transformation is not adoption, but workforce readiness, making sure […]

HR Leadership: The Era of Responsible Influence  

HR executives have entered new territory.  The function is no longer viewed as a support operation focused on policies, processes, or head count alone. HR leaders are now expected to shape outcomes, business outcomes, mission outcomes, and human outcomes, often at the same time and under heightened scrutiny.   That shift is reflected in how CEOs think about the role. A growing majority now […]

Why Your RTO Mandate is Exposing a Leadership Gap—and How to Fix It

As the global Return to Office (RTO) debate continues to heat up, HR leaders are caught in a “tug-of-war” between executive mandates for physical presence and a workforce that has redefined “security” as autonomy. While leadership often views the office as a tool for surveillance, employees increasingly see the commute as a tax on their […]

Winning on Purpose: Chick-Fil-A’s “My Pleasure” Secrets to a Gold-Standard Culture

In the world of HR, “culture” is often a buzzword that feels hard to pin down. But for Nicholas Lawrence, Executive Director of People & Culture, local franchise for Chick-fil-A Indianapolis, culture isn’t a vague feeling—it’s a measurable standard. During a webinar ahead of his session at SPARK HR 2026, Lawrence shared how one of the […]