Workplace Trends at Principal Financial
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Workplace Trends at Principal Financial Group
Amber Johnson
Bellevue University
Fundamentals of HR Management
Professor Suzanne Richie
June 23, 2020
Workplace Trends at Principal Financial
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Abstract
The Society for Human Resource Management has created special expertise panels to
identify the needs of the HR profession. There are currently 8 trends that can affect an
organizations HR department. I will review 6 of the 8 and identify which would have the greatest
impact and which would have the least impact on Principal Financial Group. The top 3 trends that
HR Experts are forecasting that would have the most impact on my organization are “Demographic
changes, Competition for talent and Global Issues”. The 3 trends that my organization would
benefit the least from are “Sense of insecurity, the Impact of the economy and the Growing
complexity of government legislation”. I will explain why these trends can or cannot be influential
to the organization and what can be changed to get the greatest impact. Overall, I believe that my
organization does a great job following trends and staying ahead of the curve however there is
always room for growth and improvement. With these changes I believe that my organization can
continue being one of the best companies in to work for as well as increase its ranking from 7th
among its top 10 competitors.
Workplace Trends at Principal Financial
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Principal Financial Group is a Life insurance and Annuity company in Des Moines Iowa.
The organization has been around for more than 100 years growing from selling life insurance to
retirement plans. Principal does business in more than 70 companies and has more than 19
million customers. According to Principal it is the number 1 provider for retirement plans in
many different areas. The company is currently number 3 provider of group benefits which
include dental, life and disability. Lastly the company prides itself on its workplace culture and is
listed as Americas best employer for women, best place to work in information technology, one
of NAFE top companies for executive women and one of Americas best employers for Diversity
(“About Us,” n.d).. Principal has won many awards and has a half trillion dollars in assets
however the organization doesn’t do it for those reasons. The company was created to help
people and that is at the base of all the business they do for both their customers and their
employees.
Demographic Changes
Demographic changes in the workplace is a trend that is affecting my organization. The
company has been around for more than 100 years and has prided itself on retaining great
employees. This means the current employee pool are aging and retiring leaving many positions
unfilled. In addition to ageing population there are many other common demographic and social
changes that affect organizations and that includes single parent families becoming more
Workplace Trends at Principal Financial
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common, employees filling multiple roles within their household like work, chores, and
parenting and caring for elderly parents (Resume, 2018b). Lastly one of the biggest demographic
changes is the 83 million millennials that have become the largest generation surpassing the baby
boomers. While some of these changes can be remedied immediately by recruiting to fill
positions there are some aspects that my organization should take into consideration when
looking toward the future employment of the company. “While the millennial generation anchors
the younger pool of employees entering the labor force, the sizeable baby boom generation
which is currently 76 million strong actually makes up the largest segment of today’s workforce”
(“The 3 Massive Demographic Shifts Changing the Workplace Right Now,” 2015). With
mortality rates being low, “one in five women will live to age 96 while one in five men will live
to 93” (Coombs, 2015). Living longer could mean that these individuals could need to stay in the
