Future of Work 2025: Part I – Staffing Challenges & Ongoing Return-to-Office for Small Businesses
As 2024 draws to a close, it’s time to discuss the Future of Work for small businesses. In this series, we tackle two of the biggest challenges facing California small businesses and others across the USA: navigating staffing shortages and the ongoing return-to-office debate. Here’s how to position your business for success in 2025. 2025 Hiring Challenges: Addressing Staffing Shortages The 2025 Salary Guide from Robert Half highlights ongoing staffing shortages in sectors like technology, finance, accounting, and healthcare. According to the report, 73% of managers struggle to find skilled candidates, driven by: Technological Advancements: Rapid tech changes mean skills [...]
Jingle Bells and HR Tales: Navigating the Holiday Season with Finesse for Small Businesses
Ah, the holiday season! A time for joy, merriment, and perhaps a bit of chaos, especially for California small businesses juggling year-end deadlines, holiday parties, and gift exchanges. As HR consultants specializing in small business HR solutions, we know that the festive season can bring unique challenges. So grab a cup of hot cocoa, cozy up, and explore some light-hearted yet practical HR tips for navigating the holiday season smoothly. Embrace the Spirit of Flexibility The holiday season is full of family gatherings, shopping trips, and festive outings. To support your team, consider offering flexible work schedules or remote work [...]
5 Key Takeaways from California’s Latest Employment Law Changes
At Peoplescape, we’re committed to keeping you in the loop on California’s ever-evolving employment laws. As your trusted business advisors, we know that legal changes can seem complex but applying them in your business doesn’t have to be. As we coast through Q4 and start thinking of the holidays and beyond, here’s a rundown of whatcoming up in 2025 and how to integrate these updates into your operations. 1. Freelancers and Contracts: Clarity Is Key What’s New? California’s Freelance Worker Protection Act (SB 988) requires written contracts for freelance jobs over $250, covering service details, payment rates, and deadlines. This [...]
Future of Work: Office Trends Business Leaders Should Know for 2024 (Part 3)
With apology to Mark Twain, have the reports of the death of post-pandemic commercial office space been greatly exaggerated? We say yes! At the same time, we also acknowledge the profound changes the traditional office model has undergone over the last four years. As we explored in our Future of Work: Part 2, hybrid work environments can most certainly thrive – and, we believe, are here to stay, regardless of current ‘return to office’ mandates. This resonates with Mark Rauch, Principal at commercial real-estate firm Cresa. He sees the continuation of the three main models coming out of the pandemic [...]
Future of Work: Remote & Hybrid Series (Part 2)
4 Must-Have People Practices for Remote Teams: Welcome back! Let’s quickly recap Part 1 of our series on the Future of Work. The clash between employee demands and employer needs, viewed through the lenses of different generations, has given rise to ‘The Great Compromise1.' Employee expectations of employer support are growing. At the same time, new 2023 research shows that productivity is high for companies with a remote component – and highest of all for businesses that are primarily remote. Yet some leaders still think a full return to the office must happen for businesses to be successful. What’s a [...]
Future of Work: Remote & Hybrid Lessons for 2024 (Part 1)
Looking Back at 2023: With 2024 around the corner and Covid’s debut increasingly in our rearview mirrors, Peoplescape reflects on the evolving hybrid and remote work landscape. In just three years we have gone from uncharted waters to ‘The Great Compromise,’ a delicate dance between employee demands and employer needs. This clash between leadership and employee mindsets and expectations gets even more challenging when seen through the differing lenses of Baby Boomers, Gen X, Millennials (Gen Y), and Gen Z – all in one workplace, sprinkled with residual pandemic trauma on top. In this post, we share our top takeaways [...]
It’s all in the Benefits – Solutions for dealing with the “Big Resignation”
When searching for jobs, most applicants research the company and what the benefits and perks are of working for that company. They are lured by rooftop Yoga, SoulCycle Wednesdays, beer on draft at the office, ping pong tables and virtual reality rooms. But COVID hit and most of the workers went virtual. For HR and People professionals, the way we attract candidates had to change in this pandemic world. How are companies pivoting with their benefits and perks packages? Before COVID hit, the ability to WFH (work from home) or remote work was considered a perk [...]
Get a Superhero in Your Corner and Help Employees Navigate CO-19 Health Insurance Claims
As we all get back on our feet from Quarantine, the next wave of challenges we face will be medical bills and understanding health insurance costs related to COVID-19 (CO-19). As a business leader, you want to get employees happily back to work and engaged in productive company goals. Nobody wants to get caught up in ongoing questions around health insurance benefits, especially for CO-19 care or testing. LA County offers ‘free testing,’ but what happens when an employee winds up with an unexpected bill from the testing facility, or any bill for medical care that they didn’t expect? Having [...]
Shecession Part II: Disrupting the Shecession – What can Organizations do about it?
In Part I of our Shecession blog, we laid out the facts on the ground from the latest pieces of research and statistics relating to employment and the societal impacts of the global Covid-19 pandemic on women and in particular women of color. Here we will be exploring what organizations can be doing to combat this Shecession and prevent it from disrupting the diversity, equity, and inclusion progress we have made in our 21st Century organizations? […]
Shecession Part I: What is this “Shecession” of Which They Now Speak?
We have all seen the headlines about economic recession. We’ve also seen how the financial woes and unemployment levels of the 1930’s Great Depression, with a 9.5% unemployment rate seem to be paling in comparison to our current reality of 15% unemployment because of Covid-19. Recession is a bitter reality we are all facing, represented by the global #We’reAllInThisTogether, but what are people at the intersection of particular groups experiencing that might be even worse? […]