In their own words: Lessons from SHRM 2022.

HR's largest gathering of the year--the annual Society for Human Resource Management conference--took place in New Orleans this summer. Here are some bite-sized nuggets of advice from the event...

Comp strategies "Your base pay is the anchor to everything you do in HR... but variable pay is definitely the global trend in terms of compensation strategies. Your CEOs love variable pay because it's a one-time hit, not a compounding amount." -- John Rubino, Rubino Consulting

Background checks "So many states, cities and counties right now are making up their own rules on background screening. So your job is getting more complicated." -- Debra Keller, president, Total Insight Screening

Monitoring employees "One third of all sexual harassment cases are now by electronic means. For your remote employees, you're going to need to monitor their communications going forward... and remind employees that you can see what they're doing." --attorney James Reidy, Sheehan Phinney

Hybrid work "While employees are asking for remote, most leaders are not willing to go all the way. So hybrid is winning out... But leaders need to make the office worth the commute. Don't ask people to come into the office and put them on Teams meetings all day." -- Giselle Kovery, Head of Learning, OptimusSBR

Strategic HR "The way to find your seat at the table is to be the table... You be the one that brings the solutions." -- Mary Dale, CHRO, Convivial Brands

Boomerang employees "Train your managers how to handle employee resignations, and build ties to your valuable alumni to make returning easy." -- Tony Lee, SHRM VP of Content

Meaningful work "People want to work for a cause, not a company." -- Kris Erickson, Workforce Science Associates

Employee goal setting "Don't go for buy-in; it doesn't work. Create goals in a collaborative environment where team members and managers sit down to work through goals from the start." -- Joe Rotella, Delphia...