Hard to believe, but the first quarter of 2016 has come and gone. What's the March HR news that people have been talking about?

Could Your Company Culture be Killing Your Business? 

As if corporate culture weren't already on your mind,  recent events at Zenefits drove home how important culture is to business vitality and how hard it can be to reform a company culture gone wrong. But culture is such a broad concept. What does it mean?

Culture is "becoming a context within which leaders are beginning to pay attention to human beings rather than skill sets," says China Gorman on ERE Media. Tom Perrotti adds, "Organizations that create a culture defined by meaningful work, deep employee engagement and job and organizational fit will likely attract and keep top talent." Others point out the importance of developing leadership and "learning how to work as a team, with the best interest of the organization first and foremost." At Bright Horizons, we call companies that do all these things Dream Companies, and we offer tips on how to become one.

Student Loan Assistance: Closing the Benefits Gap

The newest benefit to attract and retain top talent continues to gain ground in the marketplace, and for good reason. Interest seems very high at law firms, but a variety of organizations spanning diverse industries now offer the benefit to their employees. American Student Assistance's "Life Delayed" survey found that, all other things being equal, 76% of respondents' job choice would be based on an employer's willingness to offer a student loan repayment program. Student loan assistance could also prove vital as HR leaders seek to close the "pre-nesters gap" in their benefits strategies. Could launching a student loan assistance program be your path to winning over Millennials and more?

Marketing Your Benefits: How to Talk so Employees will Listen

Traditional methods for communicating to employees about their benefits don't seem to be working.  But your efforts to craft a benefits strategy that attracts, retains, and supports the best and brightest will be moot if those employees have no idea what's available to them. In an increasingly digital world, meeting employees where they are - like those phones we all seem to be surgically attached to - might be your best bet. Whatever you do, try not to overload employees with too many or too frequent communications. They're busy enough already.

When all else fails, try giving your employees something they really want  - such as these companies that give their employees unlimited tuition reimbursement .

Strategic HR in the Evolving Workplace 

What do you need to know for the next generation of HR? This TEDx presenter sees attention to job satisfaction as a key (and measurable) component of an organization's future financial health. Some say we're moving from Chief Talent Executives to Chief Employee Experience Officers.  And overall, with interest in leave on the rise, we'll need to turn our attention to career on-ramping, with one company not only pioneering "returnships," but also launching a nonprofit to help other employers put similar mid-career internships in place.

Women (and Men) at Work 

International Women's Day brought continued attention to the gender pay gap and what employers can do to help attract, retain, and remove career mobility barriers for women in the workplace.

To that end, Salesforce (a best company to work for and a Bright Horizons client) recently revealed the details behind its $3 million effort to close its gender gap, and how it's encouraging others to do the same. The Feds are interested too. Here's what you need to know about the new federal rules to close the pay gap.

There are also questions about why Millennial women are burning out. New research says many are struggling under the weight of their own expectations or the pressures of work and family; some are just unhappy in their jobs and don't see a clear career path. Our own research has confirmed that, while work/life balance is a growing concern for modern dads, many women are still disproportionately affected by such challenges.

And showing that it's not all about moms, Major League Baseball reinvigorated the conversation about whether #familyfirst applies to all working moms or dads. And this CEO talked about becoming a mom and how it drove her to view paternity leave in a whole new light.

Finally, our own research on today's dads has shown that they have new expectations of themselves as parents and pass this expectation on to their employers.