In this episode of Honest HR, hosts Amber Clayton, Wendy Fong and Monique Akanbi come together to look back on the biggest HR and workplace trends of 2023, and look ahead with their expectations for 2024.
In this episode of Honest HR, hosts Amber Clayton, Wendy Fong and Monique Akanbi come together to look back on the biggest HR and workplace trends of 2023, and look ahead with their expectations for 2024.
Earn 0.5 SHRM PDC for listening; details on claiming your credit are provided in-episode.
Monique Akanbi:
Welcome to Honest HR, the podcast for HR professionals, people managers, and team leads intent on growing our companies for the better.
Amber Clayton:
We bring you honest, forward-thinking conversations, and relatable stories from the workplace that challenge the way it's always been done. Because after all, you have to push back to move forward.
Wendy Fong:
Honest HR is a podcast from SHRM, the Society for Human Resource Management. By listening, you're helping create better workplaces and a better world. I'm Wendy Fong.
Amber Clayton:
I'm Amber Clayton.
Monique Akanbi:
I'm Monique Akanbi. Now, let's get honest.
Amber Clayton:
Now, let's get honest.
Wendy Fong:
Now, let's get honest.
Amber Clayton:
Hello everyone and welcome back. I'm your host, Amber Clayton, Senior Director of SHRM's Knowledge Center Operations.
Monique Akanbi:
I'm your host, Monique Akanbi, Field Services Director on our Membership Team with SHRM.
Wendy Fong:
Hey, Wendy Fong here, manager of Event Technology Innovation. Good to see everyone or hear everyone actually. Listeners can't see us-
Monique Akanbi:
Yes.
Wendy Fong:
... but Happy New Year.
Amber Clayton:
We could see each other. Happy New Year.
Monique Akanbi:
Yes.
Amber Clayton:
This is great. I love when we're able to get together, which is not often that we can do a podcast like this where we're all together. Today, we're actually going to be talking about the recap, just what's happened in 2023 and where we think things are heading in 2024.
So for our listeners in our episode, we're today going to discuss the technical competency, HR expertise, employee and labor relations. I think where we are heading today with this conversation has a lot to do with those things. As you know, this year is SHRM's 75th anniversary and we've been focused on driving change. Today we're just going to look back and talk about some of those changes, and some of the trends that we think we're going to see in 2024.
This podcast is approved to provide 0.5 PDCs towards SHRM-CP and SHRM-SCP recertification if you listen to the full episode. So why don't we go ahead and get started? I feel like there's been so many things that have happened over the last year. I know for me, professionally and personally. Monique, what's happened with you and what have you had going on in 2023?
Monique Akanbi:
Oh my gosh, can I just acknowledge that I don't know where the year has gone?
Amber Clayton:
Right.
Monique Akanbi:
I feel like we were just celebrating New Year for 2023 and we are wrapping up the year. 2023 has been super busy for me both personally and professionally, especially in my role working with our affiliates and speaking at different conferences. So it has just been nonstop all year this year. It has been great to just even see many of HR professionals, and interact with them, and just really hear what their challenges and their successes have been this year as well. So, it has just been a nonstop year for me. How about you, Wendy?
Wendy Fong:
Same for me too. I guess SHRM keeps us busy in a good way. HR keeps us busy. Well, being on the event strategy and experience team, we non-stop coordinate the conferences throughout the year. So I hope some of our listeners, if you haven't had a chance to attend our conferences, be sure to check them out.
We offer several conferences throughout the year coming up in March. We're offering the AI plus HI project, which is on artificial intelligence and human intelligence. So, that's a new SHRM conference in April. We have our talent conference for people that have a focus on talent recruitment, retention benefits, total rewards, or just want to hear more specialized content on talent.
Then of course, the big flagship conference in June, the annual conference and expo. If you are HR professional or people manager, you need to attend this once in your lifetime. It's 25,000 HR professionals all in one place. We do offer it virtually as well, if you're not able to attend in person. It is a site to see and something you've never experienced before, like going to a rock concert of HR superstars.
We've seen a lot of different topics evolving throughout the year that have been hot on the docket for our main stage speakers, for our concurrent session speakers, and some trends that I've seen. Well, we just concluded with our inclusion conference in the fall. One general session that was very popular was we had several CHROs or chief diversity inclusion equity officers and they spoke on civility in the workplace.
We can still have respectful civil conversations with each other and agree to disagree, and that's okay. It's okay to still stand strong in your own opinions and still get along and respect each other in the workplace. I really enjoyed that main stage session.
Amber Clayton:
We're going to see a lot of civility in the workplace conversations for 2024, especially as we enter an election year. I think things get tense sometimes when people have certain political beliefs and having those conversations with others. We're going to be talking quite a bit about that. I think it's actually one of our themes this year is civility in the workplace.
Monique Akanbi:
That's interesting because I've seen a lot of requests for just even topics on empathy in the workplace. So, I can see how empathy and then now really seeing that focus on civility in the workplace go hand in hand.
Amber Clayton:
Absolutely. Monique, what kind of sessions? You said you've been doing a lot of speaking sessions in 2023. What was the most popular topics that you were doing speaking sessions on?
Monique Akanbi:
Sure. The most popular one was empathy in the workplace. Then it was a combination of empathy in the workplace, diversity, equity and inclusion, and then mental health. I just think about the beginning of the year as you all were talking. I'm thinking in the beginning of 2023, there was a lot of requests on empathy in the workplace, and then mental health, and then how the two of them intersect. You can't talk about empathy without bringing in diversity, equity, and inclusion as well. Then, you started to see the shift mid-year on artificial intelligence and ChatGPT. So, I even think about how things just have evolved.
For this year in terms of most popular topics, it was definitely empathy in the workplace, especially when you're managing a hybrid workforce. So there are organizations that have employees that work both remotely and in the office, and then really equipping their people managers with how to exercise empathy when working with their team.
Amber Clayton:
A couple of the top webcasts, we just had something come out recently. A couple of the top webcasts were around stress in the workplace and burnout. So, it's definitely still an issue. I know that it was a heightened issue during the height of the pandemic, but definitely employers are still focused on helping with employees' well-being in the workplace.
Wendy Fong:
Really, the line between work and life is there's no line anymore.
Monique Akanbi:
There is none.
Wendy Fong:
There's no separation of work and life. Work and life are one. They're completely integrated. Whether we like it or not, this is the way that it's evolved, especially with technology always being connected, having that hybrid workforce, remote workforce, all intertwined. So, I think that's why empathy and mental health are such hot topics because you are dealing with the personal lives of people every day and how what they're going through impacts how they're going to perform in the workplace culture on a day-to-day basis.
Monique Akanbi:
Right. Well, it's interesting on the work-life balance. So when I practiced HR, I used to always say I never believed in work-life balance. I believed in work-life integration. The ability for me to integrate both my personal and my professional life. So that way if there were times where I needed to go to my kids' games, or have a parent-teacher conference, or attend one of their performances at school, I could step away from the office, attend that, and be able to come back and get my work done.
I heard a while ago replacing work-life integration with work-life harmony. So I'm harmonizing the two because I will tell you during the pandemic, I think it was integration at its finest, right?
Wendy Fong:
Yes.
Monique Akanbi:
Integration.
Wendy Fong:
It was forced integration.
Monique Akanbi:
It was forced integration, but it was work-life integration at its finest. I found myself working more than anything. So, that's interesting.
Wendy Fong:
I love that, work-life harmony.
Amber Clayton:
Yes. Like you said, when you're at home and you're working, you don't really shut down. If you're in the office and you're working, you have a point in time where you close your laptop. You get in your car. You drive home, and more than likely you're not going to open it back up because now you're dealing with things that are happening at home. You're cooking dinner. You're going over homework and all of those things.
When you're at home though, you really keep that open. Actually, one of our former employees had mentioned that to me about how he had difficulty working from home because he never shut down. It's true. I think people have a tendency to work more hours when they work from home.
Speaking of working from home, that was actually one of the top trending topics in 2023, the remote and hybrid work. How there's a shift with some employers going back to bringing people back into the office. There's concern about productivity, around camaraderie and engagement. Actually one of our, again, top webcasts that we had this year was one called Are They Even Working: Optimizing Your Hybrid Work Environment.
So have you heard in the field, Wendy or Monique, companies talking about bringing people back into the workforce more often than they had been?
Wendy Fong:
Remote work will never go away. Companies can bring people in the office but there's always situations, especially with the international workplace. People have different stories where they need to work from home based on different abilities or different schedules. So, that is never going away.
What I think companies need to revisit is how's your workplace culture? Do you have a psychological safety? You have a workplace culture of trust, so you're able to have honest and open conversation with your employees, and with the people managers, and with leadership to be able to make sure that there's that productivity.
I have heard stories of there's monitoring softwares on computers that when employees scan into the building, they're starting to track attendance. Those are all helpful, but there still needs to be that foundation of trust between the worker and the workplace in order to have this mutual understanding that we're all working together towards a common goal, so we can all be productive together.
Monique Akanbi:
I've seen a lot. There has been discussions I've seen or just witnessed in that bringing employees back, but more focused on what you touched on, Amber, is just that camaraderie. Being a remote employee, it has its pros. Then the cons too, that is that I'm a people's person. So, I like talking to people. I like engaging.
So there's a synergy that is created when you're in person versus meeting over Zoom, or Teams, or whatever platform there is. The focus has been on how do we continue to keep our remote employees engaged beyond just the Zoom box or the Teams box?
Amber Clayton:
My team is primarily remote, and so we had an opportunity to be able to get together in person during our holiday party. I love it. I love when we're able to get together in person. I do keep my team highly engaged through regular meetings, staff meetings. We always do a little icebreaker or activity if you will, just to continue to get to know one another on a personal level. Then, you have that professional side too.
We use Slack of course, like most people in our organization to communicate with one another and help one another. Even though we're all in different places around the United States, we really do have a very good communication. We have a social channel. We really just are like a family even though we're remote. It could work out. It's just you have to have the right tools, and the right mentality, and the right communication skills and trust, as Wendy said, to make it successful. I do love seeing my people in person. I do. We had a great time.
Monique Akanbi:
It goes back to that culture like Wendy was just speaking of.
Wendy Fong:
Thinking outside the box. What are creative ideas that we could connect remotely? I know there's companies out there that focus on how to create team building and trust with technology too.
Amber Clayton:
Absolutely. One of the things, and you both mentioned your speaking engagements and the conferences. I get a little mix of both in the work that I do, not just in the Knowledge Center where we're getting all these members questions about all different types of topics, but I also get media requests as well. Something that came up recently was a request for information about women's health and specifically menopause. I thought it was a really interesting topic.
Over the last year there's been a couple of, well I wouldn't say a couple, more than a couple of surveys that have been done around how the symptoms of menopause are impacting women's job performance. It's impacting their absenteeism. So employers are now starting to look at that and say, "What can we do to help support women in the workplace?" I found that to be really interesting, especially since I'm getting to that age where I'm going to be hitting this anytime soon. So, what do you think about that?
Monique Akanbi:
Well, it makes me think of something that I firmly believe in that every organization or people managers should do, and that's treating the whole employees. So I love that there are employers that are really looking at other ways outside of just the traditional ways of performance being impacted. So, I really find it heartwarming that employers are really taking that holistic approach for their employees.
Amber Clayton:
Wendy, any thoughts on it?
Wendy Fong:
Well, it makes me also think about the flip side of it, of Generation Z coming into the workplace. As we see increasing number of Generation Z as well, because I am counting down to menopausal days. I do love the fact that employees are focusing on that as well. I did read a book once called In the Flow State that talks about the woman's reproductive cycle. Even the 9:00 to 5:00 workday was not structured around women's hormonal cycle, which actually lasts a full 25 to 30 days in terms of how her energy flows throughout the month and how there's peaks of higher energy and peaks of lower energy. So, rethinking how the whole month is structured and how we schedule the day as well.
Amber Clayton:
That is really interesting. I feel like that needs to be a podcast for 2024. I want to learn more about that. I think it's great. I think the big thing though is that people need to feel like they can talk to their managers about these types of issues. Not everybody's going to go out there and be like, "Hey, I'm in menopause. I'm having issues today. I'm in a mood."
Someone said to me also, they can't imagine their employer going to them and saying, "Hey, are you in menopause?" I would suggest that you not say that. When you're providing support and resources, that you do it for the whole organization so that everybody is well-educated about what women go through with their health and how it could potentially impact the workplace.
That's not to say that others don't have health issues and things of that nature, but I just thought it was a really interesting conversation that we were having around this topic and how employers are starting to expand and enhance their benefits to cover more, more than what we probably have traditionally done in the past.
Monique Akanbi:
I wonder if there's any employers considering parents with teenagers and the infants.
Amber Clayton:
Hey, Monique, start it. Start the conversation.
Monique Akanbi:
I know.
Amber Clayton:
We were just talking about how we all have teenagers and it could be a struggle. It could be a struggle, definitely. Thankfully, many employers have their employee assistance programs. They may have resources there that can help employees through some of the challenges. I know for me, my daughter had some challenges in school. We did some therapy, and it was covered through our health insurance, which was great.
These types of things can potentially impact someone's work performance. We were fortunate to be able to have the resources and the help to get through some of those challenges.
Wendy Fong:
We need to remove the tabooness from speaking about it.
Amber Clayton:
Yes.
Wendy Fong:
It just reminds me of when you talk about have the birds and the bees conversation with your kids. If you just talk about it specifically from a scientific way, like a factual way like, "This is going to happen. We can't deny it. It's just part of life." I just approach it that way instead of this stigma of, "Hush, hush, let's not talk about it at all," and pretend it doesn't exist.
Monique Akanbi:
Well, anyone that knows me knows ... So, I have a 19-year-old daughter and a 14-year-old son. I always joke, but I'm serious. Everyone warned me about my daughter. Everyone said, "Wait until she becomes a teenager. She's going to have an attitude." Well, my daughter was a breeze. No one warned me about that 14-year-old son I have, and how moody he was going to be.
Amber Clayton:
That is funny. Well, I appreciate what you say Wendy about removing the stigma. That's something that I try to do at least with my team and have done in the past is letting people know my own experiences, so that they understand they can open up to me about their experiences too. I'm not a psychiatrist or psychologist, nor do I want others to be able to practice that without a license.
Certainly, it could help when you have these kinds of open dialogues to understand what's going on. You really build that trust, and improve that communication, and that empathy that we talked about that leaders need to be successful.
Wendy Fong:
If anyone wants more resources on that, definitely read Brené Brown's books like Dare to Lead. She was one of our main stage speakers before at annual conference.
Amber Clayton:
Yeah, I remember.
Wendy Fong:
One of her books focuses on, to be a good leader, you have to be vulnerable. Like you mentioned Amber, sharing those stories, being able to connect. She gives the example of Marines. How are Marines able to be so united and work so hard together? It's because of the sacrifice and the vulnerability that they went through to be able to achieve that type of high productivity.
Monique Akanbi:
What if you think about is human resources. So if you're vulnerable, there's that human element. Even a resource, in knowing, sharing your experiences, that could be a form of a resource for someone that may be going through a similar situation.
Amber Clayton:
Absolutely. One of the other topics that I saw that was very popular this year was global mobility. There was an article that we had recently. They said that was one of our most popular global HR articles over the past year and pay transparency as well. Pay transparency is something that we hear about in the Knowledge Center where employers are asking us about compliance with the state laws that might require them to post the job, salary ranges, and things of that nature.
I think it's great. I know that some employers might feel like it's concerning or it might keep people from applying for jobs. You do want to know when you're applying for a position, what is the range. What's the minimum? Do I really want to apply for a position if it's not really what I'm seeking for from a salary stance? Have you heard much about pay transparency, or seen, or heard anything from the conferences or sessions that you've attended?
Wendy Fong:
Definitely, we see it as a trend in the state laws. I know California just passed that. I don't know if New York has passed it. I read that in the news that pay transparency is becoming more in demand or more of a necessity for across the workplace. I mean not just for women, I would say also for everyone, all generations. That they want to be able to know what people are making because women, and especially women of color are still making less than men. Until that gap is no longer a gap, we need different strategies to be able to close the gap. I think pay transparency is certainly a way to do that.
Amber Clayton:
Exactly. Monique, how about you?
Monique Akanbi:
I think it's more on the pay equity side of things, not necessarily pay transparency. I think what I've just seen just even in guidance is pay equity across the board, and especially closing that gap just to what you just shared Wendy on the disparity between men and women being compensated in the workplace.
Amber Clayton:
I had done a podcast with Jim Link, our CHRO, earlier this year on pay equity. It definitely was a trending topic, and I think that's something that's still going to carry over into 2024.
Monique Akanbi:
Now, I was going to say speaking of 2024.
Amber Clayton:
Actually before we go there, with the global mobility piece, of course this is more around the immigration. I know there are some policies that are going to be talked about and discussed during 2024. I'm thinking of mobility. Did you see the article where the intern was living in North Carolina but working in New York City?
Monique Akanbi:
Yes.
Amber Clayton:
Did you happen to take a look at that, Monique?
Monique Akanbi:
I did. I read and I thought it was interesting, just even the comparison because it talked about how much rent costs in New York. It was cheaper for her to fly every week to work than it was to actually live in the city.
Amber Clayton:
I think she was working one day a week in New York City in the office, and then the rest from home. I thought, "Gosh, that's a really interesting thing, going to an area that maybe has a lower cost of living and being able to work in the office just by flying in for the day." I don't know if I'd want to do that or not, but I thought it was very interesting.
Monique Akanbi:
Every week, I know, flying every week. I travel quite a bit and I'm like, "I don't know if I want to fly every week." I think it was just an interesting take on just in looking at the cost of living and what was more economical for her. I'm curious, Amber, I've had a couple of friends that have recently moved from the United States to Portugal. Ironically, these two friends don't know each other, but they have cleared out everything here and they've moved to Portugal.
One of my friends was telling me that Portugal has this program where they're more welcoming to other citizens coming, and moving there, and living there. So I'm just curious if any employers or at the Knowledge Center has even seen, especially during the pandemic. I was watching actually a show on Netflix of this couple that met each other, took a trip during the pandemic, got stuck in-
Amber Clayton:
Oh yes, that Costa Rica.
Monique Akanbi:
Three Dates.
Amber Clayton:
Did you see that?
Monique Akanbi:
Yes.
Amber Clayton:
Right. Something like that. That was great.
Monique Akanbi:
The Longest-
Amber Clayton:
Longest Date.
Monique Akanbi:
... Third Date or something. I'm not sure.
Amber Clayton:
Yes.
Monique Akanbi:
I'm curious if there are any employers that have reached out to the Knowledge Center related to some of their employees moving to other countries and being able to work remotely there.
Amber Clayton:
We have, especially during the height of the pandemic where employers were allowing more employees to work remotely. Then they were moving primarily to other states is what we were hearing, not necessarily to other countries, just because of the limitations on travel with Covid prevented some people from doing that. We definitely had heard from employers asking questions around whether or not they could allow it and what type of things that they would have to comply with as far as laws, payroll, taxes, things of that nature, anything like that, relocation expenses. So we did hear a bit about it during that period. Wendy, you were going to say something.
Wendy Fong:
Oh, because being in California, there's definitely exodus of a lot of people moving out of state because it's so, the high cost of living here. It hasn't helped the traffic though. They say all these people moved. Traffic is still bad.
Amber Clayton:
Maybe those are the tourists. I was actually just out there not so long ago for a few days.
Wendy Fong:
A lot of my friends have moved out of state, Portland in Oregon, Texas, Denver, Colorado, Las Vegas, Nevada, Florida. A lot of my friends have moved. Where is everyone going? It makes me want to think of moving too.
Amber Clayton:
Right? Yeah. Right now while inflation is not as high, they're still concerned about inflation. I heard a report recently that cost of living is still high. That prices are still high on housing and people have maxed out credit cards. So, there are still some concerns about finances and such that are happening that people are looking at those areas that are the lower cost of living areas and being able to work remotely.
Monique Akanbi:
I've seen that in New York. New York's one of the states I support. I've seen a lot of people moving from New York primarily to either Florida or some of the more southern states as well. I don't know if they're just running away from the snow-
Amber Clayton:
It would be.
Monique Akanbi:
... or cost of living, or a combination of the two. I've seen that from California and from New York, a lot of people moving away from those states.
Amber Clayton:
I definitely think that's a benefit that if an employer offers it, it could definitely be appealing and help with talent acquisition and retention. That's for sure.
Wendy Fong:
I remember reading stories how during the pandemic, people would move and not tell their employer.
Amber Clayton:
Oh, yes.
Wendy Fong:
Then employer realizing, "Wait, you live in a different state? I need to adjust your pay and based on where you live."
Amber Clayton:
Some of them were living in another country.
Wendy Fong:
Country, yeah.
Amber Clayton:
That could pose some challenges if the employer doesn't know about it. That's for sure.
Wendy Fong:
Amber, you brought up a good point about debt on the rise in credit card debt, and how it is important to offer as an employer and workplace financial planning resources, financial literacy resources, because that is something they don't necessarily teach in school. When I graduated high school and took out student loans, I had no idea what I was doing. I just knew I wanted to pay for college, and I needed to pay for college. Then, graduated with 50,000 in student loan debt.
Amber Clayton:
Student loan relief was actually one of the trending topics of 2023. I think that we'll continue to see that in 2024 where more and more employers are looking at offering that as a benefit to attract and retain employees, that student loan debt relief. I know many people would really benefit from having that.
So in speaking of 2024, what do you think is going to happen in 2024? We already talked about election year. We know there's probably going to be some drama and some things that are going to happen that are going to trickle into the workplace. We talked about civility and having conversations, and I think that's going to be a trending topic. What else, Monique?
Monique Akanbi:
Well, I think things will start to be hopefully become clearer as it relates to artificial intelligence in the workplace. We've seen that just take us by storm this year. I am hoping that in 2024 it becomes clearer how in our field we can leverage artificial intelligence and not see it as an enemy, but really leverage it to allow us to be more effective and efficient. Some of the things that we're doing, I'll share back in October.
I was facilitating the strategic planning session with the HR Virginia State Council. We were looking at their mission and their vision statement. We spent about a good 40 minutes. Everyone was just contributing and sharing what they believed that the mission and vision statement should be. Then one of the attendees said, "Well, I just put it in ChatGPT and this is what it gave me."
Literally, with the exception of modifying it slightly, they were able to use ChatGPT to just help propel them to get to a point where they had a mission and a vision statement that they felt comfortable, and that was reflective of their state council.
Amber Clayton:
That's great.
Wendy Fong:
That's a great example how you could use it in a positive way. If you think about any technology like the internet, smartphones, even the invention of the microwave, the air fryer.
Amber Clayton:
Oh, I love my air fryer.
Wendy Fong:
I know. I love it. I do. This new technology is introduced and there's always the element of fear and the unknown. The more we learn about it, and understand it, and embrace it, then the more we could use it as a benefit.
Amber Clayton:
Exactly. It can complement your work. I think there are people that are afraid that it might replace them and their jobs. If they're learning about it, if they're utilizing it, and it could actually enhance your knowledge, and be able to enhance your professional development, and help you in your career. So don't be afraid of it is what I would say. So, what else do you think might be trending in 2024, Wendy?
Wendy Fong:
Well, as we're talking about remote workplace and technology, it does bring up the point of cybersecurity as well. There has been an increase in cybersecurity attacks in the workplace and also in my personal life too. I don't know if you get random texts or phone calls that are AI generated.
Amber Clayton:
Oh my God, yes.
Monique Akanbi:
All the time.
Wendy Fong:
My aunt the other day got, I think it was AI generated phone call because someone was talking to her and asked her if her grandson had been in a car accident-
Amber Clayton:
Yes.
Wendy Fong:
... and based on her responses changed what they said in the conversation. So, it was all AI generated. So thinking about something as simple as a phone call, what type of attacks are they trying to send workers through email, through whatever applications you use, and making sure that employers have the right protocol and right training for their employees to know, to identify these type of potential attacks.
Amber Clayton:
It is scary.
Wendy Fong:
It just takes one click.
Amber Clayton:
That part is scary. I've actually heard about that scam and one where they say, "Oh, you need to send money to get your grandchild out of jail." They'll send the money. It's terrible that it happens, but it's definitely happening more and more I think.
Monique Akanbi:
My family and I, we have codes now. It works for me now.
Amber Clayton:
Oh, that's smart.
Monique Akanbi:
If the code isn't used, we know it's not real.
Amber Clayton:
That's really smart.
Monique Akanbi:
You have to do something because they're getting more and more clever, and we have to stay three steps ahead of them.
Amber Clayton:
In the workplace, I think it's really good if your IT department, your cybersecurity team, they're putting out test to make sure that your employees know what to look for because sometimes they come across and they look very legit. It looks like it's coming from the CEO like an email and asking you to do something, and it isn't the CEO.
So hopefully if you don't already, I would say definitely implement some testing to make sure that you're in training to make sure that your employees understand what to look for when they encounter these emails, or texts, or calls that come through.
Wendy Fong:
I read a story of a cyber crime where they uploaded some software virus on USB drives, and they just threw them in the company parking lot. An employee picked it up and put it in their computer, and there we go, opened up the floodgates.
Amber Clayton:
Wow, that is something else. It's funny you say that. I have one sitting in front of me, and I'm thinking, "I probably would do the same thing just to see what it is and get it back to the right person being the type of person that I am." That would, gosh, be very terrible. Thank you for sharing that. I had not heard about that one yet.
Wendy Fong:
They're getting very creative in how they get into the systems. Probably scenarios we haven't even thought of, but it's how can we be cautious and prepared for any type of attack.
Amber Clayton:
Absolutely. Well, I know that we could talk about everything that's happened this year and what's to come this 2024 all day long, but we have to wrap it up. With that, we'll just go ahead and come to the end of our show. Wendy and Monique, it's been great catching up with the two of you.
Wendy Fong:
Same to you as well, excited for the new year. I know we'll see a lot of these hot topics continue to be hot topics, not just in 2023 but develop more in 2024. I'm sure the year we'll also speed by, and we'll have this conversation again in 12 months.
Amber Clayton:
I know. It'll be here in no time.
Monique Akanbi:
I know. I'm very optimistic about 2024, and what it will bring, just looking forward to it.
Amber Clayton:
Yes. I am as well. Well, for our listeners who are members of SHRM, you could find resources specific to the topics that we discuss today on SHRM.org. Of course, if you're a member, you can also contact SHRM's Knowledge Center and ask one of our HR advisors for assistance at shrm.org/hrhelp.
For our listeners, a reminder that this podcast is approved to provide 0.5 PDCs towards SHRM-CP and SHRM-SCP recertification if you listen to the full episode. After listening, you may enter this activity ID into your SHRM activity portal, 25-3A6WT. Again, that's 25-3A6WT. Please note, this activity ID will expire March 31, 2025. If you haven't already, please subscribe so you'll never miss an episode, and be sure to rate and review the show wherever you listen to podcasts.
Feel free to reach out to me, Wendy, or Monique on LinkedIn and Twitter. If you'd like to learn more about the Honest HR Podcast, about us, or to get additional information and resources on what was discussed in today's episode, head on over to shrm.org/honesthr. To learn more about other SHRM podcasts, check out shrm.org/podcasts. Thanks again for joining us on Honest HR. Happy New Year.
Wendy Fong:
Thanks. Happy New Year. Bye everyone.
Monique Akanbi:
Happy New Year.