United Benefit Advisors Insight and Analysis Blog

We’ve all been there. You’ve gotten deep into the job interview process, and then you’re face-to-face with the awkward question: would you share your previous salary? 

Whether the question rears its head in a digital application or during initial in-persons, none of us like answering it. Many people, especially young people, are less committed to their employers and seek new jobs every few years in order to rapidly spike their salaries, yet having to confront the pay question is never comfortable.

Topics: HR Elements, pay gap, Pay Scale, Pay History

The kids are more than all right: they’re the stars of the show.

It seems like developing market research in every business sector is all about millennials and Gen Z. How do we capture and retain their interest? How do we market and remarket to them? What are they interested in to begin with? What do they find attractive in a brand or company?

Topics: HR Elements, Generational Differences, Generation Z, Generational Diversity, Ageism

If your team is waving goodbye to doggy day-care and the days of leaving furry friends at home, congratulations! The trend of bringing dogs to work started soon after what is widely considered the most influential research on dog-friendly offices, published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health.

Topics: pets at work, HR Elements, pets, Dog-Friendly Offices

With open enrollment right around the corner, employers are faced with the annual question: how are we going to get employees engaged, while helping them make the smartest benefit decisions for their individual situations?

Topics: employee benefits, Open Enrollment, benefits enrollment, HR Elements

Finding the right people to successfully execute in the workplace is the core responsibility of HR, but research shows it is becoming increasingly difficult to vet candidates manually. To compound this challenge, recruitment is flooded with hundreds or thousands of resumes to wade through (many of which are unqualified), and this is not the best use of their time.

Topics: HR Elements, Skill Matching, Professional Development, Career Advancement

Nearly every large employer offers some type of wellness program, but if your team feels you’ve “been there, done that,” maybe it’s time to revisit your definition of wellness. With the expansion of mindfulness, meditation, and yoga in the west, modern wellness applications are so much more than just eating veggies and stepping on a scale.

Topics: wellness incentives, wellness programs, healthy lifestyles, HR Elements

Laptop on, loafers off. 

According to one Cision study, more than 50% of the working works from home at least half of the week. Remote work is exploding in popularity, expanding by 91% over the last ten years and 159% over the last 12 years.

Topics: employee benefits, productivity, HR Elements, Work Remotely, Work From Home

Recreational cannabis legalization is rolling out across the United States, and many employers are faced with a big, hazy question: how should they address drug testing in the workplace? Eleven states have legalized recreational marijuana and 33 others have legalized medical marijuana. It’s safe to say that in the next few months or years this topic will hit nearly every employer nationally.

Topics: HR Elements, Marijuana Legalization, Workplace Regulations

We are all familiar with overt biases in the workplace. From off-color jokes to discriminatory hiring practices, the experience of conscious bias is an unfortunate reality for many women and men at all levels of corporate hierarchy.

Topics: HR Elements, Unconscious Bias, Proactive Training, implicit bias

As summer comes to an end, let’s take a closer look at the nuances of 2019’s pride month. This year, a global conversation around pride-washing or rainbow washing — the practice of businesses making nods to LGBTQIA+ inclusion through marketing efforts or rainbow-infused temporary products but not through actions and policies — also took place.

Topics: HR Elements, diversity