This year's presidential election campaign is proving to be a challenge for offices that are normally friendly and welcoming as tension on each side threatens to erupt during work hours. However, employers should recognize that banning political talk outright could damage morale and lead to legal trouble, experts say.

The Air Force is working to remedy the lack of diversity in its ranks. The service branch is making diversity a priority because its members are mostly white males, and although women and minorities are joining the Air Force, they are dropping out at higher rates.

The California Restaurant Association is backing America's first large-scale employment program for transgender people, created by El Pollo Loco franchisee Michaela Mendelsohn. The California Transgender Workplace Project pays for the first 60 hours of a new employee's wages to incentivize restaurants to participate and become certified as trans-friendly.

Patagonia's paid parental leave, on-site child care and other family-friendly benefits have helped the company retain 100% of the women employees who have become mothers in the past five years. "It's a natural outcome of providing this kind of support, not just to working moms but to working dads too," said CEO Rose Marcario.

MyCareerShines is an online tool that enables students to explore various career sectors and create a plan to pursue specific job paths. More than 200,000 middle- and high-school students in Florida have free access to the tool.

Blue Diamond Growers CEO Mark Jansen has learned to appreciate the contributions of all team members. "Leadership happens at all levels, and there is a lot more than just your place on the org chart that determines how much of a leader that you are," he says.