At the start of the last decade, human resource leaders faced a unique set of circumstances: The global economy was in the throes of a historic recession, leading many of the world’s largest and most prominent companies to undertake mass layoffs, downsize operations and cope with tumultuous markets. At the same time, the proliferation of internet access and advancements in personal technology made employees more tethered to work than ever before.
At the time, nobody could have guessed exactly what forms that technology would take, and it would have been nearly impossible to predict the degree to which politics and social issues would become a workplace matter.
