Mental health and coaching startup BetterUp appointed Prince Harry as its first chief impact officer, a role that's more common in the nonprofit world but is emerging within other companies in the corporate sector, such as Salesforce. "It's a meaningful and meaty role," says CEO Alexi Robichaux, adding that Prince Harry is "synonymous with this approach of mental fitness and really investing in yourself."

Gallup calls 2020 a roller coaster year for remote employee engagement, with a stark increase during the Black Lives Matter movement, then a significant drop amid "disengaged" employees struggling with remote work fatigue. Lynee Luque, NerdWallet's vice president of people, said employee communications requires "innovation and creativity with an emphasis on being as thoughtful and unexpected in our approach to employee engagement as we are in our approach to our products."

Forty-two percent of male workers asked for a pay raise last year, compared with just 27% of women, and 27% of those men received a raise, compared with 13% of women, according to a Glassdoor survey. In addition, 33% of women accepted the salary they were offered in a new job, compared with 29% of men.

HR leaders are investing in new tech platforms -- including automation, sensor tech for monitoring health, personal protective equipment trackers and work-shift schedulers -- to boost productivity and ensure employees can return to the office safely. "I think people are going to do a trial and error ... to see what the future of their workplace is going to look like," said ServiceNow's Kevin Nanney.

Use a survey and a ranking system to see if your executive-level leaders are communicating effectively, providing direction and being positive role models, S. Chris Edmonds says in this video. "Just as you measure progress towards desired results regularly, you must measure the effectiveness of your executive team regularly," Edmonds says.

I’m old enough to remember when Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, was born. I recall his mother, Princess Diana, shining with happiness as she and Prince Charles introduced the tiny bundle to the world. As we watched him grow up, I couldn’t help but think that he seemed so much like his mother, determined to help improve the world and willing to break with tradition to do it. And I expect he’ll do exactly that in his role as chief impact officer at BetterUp. 

Breaking with tradition is good practice. It forces us into new territory and ignites the engines of creativity. And it’s from those engines that we get some of our best hires, smartest ideas and successful products.

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