Ginger Fritz

Had a great conversation recently with an early-career HR professional looking to break into payroll and it reinforced something I’ve seen over and over again: 🪄There is no single “right” path into payroll (or most areas of HR, for that matter). We talked through a strategy that might surprise some people: Starting in Accounts Payable to build financial fluency, systems exposure, and credibility -then using that as a bridge into payroll. Quite frankly, It’s a smart move. What many don’t realize is that payroll sits at a unique intersection: • Compliance • Finance • HR operations But here’s the bigger issue… In many organizations, payroll falls into a gap: HR assumes Finance owns the numbers Finance assumes HR owns the data And without tight reconciliation processes in place, that gap can lead to real risk - overpayments, compliance issues, and costly errors. 💡 One of the fastest ways to stand out early in your career? Learn how to identify and fix those gaps. It’s not just about processing payroll; it’s about understanding the system behind it. For those navigating their next step: Remain curious and flexible. And don’t underestimate the power of taking a strategic “sidestep” to move forward. There are far more paths from point A to point B than most people realize. #HRLeadership #Payroll #CareerGrowth #FutureOfWork #HRStrategy #LeadershipDevelopment

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Excellent article by Josh Bersin. As I have been in the HR space the majority of my career I can see huge opportunities to deploy AI. Things that used to take me days and weeks, I can now do in minutes. What I see missing is a planned implementation. In the organizations I have been with and for me personally it has been left to random individual task focus. However, I can see that if the HR team sat down with an AI expert and completed a role and task analysis we could easily build AI into our daily HR processes that would substantially increase productivity. A simple example that I experimented with was the identification of a learning need, defining the learning objectives and translating that into content. This used to take a substantial amount of time. With AI I completed the task in about an hour. The solution is here, we just need to integrate it into the workplace. Just like anything new it will take a little while and in a few years we will forget we did differently before.

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We do all of this and more. In Healthcare HR, we take care of the people who care for people.

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If your HR team is constantly in survival mode, that’s not a resilience issue. It’s a design issue. Chronic backlog. Constant escalations. Reactive decisions. No visibility. That isn’t “just how busy environments operate.” It’s structural instability. Strong employees can compensate for weak systems for a while. They cannot sustain it. Eventually: • Morale declines. • Talent leaves. • People lose trust. • Teams stay reactive and inefficient. High-performing HR functions are not built on hustle. They are built on clarity. And clarity is a leadership responsibility.

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New year, new job… right? Well, maybe not so fast. On this #HRThursday, let’s take a quick look at the job market reality. After years in #HR, I’ve seen the same pattern: recruiting slows to a crawl in December—especially when Thanksgiving falls late, like last year. Between holiday shopping and family gatherings, few people are job hunting. But come January 2nd? Resumes start flying. So, what kind of market is waiting for these eager job seekers? ✅ Unemployment is low—closing out the year at 4.4%. ✅ New job creation? Also low. Healthcare is still hot (thank you, aging population), and leisure & hospitality saw gains. But white-collar roles? Feeling the chill. We’re in a “low-fire, low-hire” market—employers are cautious, holding steady. No mass layoffs, but no big hiring waves either. Tough news for new grads. If you’re diving into the storm, here’s my advice: 🔹 Leverage your network. Start with who you know—LinkedIn is your friend. A warm intro can move your resume to the top of the pile (it’s happened to me… thrice). 🔹 Pro tip for applicants: Name your resume file with your full name. “Updated Resume 2026” gets lost in the shuffle. Make it easy for recruiters to find you! What’s your take—are you seeing the same cautious hiring trend? Drop your thoughts below. https://lnkd.in/g_tGejbY

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Bit of an overstatement. One case against one organization does not prove the point that HR is “the problem”. Having said that, David Gish makes some good points and lessons for management to heed

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HRIS sits in a weird space between HR and IT. On one side, you have technical people who understand how the system works and how to get the most out of it. They know how the sausage is made. On the other, you have someone who understands all of the human side of HR — compliance nuances, employee experience, and what is actually happening behind the clicks. In many cases, HR and IT just don’t speak the same language. This can lead to hours lost in configuration, testing, and retesting just to get it all aligned. Lately, I’ve noticed HRIS leadership roles leaning extremely technical, with a line about “partnering with HR” with the expectation to understand HR end-to-end practically non-existent. In my experience, the best outcomes happen when the leader truly has a foot in both worlds and they are fluent in both languages, rather than relying on two SMEs to translate back and forth. Are you seeing similar? How was this played out in your organizations?

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When Lehigh Valley Health Network (LVHN) faced rising nurse turnover and hiring struggles, they partnered with Korn Ferry for a solution that went beyond quick fixes. The result? A holistic RPO strategy that: ✅ Improved nurse retention ✅ Increased hires by 15.5% ✅ Saved $43M+ in traveler expenses By aligning workforce optimization with EVP activation, LVHN stabilized staffing levels and elevated their frontline care — proving that the right talent strategy drives both human and financial outcomes. This is what sustainable healthcare workforce transformation looks like. Curious how they did it? 👉 Read the full story here: http://bit.ly/43evDvd #TalentAcquisition #HealthcareRecruitment #RPO #WorkforceOptimization #EVP #KornFerry https://bit.ly/3S1izV5

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For those who minimize the importance of HR in an organization - we are looking out for your people and for your business. It’s not simple “admin tasks” that get performed on a daily basis, it’s people-oriented crisis management and prevention. It’s ensuring company culture is protected. It’s helping boost employees’ professional development and expand workforce productivity. HR is the heart of the organization, keeping everything in check. Many times overlooked, a vital component of every organization.

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How much do you expect from a candidate for an internship? My daughter is searching for internships and shared the process for one that I had to share. Some thoughts: Just because you can demand a lot during a tough market doesn't mean you should. The amount of complexity in any job search process should be aligned with the role. The process you design for your candidates says a lot about how you value time. Your time, your team's time, and the candidate's time. If this is a one size fits all process or boilerplate job description language, you need to consider your employer brand. If it takes this much to decide about an internship, you need to reevaluate the skills of the team doing the process. ##jobsearch #hr #talentacquisition #interview #internship

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This is the time of year when organizations finalize performance outcomes and lock in talent plans. For HR, this is not administrative work. It’s a moment of consequence. Greatness doesn’t live in ratings, grids, or labels. It lives in the agency we activate next. Our role is to ensure performance and talent discussions translate into: • Real mobility pathways, not static classifications • Succession plans that build depth, not dependency • Org design decisions that remove friction and create opportunity • Leaders who leave the room knowing what must change, not just what was decided If nothing shifts after these conversations—roles, access, exposure, development—then we’ve measured performance without enabling progress. This season is where HR moves from observer to architect. Because greatness isn’t owned by a few—it’s unlocked through the systems we design for many.

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Strategic workforce planning isn’t optional- it’s essential! If your workforce planning stops at headcount forecasting and doesn’t include intentional workforce development, you’re reacting to change instead of preparing for it. SHRM’s recent article on strategic workforce planning highlights how organizations are using proactive talent strategies to: • Assess current capabilities and future needs, • Close skills gaps through upskilling and reskilling, and • Build agility in a rapidly evolving business environment. SHRM This kind of planning moves HR beyond compliance and into true strategic partnership with the business. Question for you: How is your organization integrating workforce development into its strategic planning in 2026? Article: https://lnkd.in/eQmBqp3n SHRM

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When an operator confides in me that their labor needs a “fix,” they often believe they already have the answer. The hands-on ones may be onto something — but never, yes never, to the full extent. I’ve learned to meet them where they are. And once I’m inside, I begin to shed light on what else is actually “broke.” It’s come to teach me that an elevator pitch just doesn’t cut it — despite arguably offering some of the most consequential solutions for improving both financial performance and operational efficiency & stability. Instead, tell me (and kvetch) about your labor and workforce challenges— and I’ll show you how we can address them and some more... If everything is “fine” and my only way in is an elevator pitch, it would probably look a lot like the “About” section in my bio 👀

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Take the people out of the equation? Yikes! That sounds cold, especially coming from an HR leader. But when we’re redesigning an organization or department, or even just workflows and processes, that’s exactly what we need to do at first. Of course, we need to engage our employees fully, listen carefully, and understand the work in depth, but we shouldn’t design systems around people. Even small, well-intentioned adjustments, like adding duties to “keep a star engaged” or bending a job to fit someone’s preferences, can quietly chip away at structure and fairness over time. When structures are built or are slowly eroded in deference to individual skills or preferences instead of organizational goals and strategy, things get messy: ✅ Role clarity disappears and is replaced by confusion ✅ Fairness and accountability suffer ✅ Processes become inefficient and inconsistent A few years ago, I inherited an HR org structure that was messy and ineffective. Everyone was doing a little bit of everything, and it was almost impossible to focus on anything. Recruiting lagged, service suffered, the HR team was drained and key stakeholders were frustrated. We engaged the team from the very beginning, communicating openly, listening carefully, and doing a deep dive into every process, every task, every handoff. Then we took a hard look at the structure itself. And as I like to say, we “blew it up” and started from scratch. We rebuilt around goals and strategy, grouping work by function, eliminating redundancies, and clarifying roles. Throughout the process, people stayed at the center, but design decisions were anchored in organizational goals, not individual preferences, ensuring the integrity of our systems. ✅ Time-to-fill positions declined 📉 Job vacancy rates dropped 📈 Engagement rates rose 💬 Internal customer satisfaction increased ⚡ Service response time improved 😊 And the HR team was happier, too! Have you seen the integrity of an organizational design erode to retrofit individual needs or preferences? Have you seen fairness and equity issues arise? #Leadership #PeopleAndCulture #OrganizationalDesign #HRStrategy #ClarityAndAlignment #WorkplaceCulture #EmployeeEngagement #ChangeLeadership

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Many individuals on LinkedIn, whether actively job searching or not, ponder the question, "What should I do with my life?" A recent CNBC article and the book "Becoming You" it mentions provide interesting insights and tools to guide us along this journey. The article delves into valuable questions and assessments that can aid us in this personal exploration. It's definitely worth a read. Link to the article: https://lnkd.in/gkUpRRs5

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Employee engagement isn’t about parties or special days we put on a calendar. It’s about meaningful connections with our teams. One person or department cannot simply drive this initiative. It’s a full culture involvement. How does the top talk and connect to their direct team members will directly impact how other leaders treat and speak to their teams. Once this is done, companies will see a culture change.

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Many employees say they’re “fine.” But in today’s workplace, “fine” can hide burnout, absenteeism, or quiet disengagement. The challenge for employers is that by the time those signals become visible, the cost to the employee and the organization is already significant. Next week I’ll be speaking at The Conference Board’s Employee Health Care Conference in New York on how organizations can spot early warning signs of employee distress and intervene sooner. Our session, “When ‘Fine’ Isn’t Fine: Spotting and Addressing Employee Distress Early and the Cost of Overlooking Early Warning Signs,” will explore how employers can move beyond crisis response to better understand how employees are truly feeling day to day, address the full spectrum of mental health needs, and build cultures where proactive care is the standard. I’m looking forward to the conversation with Lori Janjigian and Steve Lensing. If you’re attending the conference, I’d love to connect.

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