Source | business.linkedin.com | Bruce Anderson
Unquestionably, 2019 has been a huge year for HR. (You’re right — HR always has a huge year.) There has been an increased focus on pay equity, workplace harassment, and work flexibility and continued attention on finding star employees in a historically tight talent market.
This year, too, the issues central to HR on a daily basis have often woven themselves into the larger headlines. For example, the biggest global sports event of the year — the Women’s World Cup in France — was won by a U.S. team that is at the forefront of the fight for pay equity. The #MeToo movement, as well, continued to play out in various industries — entertainment, hospitality, military, and politics (that is an industry, right?) — in countries across the world.
There were also lighter moments, such as the viral debates over the resurfaced “Marissa Mayer” resume (is it perfect, or perfectly out-of-date?) and post-interview thank-you notes (imperative, or unimportant?).
Here’s our recap of some of the most notable HR moments of 2019:
Workplace harassment remains a touchy subject
January 9 — Skydance Media names John Lasseter as its head of animation, even though Lasseter, the co-founder and animating visionary at Pixar, had left the Walt Disney Company after employee complaints about unwanted touching. In response to Skydance’s move, two-time Oscar-winning actor Emma Thompson backs out of a voice part in an animated feature “Luck.” In a January 23 letter to Skydance, Thompson asks, “If a man has been touching women inappropriately for decades, why would a woman want to work for him if the only reason he’s not touching them inappropriately now is that it says in his contract that he must behave ‘professionally’?”
