Decision Makers Hub | HR and Enterprise Tech Insights for People Leaders

Return to Office: The Trend Reshaping the Modern Workplace After years of celebrating the remote work revolution, a powerful counter-movement has taken hold. Amazon, JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, Disney, and hundreds of other organizations have issued return-to-office (RTO) mandates, some requiring full five-day-a-week presence. The era of near-universal remote work flexibility appears to be giving way to something more complicated — and HR leaders are at the center of navigating it. Why Companies Are Calling Employees Back Collaboration and Innovation: Many executives argue that the serendipitous interactions — the hallway conversation, the spontaneous whiteboard session — that drive breakthrough ideas simply cannot be replicated on Zoom. Studies from Stanford and MIT suggest that in-person collaboration produces measurably higher rates of novel idea generation. Culture and Cohesion: Building and sustaining organizational culture at a distance has proven harder than anticipated...

Paylocity vs Paycor: How to Choose the Right Payroll and HCM Platform Choosing a payroll and human capital management platform is one of the most consequential technology decisions an HR and finance team will make. Paylocity and Paycor are two of the most widely compared mid-market HCM solutions, each with genuine strengths and distinct trade-offs. This comparison will help you determine which platform is the better fit for your organization. Company Profiles Paylocity was founded in 1997 and went public in 2014. It serves mid-size organizations (typically 50 to 5,000 employees) with a modern, mobile-first UX and a strong emphasis on employee engagement and community features. Paycor was founded in 1990 and serves a similar market segment, with particular strength among organizations in industries like healthcare, manufacturing, and nonprofit. Paycor was taken private in 2018 and later went public again in 2021. Core Payroll Functionality Both platforms deliver reliable payroll ...

Your Rights When HR Asks About Your Health Few workplace situations feel more vulnerable than being asked by your employer about a medical condition. Whether you're dealing with a chronic illness, recovering from surgery, or managing a mental health condition, understanding exactly what HR can and cannot ask — and what you are required to disclose — is essential knowledge for every employee. What the Law Protects In the United States, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) places strict limits on employer medical inquiries. Generally, employers cannot ask disability-related questions before making a conditional job offer. After a job offer, medical inquiries are permitted only if they are job-related and consistent with business necessity. For current employees, medical inquiries are only allowed when they are directly related to the employee's ability to perform essential job functions, or when required by another law. What HR Can Ask HR may ask whether you can perform...

Why HR Accessibility is a Business Imperative Human Resources has long been the bridge between employees and the organization. But for millions of workers — those with disabilities, those working non-standard shifts, those without reliable internet access, and those who speak English as a second language — accessing HR services remains unnecessarily difficult. Closing this gap is not just the right thing to do. It is a direct business advantage. The Current Accessibility Gap in HR Traditional HR service delivery is built around business-hours access, desktop computer interfaces, and English-language documentation. This design excludes frontline workers, shift workers, remote employees in underserved areas, and employees with visual, auditory, or cognitive disabilities. The result: unresolved HR issues, disengagement, and preventable attrition. Mobile-First HR: Meeting Employees Where They Are The single most impactful accessibility improvement most organizations can make is offeri...

Why Tracking HR KPIs via HRMS Changes Everything In data-driven organizations, gut instinct has given way to metrics. Human Resource Management Systems (HRMS) have evolved from record-keeping tools into powerful analytics engines capable of surfacing the workforce insights that drive strategic decisions. Understanding how to track the right KPIs via your HRMS is one of the highest-value skills an HR leader can develop. The Most Important HR KPIs to Track Employee Turnover Rate: Calculated as (number of separations ÷ average number of employees) × 100, turnover is the single most watched HR metric. Your HRMS can break this down by department, tenure, role, and manager — giving you surgical insight into where retention programs need to focus. Time to Fill: How long does it take to fill open positions from requisition to offer acceptance? High time-to-fill indicates bottlenecks in your recruiting process and directly impacts business continuity. Cost Per Hire: The total investment...

Real-World Software Use Cases Transforming Modern Business Software has become the operating layer of every successful business. From automating repetitive tasks to enabling real-time collaboration across continents, the right software transforms how organizations operate, compete, and grow. Understanding specific use cases helps leaders make smarter technology investments. 1. HR Management and Workforce Automation Human Resource Management Systems (HRMS) like Workday, UKG, and SAP SuccessFactors automate payroll processing, benefits administration, employee onboarding, and performance management. Organizations using these platforms reduce HR administrative time by up to 40% while improving data accuracy and compliance. 2. Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Platforms like Salesforce and HubSpot centralize customer data, automate follow-ups, and give sales teams a 360-degree view of every prospect and client. CRM software is proven to increase sales productivity by 30% and impr...

Step-by-Step: Logging Into Workday HCM Workday HCM is one of the world's most widely deployed human capital management platforms, used by organizations ranging from mid-size companies to global enterprises. If you're new to Workday or logging in for the first time, this guide walks you through everything you need to know to access the system smoothly. What You Need Before Logging In Before signing in, make sure you have: your organization's Workday tenant URL (typically formatted as https://yourcompany.workday.com ), your username (often your work email or employee ID), and your temporary or permanent password provided by your IT or HR department. How to Log In to Workday HCM Step 1: Open your preferred web browser and navigate to your organization's Workday URL. This is unique to your employer — do not use a generic Workday URL. Step 2: On the Workday sign-in page, enter your username in the designated field. This is typically your corporate email address. Ste...

Tip reporting compliance is a persistent challenge in the restaurant industry — and the financial consequences of gaps are more significant than many operators realize. A study of mid-size restaurant chains found that inaccurate tip reporting costs operators an average of $47,000 annually in FICA tax credit losses, audit exposure, and administrative corrections. How Tip Reporting Gaps Occur Most tip reporting failures are not intentional. They stem from manual processes, inconsistent POS data capture, split-tip arrangements between servers and support staff, and lack of clear training. When servers underreport, or when tip pools are not documented properly, the organization's payroll data becomes unreliable. The Cost of Non-Compliance The IRS requires restaurants to withhold taxes on allocated tips. When tip data is inaccurate, restaurants may owe back taxes, interest, and penalties. Additionally, the FICA tip tax credit — which allows restaurants to claim a credit for tips exc...

The Metaverse Meets Medicine: A New Frontier in Healthcare The metaverse and virtual reality (VR) are no longer science fiction. From surgical simulations to patient rehabilitation, immersive technologies are beginning to transform how healthcare is delivered, learned, and experienced. For healthcare leaders and HR professionals managing clinical teams, understanding these technologies is becoming a strategic imperative. Medical Training and Surgical Simulation One of the most promising applications is medical education. VR surgical simulators allow trainee surgeons to practice complex procedures in a risk-free environment — repeating difficult operations hundreds of times before ever touching a real patient. Institutions like the Cleveland Clinic have piloted VR training programs that demonstrably reduce surgical errors and accelerate skill development. Remote Patient Consultations and Telehealth 2.0 The pandemic accelerated telehealth adoption, but the metaverse takes it further...