According to a Gallup study, an alarming 85% of employees are not engaged or actively disengaged at work, costing U.S organizations between $450-$550 billion in lost productivity each year.

With the summer almost over and fall quickly approaching, HR leaders are kicking into high gear planning for Benefit Open Enrollment, Budget Planning, Compliance Reporting, and Mid-Year Reviews. If you are like so many other HR leaders of mid-market organizations, you may have elected to upgrade or deploy a new Human Capital Management (HCM) software platform with a January go live.

It’s no secret that high performing teams continuously exceed expectations and deliver tremendous results. High performing teams consistently go above and beyond by contributing new ideas, delivering first class customer support, and enriching an organization's culture that ultimately leads to a better bottom line. 

We know that a lot of effort, thought, and strategy goes into building a high performing team, but what are the secrets to creating such a team that everyone strives for? In this segment of Ask an HR Guru, we asked HR professionals: What’s the secret to a high performing team?

In general, most of us try to avoid getting fired by following laws, company policy, and practicing common sense. Common sense between right and wrong in the workplace should be evident- don’t punch your boss, harass coworkers, steal, etc.

However, not everyone is blessed with common sense and happen to make some very unforgiving mistakes. Here are three dumb ways that can get you fired from your job:

Before you can go scouring the marketplace for your perfect HR technology solution, you first need to know exactly what you’re looking for. Which means knowing what your organization needs in an HRMS. So, how do you go about identifying those HRMS requirements? First, know where you’re starting from. Second, establish what your users need by way of functionality. Third, look at your technical requirements.

Although the percentage of American adults that smoke has dropped significantly from 20.9% in 2005 to 15.5% in 2016, smoking-related illnesses are still costing businesses more than $156 billion in lost productivity each year.

The awareness on the negative effects of smoking has drastically increased over the past decade. As a result, many organizations have taken action like creating designated smoking areas, enforcing a smoking distance from the building, and even so much as to becoming a completely tobacco free campus in order to promote a healthy working environment. 

When we think of superheroes, we often think of fighting villains in eccentric costumes with ungodly powers. These costumes and powers are cool and entertaining, but it’s the way superheroes like Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman use their superpowers to perform genuine acts of kindness that turn us into raving superhero fans.

Same is true in the workplace. HR superheroes are behind the scenes heroes that work tirelessly every day to deliver greatness to their people, workplace, and community. Although they may not be able to fly or become invisible, HR Gurus possess superpowers of their own. In this segment of Ask an HR Guru, we asked HR professionals: What’s your HR superpower?

Multi-generational, virtual, and global workforces have added a new layer of complexity to the traditional functions of HR, Payroll, Benefits, and Talent Management. Attempting to manage all of these functions via disparate solutions is proving to be a major challenge for HR leaders, yet many organizations still operate off of 3-4 systems.

In response to the SMB client driving up the demand for a single system of record for all things HR, both traditional service bureaus and HR technology vendors began developing and promoting an all-in-one, unified, single HCM platform.  

Since 2016, skilled nursing providers have been required to submit Payroll-Based Journal (PBJ) data to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) as a way to drive industry standards and ensure high quality care for patients.

CMS has been very clear from the start that PBJ data would eventually affect a providers’ Five Star Quality Rating, but it was never certain when that date would be, or how PBJ data would replace the current method of data capture.

For many people, the word "no" is an impossible one to use.

We want to make other people happy, so it can be difficult to say no to family and friends. It's also hard to say no to a career opportunity or to a co-worker that wants your help.

But sometimes in life, it's necessary to put your foot down.

Learning to be a little bit selfish can be a good thing, and it can help boost you in ways you never thought possible.

See how these 5 benefits to learning how to say no can improve your productivity and quality of life.