Second-chance programs, or the practice of hiring former offenders, helps employers fill talent gaps, says Johnny Taylor, CEO of the Society for Human Resource Management. Taylor offers three strategies for making second-chance initiatives work, including prerelease training and legal protection for employers.

Voice-activated artificial intelligence will allow HR to ask for and receive information about job candidates, writes William Tincup, president of RecruitingDaily. "In addition to drawing insights from existing data, voice technology can be used to screen candidates based on the way they speak," Tincup writes.

Wage growth is "remarkably more sluggish" than it was before the financial crisis, and wage stagnation is unprecedented, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development says. The OECD says that technological breakthroughs that usually drive wage increases are happening at only a few "superstar" companies and that employees are hesitant to seek wage hikes based on their post-crisis unemployment experiences.

HR should study people, business performance and customer data to gain a better understanding about their business, writes Rupert Morrison, CEO of Concentra Analytics. "HR will see far better results from data if it is used in an ongoing management process to drive positive change," he writes.

Team leaders elevate everybody's performance, including their own, when they learn exactly how team members do their jobs, writes Paul LaRue. When leaders learn employees' job tasks, they are able to improve team collaboration, figure out what barriers interrupt work and make better decisions that affect staff, he writes.