Here’s What Concerns HR and Talent Managers the Most

Editor’s Note: We feature posts from Mark Toth, chief legal officer for Manpower North America, here on TLNT. He recently asked readers to his Manpower Employment Blawg to send in their No. 1 work concern, and the responses were such that we decided to list them here.

In preparation for my most recent webinar, we asked you: What ONE thing concerns you most about the world of work right now?

We got a whopping 772 answers, many of them brimming with angst and emotion. Here’s basically what you said:

Compliance, and other workplace concerns

Compliance was one BIG area of concern. Here are some of the concerns you expressed:

Increasing compliance complexity with decreasing resources.
Staying up-to-speed when the law changes every 15 seconds.
Navigating the ADA, FMLA and WC maze.
FLSA misclassification issues: one error can = big $$$.
Background screening and the EEOC.
Retaliation claims popping up everywhere.
Increasing diversity without increasing reverse discrimination claims.
OFCCP proposed rules scare me.
New privacy rules: 500 pages???
NLRB = pit bulls.
Drugs in the workplace: Will employers soon have to provide bong rooms?
Social media HELP!!!
Possible impacts of new laws and regs that we haven’t heard of yet.

Deeper issues that trouble you

Some of your concerns went much deeeeeper, to the very fabric of the workplace if not society as a whole. A representative sampling:

Historically humongous levels of stress at all levels.
Lack of respect and trust pervading the workplace.
The looming specter of mass RIFs on the horizon.
The growing gap between top exec and other employee pay.
Rising entitlement and slackerishness.
Growing lack of ethics (especially at the top).
Finding qualified candidates.
Keeping talented employees engaged in unstable times.
The aging of the workforce.
Keeping employees safe in an increasingly violent world.
Maintaining work-life balance in an out-of-whack world.
A government incapable of setting aside petty partisan bickering to get anything done.

Thanks so much for expressing yourselves.

This was originally published on Manpower Group’s Employment Blawg.