Spotlight on Eclipse 2019: Laurie Ruettimann

We recently wrapped up our fourth PlanSource Eclipse conference in beautiful Park City, Utah.

This intimate annual event combines industry experts and benefits professionals for three days of networking, collaborating, learning and inspiration.

This year, we were honored to host the one and only Laurie Ruettimann for not one but two dedicated speaking events. In addition to leading one of our general sessions on Bridging the Digital Divide in the Workplace, Laurie joined us a day early to lead a learning session with our Human Resources Advisory Council.

Her high-energy presentation explored how contemporary HR professionals and business leaders can step forward and rethink human capital management from the ground up. Laurie also shared stories on the latest industry research, data and evidence-based strategies for talent acquisition and retention. She also finished on a high note and led a thought-provoking Q&A session with council attendees.

Here are a few notes on the responses from the engaging session that Laurie led. How would you answer the following?

What’s one thing brokers could do to improve your life?

HR Council Member Response

“Building relationships with our broker and PlanSource together is vital. They send a lot of emails back and forth and our broker now drives up and we all meet face to face. We met for an hour and got a week’s worth of emails taken care of. We all worked together, and it was so much fun. It’s good for PlanSource to see the broker’s process and vice versa—communication is key.”

The Bottom Line, via Laurie

Relationships are the currency of business. The fact that both teams come together is a testament that working human cannot be replicated by technology and cannot be outsourced.

How will people find HR jobs in the future?

HR Council Member Response

“If we focus on what we are doing right now, virtually everything is online. We have managers that ask about running an ad in a newspaper—and we tell them ‘please don’t’! They use Indeed—they hire truck drivers and it’s a tight market. They are getting creative in what they are doing. Even staying up with Indeed—it changes so rapidly. It’s going to all be virtual.”

Other HR Trends To Watch, via Laurie

Gig economy—52% of people get their jobs still from referrals. Most workforces are 60% of employees, 40% contractors. The amount of folks that are enrolled in benefits is shrinking because the gig economy is growing so much! To have someone manage benefits is a joy, it’s so nice. But it’s not happening for the gig economy.

Basic income —it’s a concept being talked about in Washington, where the government takes in so much money and it redistributes it to you rather than take it in. It’s a dividend fund to pay American back for the amount of time and energy they spend online because we make Amazon, Google, etc. money every time we are on their sites. Gen Z is loving the idea of basic income. The future of work is in the air, in 2025 the chances of us being full-fledged employed are going to be less. (More on Basic Income here)

Professionally, how does the #metoo movement affect you?

HR Council Member Response

“We haven’t done much to address the ‘me too’ movement at work. Long-term employees don’t engage; they complain, but they don’t engage.”

Making “Me Too” Meaningful, via Laurie

What I heard about ‘me too’, every facet of HR is complicit. ‘Come to us and we’ll take care of it’—but HR doesn’t. HR doesn’t feel like they have the power to change anything. HR is 60-70% female. The message in 2019—if you see it, you have to deal with it! We are in the experience economy and you have to manage that. If you can’t deal with the complaints, you need to find a new job. Quit, be a leader and make sure you can find solutions.

You can see more from Laurie by visiting her website at laurieruettimann.com or by following her on Twitter at @lruettimann.