The announcement from e-commerce behemoth Amazon that the company would be raising its minimum wage for all U.S.-based employees as of November 1, 2018 captured headlines across the country, especially in the world of HR.

Millennials are being officially ousted as the new kids on the block. By 2020, Generation Z (Gen Z) will make up 20% of the total workforce and here’s what you need to know about them.

You’re filling out a job application and just as you’re about to hit “submit”, you see the dreaded “Please provide the salary for your current position” question. Plus, it has a little red asterisk next to it, so you know you are going to have to answer it to even be considered. Well in recent years a combination of case law and statewide and local statutes are beginning to change that practice, or at least removing that pesky red asterisk.

With the war for talent in full-effect, it’s important to look more deeply into how compensation factors play in an organization’s ability to attract, engage, and retain top talent. Support your people strategy and stay competitive by keeping up with compensation trends.

This scenario may sound familiar—you are anxiously searching for a new position and filling out an online job application for your dream role, when a required question appears: ‘What is your current salary?’. Or worse, you are at an in-person interview that seems to be going great when an interviewer asks you what you currently earn.

It is true that becoming a “great workplace” doesn’t happen overnight. But instead of getting overwhelmed by a seemingly endless list of programs and offerings (and money...being “great” must cost so much money!) that so called “great workplaces” should all have, let’s take a look at what it means really to be “great”—with a few practical bite-sized pieces that you might be able to tackle at your organization right now sprinkled in for good measure.

By now you’ve probably seen more than your fair share of articles predicting another year of 3% pay increases nationally and plenty of opinions from expert economists weighing in on why wage growth hasn’t taken off like it’s “supposed to” when unemployment is low and demand for workers is high.

Compensation data is an essential element in organizations' efforts to competitively recruit and retain top talent. This data is used to ensure market competitiveness in employment offers, and provides a foundation for complete compensation strategy reviews. Be careful about the data you use for compensation decisions. It should come from credible compensation surveys.

A study by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation found that “more than half of millennials (56%) agreed that a quality benefits package influences their choice of employers and 63% say that benefits are an important reason in staying with an employer.”