A successful mentorship program should take the time to make careful matches, be both flexible in its approach and focused on its objectives, and drive a genuine conversation that benefits both mentors and mentees. A program that achieves all these things builds trust, helps identify problems (and their solutions) in a timely manner, and emphasizes that offering staff meaningful support is a priority for the company.

Creating pride in and loyalty to the company is key to generating revenue-increasing employee performance. In order to cultivate those sentiments in their workforces, many businesses turn to incentive programs that recognize strong performance. Not all incentive programs are created equal, however, with many outdated employee-of-the-month efforts doing more harm than good to organizational morale.

As leaders and HR departments move away from last year's "keep the lights on" approach, they're turning their attention toward determining how best to help their organizations grow and innovate. With the rise of machine learning and artificial intelligence, the only way for organizations to survive and grow is to change their employee experience model by shifting from treating employees as resources to treating them as valued and respected human beings.

For most women, returning to work after maternity leave is, at the very least, complicated. No matter how much they love their jobs, their bosses, and their colleagues, and no matter how eager they are to return to the professional world, many new mothers feel conflicted about transitioning back to the workplace (and away from being with their new children constantly).

Many companies, too, face challenges during this turbulent period, as they struggle to support and retain their people. A study by the U.S. Census Bureau found that "one in five women quit their job before or shortly after the birth of their child in 2006 - 2008."¹ But it doesn't have to be this challenging for women to balance motherhood and their careers.

During this pandemic, the frontline manufacturing workforce has played a critical role in the economy by continuing to work behind the scenes to ensure that hospitals, pharmacies, grocery stores, restaurants, and other essential businesses have the goods and supplies they need to keep going. In addition, many manufacturers have demonstrated incredible adaptability by pivoting away from their normal operations and toward producing the vital goods those frontline workers need (masks, ventilators, etc.).