Truck drivers, package handlers, port workers, pilots and other logistics professionals are requesting new employment provisions to reward their COVID-19 performance and inflationary pressures. Employers such as UPS say they're responding by offering improved working conditions and higher salaries, while FedEx is yet to negotiate a new contract.

The purchase of GE by Haier seven years ago led to a $2 billion infusion, 4,000 new jobs and a paradigm shift to "make the work fit the person, not the person fit the work," said GE supply chain Vice President Bill Good. Digitalization and finding efficiencies in the manufacturing process were also part of a GE shift that included flexible working conditions that appeal to new subsets of part-time workers and full-time hiring aimed at "under-indexed" people.

Traditional recruitment processes don't identify the potential talent of military veterans, which is why employers need to focus more on skills, rather than job history and education, writes Robyn Grable, founder and CEO of Talents ASCEND. "Skills-based hiring removes the labels, the need for fabricating a narrative attached to a job history, and gets down to brass tacks," Grable writes.

Employers can take a hand in improving workforce health and life expectancy when they offer prevention-focused health benefits, researchers at Deloitte found. Beyond just providing primary care and free health screenings, employers also must create benefits that take into account staff members' social determinants of health, such as safe housing, good air quality and the availability of fresh produce, researchers said.

Managers need to morph into coaches to get the best out of their teams, and savvy leaders coach a team member through a disagreement with clarity, narrative, listening and vision, writes consultant and author Marlene Chism. Any of these four skills will make it "much easier ... to build bridges, get collaboration, increase accountability and get things done," Chism explains.