Plan in-person meetings. Decide on consistent team members. Avoid having too many people on any one team. When it comes to team success, you've probably heard these tried-and-true recommendations. But that conventional wisdom is wrong—or at least outdated. New research from i4cp research analysts Rob Cross (who wrote the HBR cover story Collaborative Overload) and Katheryn Brekken tells a different story, that not only do 21st Century, high-performance teams look and act in distinct ways—but also that they are goldmines of untapped productivity. Astonishing productivity gains (and losses ..read more

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued its final ruling on non-compete clauses in employment contracts—a 570-page document detailing its decision—this week. The upshot of the Commission's ruling is that non-compete clauses are an unjust method of competition and therefore violate Section 5 of the FTC Act, which covers unfair or deceptive acts or practices. The ruling says that employers are now prohibited from entering into new non-compete agreements with workers (with the exception of some senior executives) on or after the final rule's official publication date. Here's a FAQ sheet publi ..read more

Every year, i4cp surveys its community of senior HR executives to identify what they believe leaders should be prepared for in the coming year. For 2024, the four most important topics on the minds of these leaders were: High-performance organizations stepping up HR's involvement in AI strategy; Forward-looking organizations creating future-of-work leadership roles; Culture measures—both quantitative and qualitative—which are now expected; and Macro pressures continuing to drive workforce divisiveness and challenge HR. As part of a new series on corporate culture, we are digging into the th ..read more

Most (75%) of the 852 professionals surveyed in Q1 by the Institute for Corporate Productivity (i4cp) on the current state of workplace diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts reported that their companies are making progress. Few respondents (9%) said their organizations have failed to make progress toward their DE&I goals in the past 18 months. The list of factors contributing to lack of progress closely mirrors the list of factors driving progress, which we explored in an earlier article: Leadership buy-in, having clear goals and objectives, ensuring that DE&I is an integral part ..read more

Headlines trumpeting "the death of DE&I" have become ubiquitous of late, and persistent detractors insist that the demise of workplace diversity, equity, and inclusion is upon us, yet new research indicates this simply is not the case—in fact, far from it. A significant number of individuals surveyed this month by the Institute for Corporate Productivity (i4cp) said that their companies have made progress in the last 18 months toward their stated diversity, equity, and inclusion goals. The survey, which gathered responses from 852 participants, found that 75% of those from larger organiza ..read more

Job postings including generative AI as a skill have increased while relatively few organizations are upskilling their workforce Wielding generative AI (GenAI) competently is becoming more important to every organizational function—evidenced by nearly every tech platform in existence announcing new AI features. Generative AI may seem simple enough to use informally. But organizations won't benefit from these new tools, or worse, they could open themselves to lawsuits or cyber attacks, without some basic skills and education within its workforce to: Effectively prompt models (which are AI s ..read more

Organizations that are more advanced in their use of AI are far more likely to hire for AI-related roles and skills in HR, according to recent data from the Institute for Corporate Productivity (i4cp), an HR research organization and the leading authority on next practices in human capital management. In addition, new research from Revelio Labs, a workforce analytics company, connecting job posting and i4cp survey data, shows that job postings for AI-related positions in HR have almost tripled since 2019. Moreover, the rate of increase in AI-related postings in HR climbed dramatically above t ..read more

Talent acquisition leaders anticipate substantial and continuous change in their function throughout 2024, with skills-based recruitment, employer brand, and refining employee value proposition topping the list of priorities. Broadening the implementation of generative AI (GenAI) is expected to increase speed and efficiency and decrease costs in the long-term but will clearly require both significant focus and dedicated upskilling of the TA function. The top-four priorities for 2024 listed by members of the Institute for Corporate Productivity's (i4cp) Talent Acquisition Board are: 1. Balan ..read more

In the dynamic landscape of 2024, People Analytics leaders are at the forefront of steering organizations toward a more data-driven and insightful future. Members of the Institute for Corporate Productivity's (i4cp) People Analytics Board are prioritizing strategic response to evolving workforce dynamics, technological advancements, and the increasing demand for agile decision-making processes. Automating data analytics delivery: A key to efficiency Innovators in People Analytics (PA), those in the advanced predictive/prescriptive realm, are prioritizing the automation of data analytics deli ..read more

2024 promises to be one fascinating year. People, companies and even nations only wish they could glimpse now what we will know at the end of 2024. What will be the economic, supply chain and people impacts of the current dreadful regional conflicts? Who will be running the U.S., and how will this affect the social and macroeconomic environments? Which world economies will emerge from the remaining inflationary period stronger, and which will be weaker? These are only some of the obvious uncertainties. As for the unseen uncertainties, we hope to be prepared. As members of the Institute for C ..read more