HR Insights

Despite regulatory upheavel for Uber and AirBnb, the US's on-demand workforce is only adding to its numbers.

With a potential 7.6 million freelancers appearing at all corners of the US workforce by 2020, the on-demand workforce would grow to 11% of all self-employed.

This is due to several causes. Many family units don't want to live on a single paycheck.

Editor and Journalist Lisa Miller recalls being hired by an older woman for her first post as editor at the Washington Post.

Starting her professional career in the shadow of this remarkable boss, many years her senior, the young Miller was able to envision her own future career.

She argues that older women are an essential ingredient within a healthy workforce.

There are more available jobs in the United States today than there have been since records started being kept in 2000.

But only 62.6% of American adults are looking for a job or already working.

It's a puzzling situation, one which economists and labor statisticians are just beginning to tease out.

Finding specialized talent is a challenge for everybody – and because some companies don't have the talent they need in-house, they've got to poach new hires from other businesses.

But maybe there's a different way.

Potential hires have to wait a long time to get interviewed and vetted these days. And the process is only taking longer.

Since 2009, the worldwide job interview process has added an average 3.5 days to the wait. Some nations drag the process out longer than others.

Getting a diverse workforce is one thing. Keeping a diverse workforce is another.

Many women and minorities, particularly in engineering and STEM fields, leave their company during their 30's, thinking that the business is a place they won't be able to advance.

Company culture development at Qualcomm have led other businesses to cultivate "affinity groups", in which employees of various backgrounds can collaborate and voice their individual needs to management.

Research has proven time and again that managers have a tendency to hire people with whom they share a similar background.

While some hiring managers are exceptions and others simply don't recognize it when they do it themselves, this human bias may not result in the best candidate being hired for the job.

A new website allows unconventional candidates (those who are self-taught, have a strong accent, etc.) to show, not state, who they are.

Because of the technology revolution so strongly associated with the new millennium, Millennials have long been expected to possess technological prowess unseen in previous generations. This is turning out not to be the case.

60% of Millennials have "low" technology skills, leaving IT managers hoping for a swarm of new hires in the proverbial lurch.

It turns out, social media and online gaming experience does not an IT expert make.

It's an interesting world for older workers – and their employers.

With 50+ age employees making up about a third of the American workforce, employment competition is unusually high for this age bracket.

Combined with competition against younger workers, it's not easy being old. But older workers also have a lot of advantages over younger workers, including stability, skills, and contacts.

Today's employers are encouraged not to overlook the benefits of a mature workforce.

Health literacy and financial preparedness often need to be a bigger part of training, especially for new and lower income staff.

Providing good benefits is one thing, but ensuring that employees are equipped to take advantage of them is another.

A study by Aflac suggests that American employees with <$50,000 household income need empathetic assistance when it comes to benefits and healthcare education.