Wells Fargo CEO Tim Sloan says increasing wages and changing employee evaluation have helped the bank right itself after a sales scandal. Ending a practice of paying employees based on products sold has led to the lowest turnover in decades, Sloan says.

Facebook matches candidate skills to the company's needs, looking at blunders as well as successes, writes Lori Goler, head of people at Facebook. "Tomorrow's technology depends on the imagination of the people we hire today, which demands genuine intellectual curiosity, not just a great GPA," she writes.

Benefits experts say using coaches can increase employee participation in and the success of wellness programs. Craft Hayes of Bernard Health says wellness coaches can track and follow up with employees and Lindsey Bush of Gregory & Appel Insurance calls having a coach a "one-size-fits-one" approach to wellness.

Trust is the cornerstone of successful leadership and team collaboration, writes Tony Mitchell, chief evangelist at Waggl. Mitchell outlines five C's that effective leaders demonstrate to gain trust, including character, commitment and competence.

Many companies are moving away from annual reviews, but if you still use them, try to separate them from announcements about money. "Oftentimes if you have a raise or merit discussion immediately following, the person is not focused at all on hearing the feedback," says Cindy Mixon, vice president of HR for MRA, an HR training and research firm.

Two pet peeves for Mike O'Neill, CEO of BMI, are when people can't turn off their phones to focus for a meeting and when people assume a title conveys authority. "You have to do more than everybody else to keep that title, and not to be seen as living off somebody else's work," he says.