Tag: employee engagement

Faces of HR: How KinderCare’s CPO Supports a Nationwide Team

Jessica Harrah’s path to becoming a top HR leader started in a courtroom, not a corporate classroom. She began her career at KinderCare Learning Companies as a staff attorney. After spending 10 years handling legal matters for the organization, she moved up to become the Senior Associate Counsel. While she truly enjoyed her time working […]

4 Costly Onboarding Mistakes—and How AI Solves Them

Many onboarding challenges stem from gaps between what new employees need to feel supported and the experiences organizations provide during their first days on the job. When the training lacks proper pacing, timely support, or ongoing engagement, employees may struggle to become productive and connected team members. Fortunately, AI can help HR teams address many […]

Engagement Surveys Might Just Be Lulling Us to Sleep

Organizations have spent decades trying to solve the engagement problem. We survey it. Benchmark it. Measure it quarterly. Build dashboards around it. And yet, despite all the data, many workplaces still feel disconnected, uninspired, or trapped in what I often call the “Me-Cycle” where self-protection, disengagement, blame, and emotional distance quietly shape culture from the […]

HRDA Frankly Speaking: McKesson’s Sr. Director of Talent Succession: How to Make Engagement a Repeatable Outcome

Every organizational system, be it performance management, feedback cycles, development, or succession planning, should communicate an organization’s values. When messaging across these systems is cohesive, engagement becomes repeatable. But when feedback, goals, and strategy feel disconnected, employee engagement plummets. Jenessa Disler, Senior Director of Talent Succession at McKesson, and SPARK HR 2026 speaker, knows that this kind […]

HRDA Frankly Speaking: The $1.3 Trillion Warning—Your Managers Are the Retention Linchpin

A critical new report from the Achievers Workforce Institute (AWI) delivers a clear economic warning to HR leaders: U.S. employers are projected to lose at least $1.3 trillion in attrition in 2026. This massive cost is driven by a simple, avoidable factor: a lack of cultural investment. AWI’s 2025 Employee Engagement & Retention report surveyed employees […]

The Ghost Growth Trap: Why “Advancement in Name Only” is Killing Trust

Career development is supposed to be an empowering journey. Yet, for a vast number of U.S. workers, it feels like a lie. A new survey from MyPerfectResume reveals a phenomenon called “Ghost Growth”: the illusion of career advancement that comes without any raise, promotion, or real change in authority. The findings paint a stark picture for HR […]

Aretha Franklin Had It Right: Respect Is Key to Employee Engagement

The concept of Employee Engagement has been a big deal since around the turn of the century, when studies done by several reputable sources showed a clear correlation between higher levels of Engagement and such critical business metrics as profitability, productivity, and—one that’s especially important to HR professionals—employee retention rates.  A lot of things have […]

The DEIB Disconnect: A New Report on What High-Performing HR Teams Know

The 2026 State of People Strategy Report, based on a survey of over 1,000 HR professionals worldwide, reveals a significant shift in priorities. While many companies are pulling back on diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEIB) initiatives, the data uncovers a surprising secret of the most successful HR teams: they are more committed to DEIB […]

Beyond Band-Aids: How to Truly Re-Engage Disengaged Employees

Employee disengagement is a costly, complex challenge facing companies across industries. Once enthusiasm wanes and connection to the organization weakens, productivity suffers, morale dips, and turnover risk climbs. Yet despite the complexity of the issue, many leaders continue to chase quick fixes—a flashy team-building retreat, a new set of perks, or a last-minute morale booster. […]

How To Get People To Speak Up!

Ever frustrated by the lack of employee engagement? You sense that they want to speak up but, well, just don’t do so. Here are three ideas. Idea No. 1: Do a Pre-mortem on a Project Scientist Gary Klein suggests that every project needs to undergo a pre-mortem. Here’s the process. Take the group that is […]