When You Take Care of Yourself, You Take Care of Your Business
BY Tabitha Cabrera January 21, 2025The importance of well-being in the workplace has remained a focus of organizations around the globe, as William “B.J.” Warren, head of HR effectiveness at Bayer describes, “Pause, reflect, and recognize. It’s all right to take a beat. You have to take breaks.”Constance Jones of NBC 6 South Florida, moderated a panel discussion at From Day One’s Miami conference about “Cultivating Well-Being Through Workplace Culture.” How do you foster a workplace environment that your employees are excited to be a part of? The panel brought insight into that question with a variety of viewpoints but a general theme that workplace culture fosters well-being within the organization. The Three F’s of Creating a Sense of Community and BelongingWorkplace autonomy fosters a community environment as Kathleen Procario, VP of HR, North America, Bacardi, outlines the three F’s that build a culture of community and belonging at Bacardi. “We have something called the three F’s, which are our fearless founder, fearless family and founders mentality, and it’s ingrained in everything we do. It’s very rewarding to be working at Bacardi. It’s a place where we’re encouraged to be ourselves and really be authentic in our work.”Procario emphasizes that fostering a sense of connection to the organization requires employees to see community culture reflected throughout the business while also promoting individuality and authenticity in the workplace.Creating a Workplace that Promotes a Desire to be PresentAs with many large organizations around the globe, many employees find themselves spending more time at home, away from the office and co-workers, and using technology to bridge the lack of physical connection. What keeps employees connected not only to the people they directly work with, but also with the company as a whole? Fernando Casadevall, CHRO of World Kinect Corp., shares the importance of trying new things in the workplace to keep the environment fresh. It’s important to “create those opportunities where people can be seen, and maybe have opportunity for advancement as well–-seeing and working with each other and kind of sprinkling in some events, and then mix it up, right? You do something for a couple of months, change it up, because people just get bored of it, right? So you have to always be trying to change things around that, and maybe go seasonal, do things that are important. It’s not one size fits all for a company, because what’s important for us here in Miami is different for our employees in Singapore than it is in the UK, right?”Panelists shared their ideas on the topic "Cultivating Well-Being Through Workplace Culture," at From Day One's Miami conference Knowing where people are working is a major factor in bridging the gap between large spaces created by remote or hybrid work. Organizations need to be creative with what is important to their specific employees. Taking a survey of what is important to the company as a whole while pairing down to the individual to see what community building activities make sense for all. How to Make Every Worker’s Encounter with HR SatisfyingMaking HR more than just a logistic place for procedural points of contact within a company changes the willingness of employees to seek out those connections when it is needed the most. What moments matter to the employees sitting across from you and what can you do to foster a conversation centered around understanding. “For us it’s about looking at what are those moments that really matter for employees, where the interactions that they have with HR or the conversations that they have with people leaders are those about very meaningful things,” said Warren. “So even in the introduction, about if you lose a family member, or maybe you’re bringing someone new into your life, that’s the conversation you’re having and talking about those not where do I find my paycheck or how do I enter my performance goals? And so, we really focus heavily on first staying, what are those moments that matter?” he said. The Power of Food in the WorkplaceWho doesn’t like a free lunch but more importantly who doesn’t like a mental break in the middle of the day? Zak Kovat, director, people operations and talent at ezCater said “From our lunch rush report last year, we surveyed 5000 US office workers. 90% of them said that they’re more productive when they actually take a lunch break.” But they found that only around 38% of people take their lunch break–so offering it and encouraging it is an inclusive perk. Food might not always be the answer but often a snack paired with the company of a coworker might be. Promoting a Culture of Well-being in the WorkplaceEach of the panel members discussed what they do to make sure they are taking care of themselves in the workplace. Some of the practices of the panel members included, being intentional with breaks, yoga, going on walks, using technology like an Apple Watch as a reminder to move, weekly check ins on Sunday, participating in mini learning activities of 5-30 minutes, and doing things that you really enjoy. Jeff Williams, U.S. president and CEO of Aptia, says it’s important to ensure people are taking their time off. “Make them take time off, because not only are they going to do better, but the employees that you keep saying are two years away gives them a chance to step in and lead on behalf of those leaders, not just notionally, but really making quality decisions while those leaders are off. Make the leaders take the time, make the people step up and get some real experience as part of your succession plan.”There is life outside of work, and well-being can be brought into the workplace. It takes a conscious effort of awareness and practice not only for companies to promote well-being but for employees to feel good about participating. Tabitha Cabrera, Esq. is a writer and attorney, who has a series of inclusive children's books, called Spectacular Spectrum Books.
Developing Leaders Who Can Balance Productivity with Individuality
BY Katie Chambers January 14, 2025When Carlos Pardo joined Microsoft 20 years ago as an intern in sales, he knew his ultimate goal was to work in finance. So, he took a gamble and reached out to the CFO, Roberto Palmaka, and asked for a coffee meeting with the note, “I’d love to work for you one day.” Palmaka agreed. One coffee led to two, which led to three, and when a finance opportunity came up, Pardo was top of mind. Now as chief learning officer, Latin America at Microsoft, Pardo is responsible for helping workers navigate their own individual career paths and encouraging leaders to be as generous with their time, expertise, and resources as Palmaka, now a close friend, was to him.In managing a diverse and flexible workforce, today’s leaders need expertise well beyond their technical skills that got them into management roles. How can employers identify and develop leaders with the human insights, confidence and authority to make myriad decisions a day about the people they supervise? How can they set high expectations as well as embracing the individuality of team members? Pardo and other executive panelists tackled these questions at From Day One’s Miami conference.A Culture of Learning and CreativityEncouraging curiosity and professional development can help workers grow in a way that is unique to their own personalities and paths. At Microsoft, this is integral to the corporate values system. “Learning is a celebrated part of Microsoft’s culture and growth mindset,” said moderator Michael Butler, business reporter at the Miami Herald.“We look for everybody to be a learn-it-all versus a know-it-all,” said Pardo. The company promotes this through Learning Days, full days dedicated to professional development at whatever skill an employee chooses. Learning is also integrated into performance management systems, with the goal of having workers articulate lessons learned from both successes and setbacks.Along with encouraging learning, leaders should promote creativity to encourage individuality, in a way that is actionable and sustainable. “Most people think that creativity is about coming up with possibilities. It’s actually not just that. It’s at the intersection of possibility, constraint, and purpose,” said Steven Kowalski, principal, organization & learning evolution at Genentech. He suggests leaders “craft a purpose that’s both meaningful and durable and that has some tension in it.” Embracing Individuality and Fostering InclusionAI can provide transparency and empowerment when it comes to skills matching, career mapping, and professional development, driving employee engagement. Technology can help you understand the skills of current talent or potential candidates and match them with available roles within the organization, says Andrea Shiah, head of talent strategy and transformation at Eightfold. “When you give that transparency, suddenly your employees understand where they can go instead of having to know somebody or [already] understand roles across the organization,” Shiah said. “If you allow your employees to see that, they’re empowered to drive their career in whatever direction they want to go.”The executive panelists spoke about "Developing Leaders Who Can Balance Productivity with Individuality"This kind of transparency also has a marked impact on DEI. “Diversity really rises when it’s no longer who you know, but what you know,” Shiah said. Another way to foster inclusive leadership, says Abbe Partee, VP, head of certified learning and development at DHL Supply, is simple: “Understanding the importance and treating each of our people as humans.” DHL Supply makes this a core tenet of its leadership training program for frontline supervisors. “We’ve got such a diverse group in our workforce today that it’s really important that the people who lead the majority of our population know how to be good leaders and know how to be inclusive. Productivity is great, but that human side is absolutely first,” she said.Today’s multigenerational workforce poses unique challenges and opportunities. “This is the first time we’ve had five generations of people in our workforce,” said Rocki Rockingham, chief HR officer, GE Appliances. “Our frontline managers now need to be retrained and think differently about how they have workers who are Gen Zers or Millennials who want to work differently and who need different things and who have different expectations. When you create a learning environment, it has to be an environment where people learn the way they need to learn.”Supporting Long-term Career DevelopmentThese early career employees are especially invested in career development opportunities, so employers must keep innovating to attract and retain young talent. Partee says DHL Supply offers a platform called Career Marketplace, that shows employees all the training development opportunities and open roles in their area. “We also have extensive talent panels and employee development reviews,” she said. “We spend a lot of time each year talking about people and talking about their careers. How can we help them? How can we sponsor them to make sure that they can have a nice, successful space in DHL?”Genentech offers something similar, called Career Center. “This is founded on two core principles. One is [that] career development is actually part of your job, so you don’t have to sneak there during lunch or after work or before work. And then the career lab is not a place that’s focused on outplacement. It’s about positive internal development,” he said. Career consultants can meet with employees to discuss personalized next steps and guide them through internal learning and development initiatives.Microsoft too, Pardo says, offers internal mentorship programs, both as a way for younger employees to grow and for more senior employees to give back and share their talents. Optional projects are another “really powerful way to allow your employees to learn,” Shiah said, “in addition to just coursework.”Partee notes that junior employees need not just mentorship, but sponsorship. “A sponsor is someone who [speaks well] about you when you’re not in the room,” she said, noting that this is especially crucial for underrepresented groups who might need added support in those behind closed doors conversations. Employee resource groups (ERGs), Rockingham says, help expose diverse employees to those resources and empower them to follow up. “I encourage you [as leaders] to involve yourselves with different groups across your organization, because what it does is it provides exposure on a different level, so that you see people and that people see you,” she said.This all comes down, Kowalski says, to “a spirit of generosity.” Leaders and colleagues should be ready to support other people’s uniquely individual priorities, allowing everyone involved to grow. “To be a sponsor, to be a mentor, to be a coach means, in an organizational context, being generous with your time, with your wisdom, with your intuition, and with your social capital.”Katie Chambers is a freelance writer and award-winning communications executive with a lifelong commitment to supporting artists and advocating for inclusion. Her work has been seen in HuffPost and several printed essay collections, among others, and she has appeared on Cheddar News, iWomanTV, On New Jersey, and CBS New York.
Investing in Employees: A Key to Thriving in Uncertain Times
BY Katie Chambers January 09, 2025Many companies are trying to do more with less. But even as they work with tighter budgets, organizations still want to be able to support employees to boost engagement, increase retention, and promote professional growth. Investing in employees needs to stay top priority, no matter what.What are the most inventive, data-driven and budget-friendly ways to invest in your people, from innovative benefits, recognition, workshops, mentorship, and more? At From Day One’s Miami conference, a panel of leaders spoke about “Investing in Employees: A Key to Thriving in Uncertain Times,” in a session moderated by Paul Bomberger, independent journalist and former business editor at the Miami Herald.Managing Employee WorkloadTraditional ways of thinking about workload, says Ernest Paskey, practice leader, North America at Aon, are rooted in the industrial age, when physical output was key. For knowledge and service organizations, “We have to rethink what is true productivity. Is it the number of hours sitting at a desk? Is it the number of widgets [produced], or is it something different?” Paskey said.Making sure employees understand the “why” behind their work is essential to driving satisfaction and performance. “It’s important that we bring our frontline leaders along the journey of really understanding what the strategy and vision is of the company, and not just focusing on all of the activities,” said Elizabeth Wixted, global head of talent management & DEI for CSL Behring. This also means no busy work—only give assignments that are essential to the mission. “You need to be mindful of the work you’re putting on both yourselves and your teams. Clarity is kindness.”Executive panelists spoke about "Investing in Employees: A Key to Thriving in Uncertain Times"Technological advances that can minimize workload and increase productivity should be embraced, not feared, says Loren Blandon, global head of careers and organizational development at VML. “With generative AI, there are so many things that can be done in seconds that used to take us weeks,” she said.Paskey notes that post-pandemic returns to office are not quite reaching the proper balances yet, with employees spending most of their time on calls and Zoom meetings that could have been done from home, leading to feelings of stress and dissatisfaction. “What will bring them in? It’s [social] time, it’s happy hour, it’s lunch, it’s coffee breaks,” he said. “We need that collaboration and downtime to think through the chaos of our day.” Some panelists suggested using food and organized social gatherings as an incentive to come in, while other panelists said that the opportunity to work remotely can be used as a reward for high-performing employees.Supporting Career DevelopmentCareer development opportunities should come from within, says Dana Moore, VP, HR, people & culture, luxury & lifestyle Americas, IHG Hotels & Resorts, who cites IHG’s mentorship program as one of the central ways the organization invests in its employees. “We have something called a RISE program to put women in leadership, which catapults them through a general manager role, [and] teaches them how to be well-rounded in a general manager position. And we also have a mentorship program just within our discipline [of HR] for new mentees to come in who are looking to excel in their role,” Moore said. “It’s important to have someone to tell you which way you can go, and the things you need to learn to excel.”It’s also important to recognize that not all employees are looking to ascend the ranks, especially in these post-pandemic times when people are less interested in linear or traditional paths. “A lot of folks are no longer looking to their jobs for fulfillment,” said Blandon. But that’s not to say organizations should not still invest in their growth. Even as organizations are “flattening” with fewer managers, Blandon says, employees are still interested in salary increases, building skills, and having interesting, fun, and meaningful experiences.Organizations should respect such employees, says Moore, “because that is the foundation of your company. Those are the irreplaceable employees. They know all the processes, all the procedures. They have the most valuable knowledge that can’t be bought. We owe them some interest and some investment into making sure that they do stay in that role, because they are the ones who build us up and take care of us as we’re going up, hiring managers, and creating new directors.”Bomberger notes the challenging dichotomy of supporting younger generations who value work/life balance over leadership growth, while still ensuring that your organization is primed for evolution and a transition of power. “We have to be really clear in our organizations, in our company, what is ultimately the value proposition, and what do people come here to gain in terms of their career?” Blandon said. “You may be in an industry where you’re like, ‘Don’t come here for balance because it’s super competitive in a really innovative space and we move quickly.’ We have to be clear on what the true, authentic culture is and let folks opt in or out on whether that fits their life or expectations.” That clarity, Wixted says, should start in the job interview—understanding expectations from both sides and how they can or cannot be met.Building Workplace Culture for the FutureUltimately, leaders should set the tone for office culture, be it work/life balance or a return to office. “It’s so important, especially when you think about changing behavior, you have to have the right leadership and sponsorship that’s going to express, model, and reinforce the right behavior. If they’re not expressing or modeling the right behavior, you’re not going to get the outcome that you’re desiring,” said Stacey Finnegan, AVP, people advisory services, Genpact.Going forward, Moore says, “we’re always going to have to be malleable” and ready to respond to the demands and trends of workers. “If you aren’t able to provide what works for them, then they're going to look other places.” This includes developing attractive rewards programs and comprehensive benefits packages that incorporate women’s health, fertility, and family leave options that incorporate multiple generations and lifestyles.In this vein, we all must recognize that the world is constantly evolving. “We’re talking about the key to thriving in uncertain times, and I have to say, when has it ever been certain times? And will it ever be certain times again?” Finnegan said. “I think disruption is the new norm, and we need to embrace the disruption, whether it’s new generations coming into the workforce, whether it’s technology… We’re going to be dealing with this going forward, and all the ambiguity that it brings with it.”Katie Chambers is a freelance writer and award-winning communications executive with a lifelong commitment to supporting artists and advocating for inclusion. Her work has been seen in HuffPost and several printed essay collections, among others, and she has appeared on Cheddar News, iWomanTV, On New Jersey, and CBS New York.
How to Connect a People Strategy to a Business Strategy
BY Jennifer Yoshikoshi January 08, 2025Lennar Corporation, a housing construction company based in Miami has over 13,000 employees and hundreds of thousands of trade partners. How does it maintain a strong group of staff with diverse skills and talents? Drew Holler, chief human resource officer at Lennar, says what plays well in recruiting and retaining thousands of employees is promoting a personal connection to the business.Holler spoke during a fireside chat at From Day One’s Miami conference. He and moderator Tim Padgett, Americas Editor for WLRN spoke about how HR leaders can connect people strategy to business strategy to hire, train and retain employees.Developing an Emotional Connection to the MissionWhat attracts people to Lennar is the industry it’s in: housing. Holler says that because a majority of people have a home, people can relate to the industry through the personal significance of becoming a homeowner or having the goal of home ownership.“When you buy a home, it’s the biggest asset that you’ll ever buy in your life,” said Holler. “There’s this emotional connection to the business that really plays well and then it’s also as people understand the growth potential in this industry.”Tim Padgett, Americas Editor, WLRN, NPR News, right, interviewed Lennar Corp.'s CHROLennar is able to recruit and retain employees by maintaining this deeper connection between the staff and the company’s mission. It allows them to effectively bring in the diverse talent that is necessary for Lennar to function.The company is also known for building affordable housing across the nation in states such as California, New Jersey, Arizona and Texas. Much of the nation’s population can understand the struggles of rising housing costs. As Lennar works toward building more affordable homes, people can relate to the company’s social mission. “We really do feel like our role is helping America build a more healthy housing market and to do that, there are a lot of different elements. One huge element is more attainable housing,” said Holler.AI Drives Human CreativityLike most corporate companies, the use of AI technology has become more common and embedded into the work within the industry. Holler says in the HR sector that AI has allowed for mundane tasks to become automated, freeing up time for workers to put their creative focus on other things.“There’s been little pockets where I’ve seen this already, in our business of individuals that were very heads down, doing the same repeatable tasks, that now can put their head up a little bit, not all the way, but a little bit, and so now they’re spending 50% or more of their time really adding value,” said Holler.Lennar also uses AI to generate training videos based on HR Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs). This process centralizes text based information into a video for people to digest in a different format.HR is transforming under the growth of AI technology and as the economy and corporate industry grows, Holler says it’s important to have the talented staff that will support the company in the coming years.Building a Social MissionLennar’s diversity, equity and inclusion efforts directly blend into the work it does for consumers and staff by making sure that everyone feels included. Holler emphasized that there’s an existing feeling that everyone wants to belong and the company upholds this by connecting with its team, mission and work.“If you want to have a great workplace that's productive, you want to have a workplace that actually takes care of customers’ needs. You need to have engaged employees, and the best way to do that is to make sure they feel included with their teams and with their work,” said Holler.Lennar’s mission to serve communities that need affordable housing dives into this effort towards welcoming and including all people. The company builds single-family, multi-family homes as well as housing for rent. Holler acknowledges that the “life-cycle of a consumer,” can look different for everyone and the company strives to meet the needs of all types of people.“It’s an exciting time to be in this space. You have an opportunity to make a difference in people’s lives,” said Holler.Jennifer Yoshikoshi is a local news and education reporter based in the San Francisco Bay Area.
How a Company’s Culture Shapes Each Team Member’s Experience
BY Christopher O'Keeffe January 03, 2025“He’ll be assessed like every other employee. He’ll have a performance review,” joked Zimmer Biomet’s SVP and CHRO Lori Winkler, during her recent fireside chat at From Day One’s Miami conference. She was referring to the company’s recent announcement of Arnold Schwarzenegger's new role as Chief Movement officer. “But I don’t want to deliver it to him,” said Winkler with a laugh. The role of a celebrity partner may be window dressing for some, but many of Winkler’s comments during the 20 minute discussion, about “How a Company's Culture Shapes Each Team Member’s Experience,” suggest that there is perhaps some deeply shared DNA between the company and their newest C-Suite hire, sharing a level of grit.Challenging the Return-to-Work MovementWith many business leaders pushing hard for return to office, Winkler articulated a different approach. “What we have enabled and continue to enable is a remote workforce,” said Winkler.“For the most part, we’ve said you can continue to work from home as long as you remain engaged. And we have very specific tactics for ensuring that. This has been a tremendous competitive advantage for us.”Winkler broke down some of those tactics, including engagement scoring surveys and site-specific engagement strategies, especially since the company is in 100 countries, globally. She was clear in aligning the efforts to a higher philosophical lens.“I think a culture transcends whether you’re physically together or not," said Winkler. Culture is connected to the clarity of the company’s mission, to alleviate pain and improve the quality of life for people all over the world, as well as its achievable vision, “to be the boldest med tech company in the world.”Lori Winkler, the SVP and Chief HR Officer of Zimmer Biomet, was interviewed by Dr. Paul Pavlou of the Miami Herbert Business School And then, and here is perhaps why Arnold might fit in there, Winkler dug in against companies pushing return to office. “If we looked at the data for these companies that have mandated a return to work, we would see, maybe not right away, attrition rates. And I think that’s happening now: Attrition rates are really rising, because folks have become very accustomed to what was ‘the new normal.’ It’s just the ‘normal’ now,” she said.AI and Innovative TechnologiesSession moderator Paul A. Pavlou, Dean of the Miami Herbert Business School at the University of Miami turned the topic to AI. “In this day and age, I have to ask about AI. There is no conversation without AI. How do you respond to the question from an HR perspective that AI is going to replace jobs?” he asked.Despite bringing the Terminator into the leadership suite, Winkler’s response suggests that Zimmer Biomet's approach to AI is more gradual and measured. “We have a great talent acquisition department that we just brought in house,” she said. “And I would say that we are not leveraging AI to look to its full potential yet, so we have not yet had to deal with that question.”The company instead is focused on safety and security concerns in regard to AI. “To be very frank, there’s more concern around security and confidentiality when it comes to AI. That’s more of the conversation that I hear in my organization.”Although much of the conversation focused on technology, Winkler made sure to tie things up with a human element. “I’ve come to learn this both really personally, but I try to bring it through to my professional life: stay true to who you are and lead from your heart,” she said. “Authenticity and being a human-based leader makes all the difference. So bring that caring and that love into the workspace, because it makes a huge difference, especially now.”Chris O’Keeffe is a freelance writer with experience across industries. As the founder and creative director of OK Creative: The Language Agency, he has led strategy and storytelling for organizations like MIT, Amazon, and Cirque du Soleil, bringing their stories to life through established and emerging media.
Transforming Employee Value Propositions: The Role of Well-Being
BY Angelica Frey January 02, 2025Well-being means something different to every individual. For Ebony David, VP of HR at Quest Diagnostics, a medical laboratories company, sitting is the new smoking. “[At Quest] we put a meeting in the calendar, tell everyone to put their AirPods in and take a walk,” said David.David and four other executive panelists spoke about “Focusing on Well-Being to Evolve Your Employee Value Proposition,” at From Day One’s Brooklyn conference, in a session moderated by Lydia Dishman, senior editor at Fast Company. Jim Gallic, SVP of well-being at Personify Health, a healthcare solutions provider, has a similar approach. “I work from home, and at the end of the day, I get out, walk around the yard or block, and come back through a different door,” he said. “That’s the break between home life and work life.” In a similar fashion, Ivelesse Mendez-Justiniano, chief DEI and Learning officer at NYC Health + Hospitals, the largest public healthcare system in the United States, follows the company-wide wellness initiatives: this month, it’s adaptive yoga; last month, it was plant-based eating. On the eating front, Katie Egan, general manager of DoorDash for Business, a food delivery and logistics platform, treasures the $20 credit for lunch: she places the order on her way to work, since she is usually booked in back-to-back meetings. “My lunch comes at 10:45—I get up at 5, and I am starving by 11:30, so then I grab my food between meetings, and I am not hangry, which makes me a better boss,” she tells Dishman. Ralph Nader, SVP and U.S. Head of Talent at IPG Media Brands, a global media and marketing services company, thinks that the flexibility behind the return-to-office policies adopted by his organization has been most helpful.Well-Being at Work TrendsIt’s disheartening that, four years after Covid spotlighted burnout and lack of motivation, we’re still navigating how to address these challenges. Yet, research from Gallup and SHRM shows that prioritizing well-being can boost productivity, enhance retention, and reduce absenteeism and healthcare costs. While Covid has been the greatest disruptor when it comes to talking about employee well-being, the conversation has evolved significantly in the last four years as well. “In terms of overall trends, if we look back to 2019, well-being used to be the doorknob conversation; now it’s the starting point,” says Gallic.Smart SpendingA key component is smart personalization. “How do I make it really personal: we did a lot of spending as organizations during the Covid years trying to figure out what worked and didn’t work. Exiting that, we said ‘it might be time to simplify things. How can we consolidate?’” said Gallic.“When it comes to spending money, we all have less to spend,” acknowledges David. “We all put our money where our mouth is,” she said, referring to their 2023 initiative that resulted in employees being able to get mental-health help in one hour if they’re in crisis and one week if they’re not in crisis.Panelists spoke about "Focusing on Well-Being to Evolve Your Employee Value Proposition"“People needed the benefit: when people were calling [to get mental-health services], they were put on hold, so you had people, if not in crisis, nearing it. It’s paying for itself,” she said, framing it as ROI.Mendez-Justiniano speaks in similar terms, with an emphasis on entry-level employees. “We started funding them through education—in the last year, we’ve been able to impact individuals at the very low end of the salary range, and we mentored these individuals, supported them in education, and the results are showing,” she said. “We had service aides that are now nurses, going from $40,000 to six figures. What’s best for the employee is going to have an ROI on our system.”Wellness in an Era of Return to OfficeVery early on in Covid, IPG Media Brands took the anxiety out of return-to-office policies, tabling the conversation altogether until at least 2021. “Then we really focused on the listening, asking what’s going to work, what’s not going to work,” said Nader. Different branches have different needs: tech-centric departments can thrive in remote workspaces, whereas client-services employees might itch to go back to the office.“It was a guideline, not a policy—if it’s enforced with the keycard, it reduces flexibility.” They landed on three days at the office. “We’re hearing from competitors who are going with five days at the office, losing their employees, who are coming to us looking for employment and flexibility.”“Mandates don’t work,” said Gallic. “It did not work when your parents told you to clean your room. What we’re seeing now—employers need to have that conversation, almost leader by leader, to see what works best: let’s be flexible for the work, let’s be empathetic, and let’s make it work.” As a result, his organization’s employees are clamoring for off-sites at their office locations in Providence and Minneapolis.Courageous ConversationThere are a number of best practices for leaders to foster a culture of well-being, and they start with conversations. “Honestly, get to know your team first—being in person helps for that. It does not take a lot of listening to get a sense of someone,” says Egan. “You’re building a product, I am building a program, and the best practices for doing that are the same best practices for a product team.” She recommends defining goals, testing, and iterating. “If it does not work, try something else. That requires a strong degree of collaboration.”Angelica Frey is a writer and a translator based in Boston and Milan.
Trust: How to Build Strong and Supportive Relationships on Every Level
BY Katie Chambers January 02, 2025Trust in U.S. institutions has never been lower, according to a recent Gallup poll. But even as institutional trust is on decline, organizations must persist in trying to build it within their workforce and with their customers.Dr. Peter H. Kim, PhD, professor of management and organization at the University of Southern California, and author of How Trust Works: The Science of How Relationships Are Built, Broken, and Repaired has found this dilemma so important that he’s made it the focus of his academic study as a social scientist.“[As a child], I had not lived in one place for more than four years at a time,” Kim said during a fireside chat at From Day One’s LA conference. His family bounced around from Korea to Japan to South America to New York to Chicago. “We just kept moving and moving as my parents tried to build a better life for us. As we entered and exited new communities, I became quite aware of how easily we can inform impressions of one another, and how they can make a marked difference in how we relate to one another.” These impressions, whether at work or at home, can be based on all sorts of things and not necessarily reflect how truly trustworthy we are.As much as companies rely on written rules and official communications, to run well they depend on trust among colleagues. When our trust is broken, or our own trustworthiness is doubted, many of us are left wondering what to do. Dr. Kim, a leading expert in the field of trust repair, reveals the surprising truths about how relationships are built, broken, and restored.Trust Within the Hiring Process“Trust is a psychological state,” said moderator Alison Brower, contributing editor at The Ankler. And it comes down, Kim says, to a willingness to make yourself vulnerable instead of just mitigating risk. “That willingness has to be based on positive expectations of the intentions or behavior of another. And so this takes you away from the idea that you might cooperate for reasons due to incentives. This is based on the belief that the other person should be trusted—[that] they are worthy of your trust.”A lot of Kim’s early studies focused on the hiring process, which requires a balance of trust, transparency, and healthy skepticism as we interact with people we’ve just met. While trust is usually associated with one’s significant other or family, based on years of extended knowledge, “it turns out that most of our interactions are with people we don’t know very well. They’re based on loose ties, loose connections, rather than strong, tight relationships,” Kim said. “And so that’s how we make decisions to trust on a more frequent basis. It’s also how we can gain insight into how trust operates.” Studying looser ties shows just how those gut decisions happen quickly, rather than taking years of relationship history into consideration.“People have much less trust in our institutions now,” Brower said, and that includes workers who are skeptical not only of their employers but of HR professionals. Talent professionals can take steps to engender that trust in themselves and in the company they represent, even during this time of insecurity in the workforce. “One of the most customary approaches to dealing with trust issues is to create systems that ensure compliance,” Kim said. And while those rules may make sense for more “mission critical” aspects of an organization, if overdone they can impede innovation and success. “As organizations grow, they [can] become so bureaucratic that they are not able to get things done.”Dr. Peter Kim signed copies of his book How Trust Works for audience members Kim cites Netflix as an example of an organization that “starts from a position of trust,” eschewing traditional infrastructures such as vacation policies or gift policies. “They have a five-word policy that simply says, ‘Act in Netflix’s best interests.’” And while the company is not, he said, “an idealistic Ivory tower” and doesn’t shy away from firing workers, it does maximize accountability and has certainly seen exponential growth.Beware the Hive MindWorkplaces are essentially one large group, made up of smaller collectives such as departments or teams. Kim cautions workers to “beware the hive mind,” noting that intergroup bias means “we tend to favor our own group, and we are less kind and respectful to members of out-groups. It allows us to nurture and maintain trust very effectively in our group, but that comes at a clear cost: those who are not in our group, we will treat with suspicion.” We are quicker to judge or to attribute blame to those outside the group. “[And] we are more likely to come up with simplistic rationales that will enable us to denigrate everyone in that whole category, whereas in your group, you might see every person as an individual, and deal with them in a much more nuanced way,” Kim said.Group dynamics can exacerbate problems that already exist at an individual level. Leaders can help mitigate this, Kim says, by breaking down group boundaries through multiple group memberships. “So, you're not only part of your own division, but you're also part of another part of the organization, so that you don't have this simple identity that can delineate your own group from others so cleanly,” he said. The more permeable the group connections, the easier it will be for employees to see members of other groups as humans rather than “caricatures.”When it comes to DEI efforts, Kim lauds any attempt at “fairness” but also cautions that fairness can mean different things to different people, in different situations. “How you achieve something is as important as what you try to achieve, and if you don’t pursue that in a nuanced way and get buy-in from all the people who are affected by these decisions, then you’re going to get resistance, and that’s what I see a lot in organizations,” Kim said. “When you believe that you are standing on principle, you become less willing to engage in the dialogue to figure out how to achieve that principle in the face of other principles that other people might also value. It becomes a matter of domination rather than dialogue.”Ultimately, choosing empathy and trust over blame and suspicion will help us strengthen our connections and move our organizations forward. “The story you tell about why things happened is as important as whether that thing happened or not,” Kim said. “It’s made me much more deliberate about the attributions I make, to move beyond the snap judgment, and to be much more careful about how I view the world and other people.”Katie Chambers is a freelance writer and award-winning communications executive with a lifelong commitment to supporting artists and advocating for inclusion. Her work has been seen in HuffPost and several printed essay collections, among others, and she has appeared on Cheddar News, iWomanTV, On New Jersey, and CBS New York.
Prioritizing Employee Investment: A Key to Thriving in Challenging Times
BY Jennifer Yoshikoshi December 18, 2024As a working professional, Madhavi Vemireddy, CEO of Cleo, has been serving as a caregiver to her special needs son, as well as her husband and sister who were diagnosed with cancer. She noticed that “no one was understanding [people’s] unique caregiver journeys and what education is needed so they can advocate for their loved ones.” Vemireddy created Cleo, a family care platform that supports individuals at every stage of life that now serves over 200 clients.Managers may not know it, but many of their employees may be experiencing stress with their lives outside of work and this can impact their ability to focus at work. This is why it’s important for companies to invest in their employees' mental well being. During a panel discussion at From Day One’s Brooklyn conference, leaders discussed how their companies invest in employee growth and mental health.Inclusivity and Mental HealthWarner Bros. employee resource groups hosted a summit focused on helping employees build their careers and creating spaces that foster a sense of community and belonging. The summit brought in specialists who understood the unique needs of a particular community and guided them with sustainable tools they could use to prevent burnout in a constantly evolving industry.“One of the things we want to be mindful of is that our diverse populations are not a monolith,” said Jhneall Gardner, vice president of talent management at Warner Bros. Discovery. “So we’re really focusing on some of the unique needs that they might have,” she said.Warner Bros. also had a career focused podcast called “Empowered Women” which celebrates and recognizes the work of women in the tech and media industry.Journalist Jenny Sucov, left, moderated the discussionIn corporate work environments with thousands of employees, it’s important to recognize the mental health of staff that are supporting the company with their work. Mastercard has implemented multiple initiatives to improve employee mental health including work from home weeks, meeting free days, flex Fridays and its Mental Health Champions program, says Adam Mesh, vice president of human resource at Mastercard.Started in 2023, the Mental Health Champions program had employees around the world go through 12 hours of training to get certified as a mental health champion. These employees now serve as advocates in the workforce for others to turn to for help and find resources.To reduce the monotony of working daily in an office, Mastercard’s workplace flexibility allows employees to work remotely from anywhere four weeks a year. Meeting free days allow for employees to focus on catching up on work, take time to care for themselves or take a learning course to develop skills.Purpose is also key. “I think purpose is so important for organizations because it creates that emotional attachment of employees, not only to the company, but to a broader purpose,” Mesh said.Destigmatizing Mental Health DiscussionsIn order to acknowledge the mental health of employees, companies have to learn how to facilitate conversations around mental health. Melissa Doman, organizational psychologist, author, and strategic advisor to BetterHelp Business, helps companies understand the necessary language and skills to talk about mental health at work.Doman provides keynotes, fireside interviews, workshops, and a certification course specifically for leaders to teach them how to “talk about mental health at work, for themselves, and for their teams.” The key reasons why people tend to avoid talking about mental health in the workplace is because they’re worried about saying the wrong thing or crossing the legal boundaries around discussing it, she says.Asking someone “Are you okay?” is not the same as asking someone “Do you have a major depressive disorder?” said Doman, who says that inquiring about someone’s well-being is not the same as asking about protected health information. The stigma around mental health discussions is one of the reasons why there should be more conversations about it within companies, Mesh adds. “I think just having employees understand that it’s okay to have that discussion, and for your leadership to buy in that this is a real thing and we need to be supportive of our employees,” said Mesh.Supporting Employees, Preventing BurnoutWork can be stressful itself, but individuals all experience outside pressures from home life as well. Vemireddy shared that more than 50% of employees don’t tell their managers that they have caregiving duties. “The hidden toll that we’re seeing is that there’s a much higher risk of burnout,” said Vemireddy.Cleo launched a Family Health Index to understand the biggest challenges that families are facing as caregivers, whether they’re exhibiting early signs of depression and anxiety and feeling burnout from their responsibilities.After over 10,000 people took the assessment, results showed that about a third are at higher risk of burnout. She adds that almost half of its families failed a self-report questionnaire that screens for anxiety and depression.“We see caregivers, especially those higher risk caregivers who are at that stage of burnout,either go on leave or they essentially are leaving the workforce altogether, which then has an impact on their own ability to save up for retirement and save up for their own caregiving needs. So we're setting this vicious cycle,” said Vemireddy.HR executives are often the ones to take on these acknowledgements that their employees may be struggling from stress and burnout, but how can HR teams help support them?Rosa Meza-Zambrio, director of organizational analytics and people insights strategy at S&P Global says her company utilizes artificial intelligence to support the workload and productivity of employees and leaders. AI tools can even help streamline HR tasks, said Meza-Zambrio.AI systems are able to collect data and knowledge for employees so that people can focus on other important aspects of their jobs. S&P has its own internal AI assistant called Spark Assist and the company has also created an AI literacy program called AI Academy.“We're doing this because we want to help our people reduce that mental load, focus on the things that are important to you, as well as increasing our scope and our support for our people without that additional headcount,” said Meza-Zambrio.She encourages people to leverage AI technology because it can provide more knowledge for employees without making a big financial investment. AI tools also reduce repetitive and complex tasks for HR teams and help them manage their workload and mental health as well.Jennifer Yoshikoshi is a local news and education reporter based in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Bridging the Gap: Empowering and Supporting Women in Leadership
BY Katie Chambers December 18, 2024Women hold just 28% of C-suite roles according to a 2023 Women in the Workplace Report. This is a record high, yet still far from equal representation. So why aren't there more? During an executive panel session at From Day One’s Brooklyn conference, leaders discussed the best pathway forward, built on trust, understanding, and respect.We’re now at a pivotal moment to make a change for women’s representation in the workplace. “We’re at a breaking point because AI is what everyone's talking about. [Women] are three times less likely to put their hand up for proactive training as it relates to AI. Only 20% of leaders in AI are women,” said Anita Jivani, global head of innovation at Avanade. “We know in about 10 years, 90% of jobs are going to be impacted by AI. If that’s the case, and we’re not playing around personally and professionally as women in this space, we’re already lagging.”But while AI is certainly at the forefront of everyone’s minds, there’s more to the leadership gap than technology alone. “There are some really deeply entrenched and systemic reasons why there aren’t more women in the C suite, and one of those is gender bias and stereotypes,” said Lisa Moore, chief people officer at Yahoo. Even young people are still holding on to outdated notions of what an executive should look like. “There are a lot of different strands to a leadership skill set today, and they don’t all look like one thing.”Covid shed a light on the workload gender gap—both in the workplace and at home. “Since the pandemic, productivity has increased notably every year for women leaders,” said Laura Lomeli Russert, head of executive engagement at BetterUp. “With that increase, what else might have increased? Burnout.” But that has not been the case for men, as they still don’t hold as many housework responsibilities as women. Combine this with the fact that women feel that they must maintain high productivity to get to the next level of their careers, and exhaustion takes hold.Preventative and Proactive ToolsOrganizations can take steps to support women in their career growth while allowing them the flexibility to maintain a healthy work-life balance. Possible tools include employee resource groups, mental health support, and career coaching. It’s on HR to make sure that the tools are easy to access and understand. “Are you providing the right tools, and are they easily found by anyone in that company?” said Matt Jackson, GM, VP of Americas, Unmind.“AI has the potential to democratize access to resources or anything that is otherwise unavailable to people right now, across all genders,” he said. Jackson also refers to a longstanding homogenous leadership layer at the top of many companies that may be a barrier to focusing on “soft” offerings like mental health support. Coaching those male executives on compassionate leadership can make a difference.Executive panelists spoke about ways to support women in leadership rolesRemote work options have allowed workers the flexibility they need to accomplish their household tasks during working hours, so that they have leisure time leftover at the end of the day. But with return-to-office mandates coming down fast and fierce, the threat of burnout is on the rise.“We know from data that any underrepresented group in the workplace expresses a preference to be able to exercise flexibility and work-from-home with some degree of discretion for them,” Moore said. “One unconscious bias we have is that being in an office makes you more productive. That is categorically false.”You might feel more engaged in-person, Moore says, but ultimately, the sweeping decision is hurting women and underrepresented groups, who lose the ability to manage their own time and “be themselves” in their space of choice.It’s not just biases that come down to gender or racial identity, says Antoinette Handler, deputy chief HR officer and chief people officer, Americas at Dentsu, noting that as an introvert she thrives in a lower-pressure work-from-home set up. “It’s also a bias about different ways of working, your different personality styles, your different leadership styles,” she said.But striking the right balance is important, panelists noted, citing the loneliness epidemic and lack of engagement that has plagued workers since the pandemic. Most agreed hybrid work (but not a full RTO mandate) can help strike the right balance, even if in-person gatherings happen only quarterly.Amping Up Your Benefits OfferingsFor companies that do mandate at least a partial return to office, adjusting their benefits program can help offset some of the loss of flexibility felt by women employees. “Offering better childcare could be a great solution for that,” Lomeli Russert said. “That might actually make parents excited about going back to work!”Organizations also need to be flexible in offering resources to an aging and changing workforce. “The whole leadership structure is going to change. Half of middle management will be people who started onboarding during Covid. They don’t even understand the concept of working in-person. The next generation [is] more oriented toward values, and they care about skills more than what Ivy League school you went to. It’s a totally different game,” Jivani said. One way to maintain flexibility is to stop talking in absolutes. “Companywide mandates are too broad. The day-to-day is more important,” Jivani said. “Happiness and retention are tied to your ability to connect to your manager.”Gen Z’s focus on health and wellness also means HR needs to take company culture and support resources seriously to nurture the next generation of leaders. “People entering the workforce now have a much higher expectation of the culture that you create and that you provide for them,” Jackson said. “For so long, we’ve been able to ignore that, because driving people to the point of burnout has led to hitting numbers that you need to hit. But now we have a big enough generation coming in who says, ‘No, I don’t like that. I don’t want that. I’m going to go elsewhere.’”Lowering the PressureManagers, many of whom are women in the sandwich generation, in charge of childcare and elder care at home, are especially feeling the crunch in today’s workforce. “They're told to manage stakeholder expectations of the executives [and] at the same time, pass down messages that they don’t necessarily believe in,” Jivani said. “I think the best investment we could do is invest more in managers,” she said.Companies should provide managers with the time and the training to develop the skills they need to thrive. “It’s not a coincidence that a lot of women leave the workplace at that management level,” Jivani said. Many women at that mid-level also struggle when returning to the workforce after parental leave. “How can a company and managers create a positive experience of reintegration into an employee's job?” asked moderator Emma Hinchliffe, senior writer and author of MPW daily newsletter at Fortune. Extending the length and flexibility of parental leave offerings is one way to lower the pressure.“You’re expected to carry a human for nine months and work up until the point you give birth, but get back to the office after 12 weeks or we’re not paying you? That’s absurd,” Jackson said. He suggests a method called the “20% contract,” where managers and new mothers discuss what doing just 20% of one’s former job might look like, and allowing the mother to slowly work her way back up to giving 100% when she’s ready. It all comes down to trust and respect.Creating a welcoming environment where women leaders feel fully supported takes time, planning, and nuance. Simply put, Lomeli Russert said, “We all have a lot of work to do.”Katie Chambers is a freelance writer and award-winning communications executive with a lifelong commitment to supporting artists and advocating for inclusion. Her work has been seen in HuffPost and several printed essay collections, among others, and she has appeared on Cheddar News, iWomanTV, On New Jersey, and CBS New York.
Creating a Low-Turnover Culture by Investing in People
BY Carrie Snider December 17, 2024No industry has seen the level of shift in the post-pandemic era than healthcare. During a fireside chat at From Day One’s Brooklyn conference, Maxine Carrington, senior vice president and chief people officer at Northwell Health, shared insights into how her organization is tackling these challenges by investing in people. Interviewed by Emily Stewart of Business Insider, Carrington spoke about navigating workforce needs, addressing affordability barriers, and embracing technology to foster a supportive and low-turnover culture.Post-Pandemic ChallengesManaging a workforce with diverse needs is challenging. But add onto that a demanding industry like healthcare and an unprecedented event like Covid, it can be particularly hard to navigate. In response, the organization implemented flexible strategies, including creating collaboration spaces for remote workers, accommodating those who had relocated, and addressing pay equity. It’s important to allow for cultural and operational shifts to evolve naturally while mitigating tensions, says Carrington. The affordability crisis in New York, particularly in retaining essential healthcare workers, is a top concern, says Carrington. “We believe you can find untapped pools of talent out there. You just have to find them and understand the needs,” she said.Maxine Carrington, SVP and chief people officer of Northwell Health, left, spoke with Emily Stewart, senior correspondent at Business Insider Northwell Health has taken innovative steps to address this issue by offering resources, such as establishing crisis support funds, offering in-house training programs, and opening a thrift store for employees and job candidates to have access to affordable work clothing. These efforts aim to reduce barriers to employment and provide immediate support for those in need. “It’s not just health care,” she added. “It’s police, it’s fire, it’s teachers, any critical service in this region. If you want to keep them here, you have to think about affordability.”Supporting WorkersWhile Northwell and other organizations may offer help to its employees, Carrington underscored the need for broader systemic solutions, such as childcare tax credits and housing support, to sustain critical services in the region. To help advocate for change with elected officials, Carrington is drafting an op-ed piece and hopes others can also voice their concerns more widely.Part of investing in people includes maintaining strong relationships with unions while also respecting the needs of non-union employees. “Today, about 28% of our workforce is union represented. We have over 30 labor contracts, so we are always negotiating,” she said. “We try to look across the entire organization and determine what it looks like to be fair.”Northwell focuses on educating unions about evolving care models and technology, Carrington added. Recruitment and retention strategies play a central role in guiding decisions, balancing market-specific needs, and avoiding unnecessary conflict.Embracing AITechnology is a big part of healthcare, and that includes AI. As some are reluctant to the concept, Carrington said they try to address concerns to help employees embrace it more. “One of the first things is for folks to understand they are interacting with AI every single day. They may not know it, but they already are.” In an already overworked industry, Carrington added that AI can help streamline tasks and potentially relieve stress from workers. Northwell Health has introduced tools like a digital HR assistant and an AI governance council, leveraging technology across recruitment, benefits, and clinical areas. The organization’s two-year roadmap for automation focuses on efficiency, ease, and supporting employees through the transition.Getting the Word OutStorytelling is central to fostering connection and showcasing their mission, Carrington says. That’s a big part of getting the word out and showcase what they are doing to invest in people. They wanted people to know that their focus isn’t a transaction of ‘if you’re sick, let’s operate on you,’ she said, but a real focus on improving the health of communities.To do that, Northwell Health has expanded into storytelling with Northwell Studios, producing documentaries and specials Lenox Hill, First Wave, Two Wars, Emergency NYC, One South, and Side by Side. The documentaries serve recruitment, inspire pride, and amplify the healthcare narrative. They also feature initiatives like the Northwell Nurse Choir, which gained national attention through its appearance on America’s Got Talent and a performance at the White House. Investing in people is key to creating a culture of low turnover. By removing barriers to training, addressing affordability challenges, and fostering adaptability through technology, Northwell Health is shaping a supportive, future-focused workplace.Carrie Snider is a Phoenix-based journalist and marketing copywriter.
How Innovative Employers Are Elevating Internal Mobility
BY Carrie Snider December 16, 2024The workforce landscape is constantly evolving, and companies must rethink traditional approaches to talent development. Internal mobility, the ability for employees to transition into new roles within the same organization, has become a vital strategy for addressing skills shortages, fostering employee engagement, and driving long-term retention. A panel of experts shared insights into how businesses can boost internal mobility at From Day One’s Live Austin’s conference, in a session moderated by Kathryn Lundstrom, commerce and sustainability editor of Adweek.Upskilling Current EmployeesHiring new people can’t always happen as quickly as you'd like, and the workforce may not always have the exact skills needed. Panelist Jeannie Steele, head of global talent acquisition at AMD, an AI product company, discussed the importance of internal mobility.“We found ourselves in a situation where we needed to quickly find thousands of engineers, and we couldn’t find them externally. Our leaders decided that if there was a 70% skills match, we would move some of our current employees into those roles,” Steele said. Through this strategy, AMD filled about half of its urgently needed AI positions in less than a month—all with existing employees. The company also focuses on internal development through its Luminary Series, a monthly upskilling program where corporate fellows teach classes to engineers, sharing knowledge and best practices in real time.While internal mobility is key, Steele emphasized the importance of fresh perspectives: “Our leadership team set a goal for 2024 that 40% of our hires this year should be early talent, defined as zero to five years of experience.”Retention, however, remains a challenge. How can organizations keep employees engaged? The answer lies in learning opportunities. “We’ve been using technology to train on AI skills. We’re upskilling our talent through a LinkedIn enterprise package for everyone,” Steele said. Employees can choose their own learning paths, benefiting both the company and the individual.Rethinking EducationCareer paths no longer follow a clear, linear trajectory. How can companies help employees upskill for non-linear careers? Panelist Stephanie Ricks, director of corporate development and technology partnerships at Strategic Education, emphasized the need to rethink education.“Talent acquisition professionals are tasked with creating the link between education and career navigation, and then selling that to potential candidates,” Ricks said.Today, career growth doesn’t follow a straight ladder—it’s more like a rock-climbing wall, shifting sideways as it ascends. Companies can adapt by repurposing an underutilized benefit: education. While tuition assistance is a common benefit, its usage remains low, often hovering around 3%, signaling a need for policy updates. Instead of limiting how employees can use these benefits, companies can broaden their scope.Strategic Education addressed this by developing Workforce Edge, a SaaS platform providing access to everything from GEDs to certifications to PhDs. “Employees can leverage those dollars you give them, empowering them to take learning into their own hands,” Ricks said. Empowering employees in this way not only builds their careers but also fosters loyalty.Panelists spoke about "Creating Opportunity Within: How Employers Are Boosting Internal Mobility" at From Day One's Austin conferenceNon-traditional education platforms also offer flexibility. Traditional course curricula often take months, or years, to be approved, by which time the business’s needs may have already shifted. Companies can help shape learning opportunities tailored to their evolving needs. For example, Ricks helped develop Tech Inspire, a program designed to upskill employees in areas like cybersecurity, generative AI, and other emerging tech fields.“We go out, find the talent, and work with you to shape the curriculum to ensure hard skills are covered,” Ricks said.Improving Mental Health Through LearningContinued education should be seen as a holistic part of employee benefits, according to Emil Kresl, director of learning and development at The University of Texas at Austin.“Research shows that learning can reduce symptoms of depression and fend off dementia,” Kresl said. Employees engaged in learning often report higher levels of happiness and optimism.“There’s something about learning that builds community, and that all ties into health and well-being,” he said. “In the past, learning and development were focused on increasing productivity. Now, we understand that it’s not just about upskilling—it's about supporting mental health. It should be an essential part of the benefits package.”A culture of continuous learning is key to making this approach successful. Without an organizational-wide commitment, employees may not prioritize it. “You want people to be curious and explore, to find out where they can have the greatest impact,” Kresl said. “But you need to make continuous learning a core part of your culture.”While hard skills can be taught, Kresl emphasized that fostering employees’ aptitude for learning and agility is what enables them to thrive.Offering Collaboration and SupportThe shelf life of skills is shorter than ever, making internal mobility crucial. Panelist Tiana Carter, AVP of Human Resources at USAA, emphasized the importance of collaboration and support in fostering long-term employees.“At USAA, we offer free college for both employees and their dependents,” Carter said, noting that generations of families appreciate this opportunity. However, some skills must be developed after college. USAA’s Skills Marketplace initiative offers a solution for their engineering team. “Our tech teams can test and learn new skills in real time, while still in their current roles, so they can transition into new, emerging jobs,” Carter said. “It’s a nice transitional period.”With 25% of USAA’s workforce being military-affiliated, upskilling is a priority, as veterans often experience high turnover in search of long-term careers. USAA recently launched a Military Leadership Development Program, where senior military personnel rotate through various lines of business to explore potential career paths. Plus, they get 18 months of guidance and advocacy to ensure veterans find their home in the organization.Internal mobility is more than just a strategy for addressing skill gaps—it’s an opportunity to empower employees and foster organizational agility. By offering new pathways for growth and development, companies not only adapt to changing workforce demands but also inspire loyalty and innovation in their teams.Carrie Snider is a Phoenix-based journalist and marketing copywriter.
In an Argumentative Time, How to Create Healthy Conversations at Work and in Life
BY Matthew Koehler December 11, 2024The most recent election points to America, and many parts of the world, being divided. Now more than ever, we should prioritize fostering constructive dialogue over casting blame. In a sense, we need more peacemakers.“Once we free ourselves from the fiction that anyone who disagrees with us must be a monster or a fool, we need not be so afraid of allowing ourselves to be persuaded,” wrote Steven T. Collis, a Constitutional Law professor at the University of Texas, in his most recent book, Habits of a Peacemaker.Collis spoke to KVUE sports journalist Cory Mose at From Day One’s Austin conference. They discussed the habits of peacemakers that allow for sometimes difficult, but fruitful conversations.Understanding the Limits of What You KnowCollis is a First Amendment law professor who specializes in freedom of speech and religion, and is no stranger to difficult conversations on a broad range of topics. He’s been thinking about how to more effectively have those conversations for a while. “I travel all over the globe talking about those really controversial topics. And I started to ask myself what is it that we’re doing that’s allowing us to have productive conversations about these really difficult topics? When most people just devolve into shouting matches and arguments."Collis’ mission isn’t just navigating difficult conversations in politics and culture. His aim is to offer non-partisan tactics for dealing with all sorts of conversations, often drawing on anecdotes from his own life. “The book was about how to have productive conversations about hard topics. We see them in our family dynamics. We see them in the workplace. We see them at schools, at churches, anywhere where [you] have to deal with another person, difficult conversations come up.”Drawing from his book, he started with intellectual humility and tells the story of his middle school days of looking cool. One day, he confidently strolled into the bathroom and spiked his hair with what he thought was mousse. Strutting out of the bathroom, his mom caught a whiff of his head and immediately marched him back in and washed his hair out. “It turns out that what I thought was moose was actually her hair removal product, Nair. And for the next week, all my hair started falling out. For the rest of the summer, people thought I had some horrible illness.”“We get in trouble in life when we think we know about something and we don’t, and we have strong feelings about it. Intellectual humility is critical.”Collis, left, spoke about his book Habits of a Peacemaker: 10 Habits to Change Our Potentially Toxic Conversations into Healthy DialoguesIn a heated debate, we’re all experts. Especially if we’ve learned a little bit about something, then we’re not only experts, but we form very concrete opinions. “Scientists call this the Dunning Kruger effect, and it’s been pretty well established,” Collis said.At the University of Michigan Law School, a frieze above one of the doorways features a pertinent inscription: “a little learning is a dangerous thing; drink deep or taste not.” Collis often walked through this door. “That has become ingrained in my mind as something to remember. Now the question is, how do we establish that in ourselves?”Compounding the Dunning Kruger effect is that most of us walk around “enjoying something called the knowledge illusion,” or a bias in which we think we understand more than we do. “Any one of us actually knows almost nothing,” Collis said.A senior business leader he recently talked to shared that recognizing how little he knows and how much he can learn from his team has been vital to his success. By fostering open communication and encouraging input, he ensures his position doesn’t intimidate others, creating space for growth and collaboration.Asking yourself that same question: ‘How much do I actually know about this,’ is a good way to remind yourself of how little you actually know, says Collis.The Root of the Argument“I know it’s hard for a lot of people to do. But one thing that stuck out to me, was how you explain the surface level argument that you may be having with someone may not be the root of why you’re having that discussion,” Mose said.This touches on something Collis finds true of all effective peacemakers. One of their enduring habits is that if someone “come[s] in really hot about something,” peacemakers assume a good motivation for why their interlocutor acts or thinks the way they do. “Most of us strut around the world thinking, there’s three kinds of people: there’s the people who agree with us, and then there are monsters and fools. Peacemakers don’t do that.”Peacemakers realize that their disagreeable interlocutor has a position they have to better understand. Perhaps they have the same goals but differ on how to achieve them. That’s a valuable conversation to have. Or, perhaps your goals are different, yet another worthy conversation there.“There are bad actors, but generally speaking, in our families and our work lives and the day to day people we’re having contact with, it’s not a good practice to start off assuming the absolute worst about somebody.”Another quality of peacemakers that Collis admittedly doesn't have in spades, is spending time with people. In the workplace, for example, Collis says it applies to work relationships as well. “Spending time with your colleagues in a way where you’re just building the relationship and you’re not dealing with the hard topics, allows the later conversations that will inevitably come that are difficult to be far more productive.”None of this is easy, though, and Collis says people can spend a lifetime perfecting the good habits of a peacemaker.“I can’t emphasize enough the idea that the ideas in this book are ones that we could all spend a lifetime perfecting. Nobody has perfected any of these things, and I don’t mean the book to be exhaustive. I would encourage people to take the skills that they already have and add [to] them.”An important message going forward, and one derived from the pages of Collis’ book, is also simple but hard to do. Peacemakers need to have the ability to change and adapt to new information.“Being a peacemaker carries with it important responsibilities. One of which is being willing to change. This is a hard concept for humanity to understand. But recognizing that we don’t know everything, and being willing to learn, seeking the best sources for doing so, asking people honest questions, all of those mean nothing if you’re unwilling to ponder the new things you are learning and consider changing your views.”Matthew Koehler is a freelance journalist and licensed real estate agent based in Washington, DC. His work has appeared in Greater Greater Washington, The Washington Post, The Southwester, and Walking Cinema, among others.
Supporting Equity Through Workplace Well-Being
BY Katie Chambers December 10, 2024It’s no secret that for many American workers, times are tough. In fact, almost 80% are living paycheck-to-paycheck. And 49% of employees are finding it difficult to meet monthly household expenses, Penelope Talbot-Kelly, VP and GM, B2B at EarnIn, shared during a panel discussion at From Day One’s Austin conference.With workers feeling the financial burden, emotional stress is sure to follow, with work performance potentially feeling the impact. Fortunately, there are tangible ways employers can provide support. Panelists shared some of the most inclusive and forward-thinking employee offerings, ranging from housing assistance to family and college planning, along with strategies that companies can implement to ensure that well-being resources are accessible.Well-Being Starts at the TopNo matter your area of business, says Kenneth Reeves, VP, HR, Performance Food Group, “well-being starts at the top. You can have all the programs in the world, but if you aren’t walking the talk and doing things with your people, then it’s all a check-the-box exercise.” Leaders at the company hold monthly meetings with their front-line workers, the delivery drivers, to see how they are doing and thank them for their work, says Reeves. “Those are some of the things that we do to make sure that we stay connected with the heart and the soul of what we do on a daily basis,” he said.For Liane Hajduch, head of employee experience & HR tech at DoorDash, engagement surveys are just the start of employee listening and engagement. “We work really closely with leaders to deeply understand what people are saying, to take swift action, to empower people to take it, to ensure folks know it’s a safe space, and [that] we’re actually going to do something about it,” Hajduch said. DoorDash’s quarterly surveys have a high participation rate of nearly 90%, partly due to the fact that workers trust that leaders will act on the results.Communicating Benefits OpportunitiesCreatively and effectively marketing benefits to employees helps them feel engaged, appreciated, and hopefully, loyal. Insight gained from employee listening can even be used in the marketing itself. Stephanie Murphy, PhD, VP of people experience, UnitedHealth Group, shares that her organization offers a “one pass” that gives access to gyms and local fitness classes. “We found out through just having conversations that [one employee] had done the one pass and lost 150 pounds. This is a story. This is something that impacts people’s lives,” Murphy said. The employee shared his story several times across various channels, and more people started participating in the program. “Using storytelling to really get the benefits out there resonates more than just sending an email saying, ‘Here’s your list of benefits that we offer,’” Murphy said.Executive panelists spoke to the topic "Supporting Equity Through Workplace Well-Being"“We are totally inundated with information overload,” said moderator Kelsey Bradshaw, newsletter editor at City Cast Austin, so how can your marketing break through? Use every method you can, says Murphy: emails, social media, break room posters, presentations, and having the CEO share it in all-hands meetings.Reeves’ organization offers an annual total rewards statement, so employees fully understand and appreciate the impact of their benefits program. “People understand, ‘Wow, yes, I took X home, but this is everything that the organization is putting into my financial well-being on my behalf,’” he said. Murphy says ultimately, the onus is on managers to make sure they are also communicating benefits as they are the ones with direct and routine access to their people.Investing in Employees“One of the biggest issues among American workers is that they're living paycheck-to-paycheck,” Bradshaw said, which has a significant impact on employees’ mental health and performance. “Employees typically spend three plus hours per week worrying about their finances,” Talbot-Kelly said. She says this manifests in three ways: reduced productivity, higher absenteeism, and increased turnover. “Financial stress ultimately impacts the bottom line.”Post-pandemic inflation means that offering just 401(k) is no longer enough. “Financial wellness is ensuring that your employees can meet both their short and long-term goals,” Talbot-Kelly said. In addition to retirement options, employers should consider offering on-demand pay to help employees pay bills on time and avoid overdrafts.And financial planning for rent and mortgages is also helping, since housing is one of employees’ largest recurring costs. “If you can bring that down 15-20%, then ultimately your employees will have better mental health and more disposable income to spend on other things, be that childcare or food,” said Jerryck Murrey, CEO, Annum. His organization offers housing benefits that allow employees to save money for rent, mortgages, contractors, appliances, and furniture. “Housing is the fulcrum of life–you remove housing, everything falls apart,” he said. Especially, Murrey says, with so many employees now working from home.Staying on Top of TrendsCompanies should keep a pulse on housing prices and ensure that their compensation and benefits are keeping pace with local economics and competitors. Our world is changing faster than ever, and your organization should be keeping up, staying “nimble and adaptable, being comfortable with the fact that what you did last year isn’t going to be what you’re going to do the next year,” Hajduch said.DoorDash offers a flexible benefits program that includes a wellness credit to spend on whatever makes the most sense to the employee, be that childcare, housing, medical care, or the like. Such flexibility is vital in an increasingly diverse workforce. “The workforce today is composed of different generations with little shared experiences,” Murrey said, and employers need to be able to provide benefits for all life stages and styles.Hajduch says DoorDash offers a coaching platform featuring coaches with a wide variety of expertise, from career coaches, to financial wellness gurus, to mental health counselors. When selecting benefits options, always remember the defining features of the younger generations, say Reeves and Murrey: they want personal development and they want meaning in their work.Hajduch offers words of wisdom for organizations looking to revamp their well-being offerings: “You have to be cognizant not to overdo it in the early days, because it’s very hard to take things back as you scale and grow, and maybe cannot afford them. So be really thoughtful about what you can spend, what the future could look like, and how this would scale over time.”Katie Chambers is a freelance writer and award-winning communications executive with a lifelong commitment to supporting artists and advocating for inclusion. Her work has been seen in HuffPost and several printed essay collections, among others, and she has appeared on Cheddar News, iWomanTV, On New Jersey, and CBS New York.
Engineering a Culture Shift at a Company With Longstanding Traditions
BY Katie Chambers December 05, 2024At New York Life, 175 years old, a transformation is underway to focus on employee feedback, future-focused skills, and a greater emphasis on developing early talent. Joanne Rodgers, the company’s SVP and chief HR officer, is helping to lead the charge–and shared insights into the process at a recent fireside chat at From Day One’s recent Brooklyn conference.“We are trying to lead in a different way and help drive behavioral change throughout the organization. And one of the ways that we knew that we could drive that change was by elevating our performance-management practices,” Rodgers said. Performance management touches every single individual in the organization, and therefore plays a big role in corporate culture. “It allowed us to connect our employees with our business objectives,” Rodgers said, making performance management to be less about listing accomplishments and shortcomings but instead empowering employees to see how they make an impact. “We were really purposeful in the branding–we call it Impact. Everyone has an impact on the organization.” Feedback from not just managers but from peers and colleagues is now integral to the performance-management matrix–including allowing for anonymous feedback to managers, who are championed as crucial to organizational success. New York Life is more interested in what Rodgers called “pace over perfection. It’s about how we create better efficiencies.” The company now has internal matrix organizations, so what was once a traditional product team might now have employees from legal, tech, and more. “By doing that, we have much more creative thinking, much more efficient and dynamic thinking on business objectives,” Rodgers said. A Reimagined Corporate CultureModerator Emma Burleigh, a reporter and author of the CHRO Daily newsletter at Fortune, noted that 98% of workers at New York Life are involved in the Impact program. “How, as an HR leader, do you build culture around impact to get so much of your workforce on board?” she asked. Change management is crucial, as is branding. Providing support for employees such as office hours to answer questions and field concerns helped employees transition to a new structure, Rodgers said. A sense of fun also helps. In October, the company launched Halloween-themed campaigns reminding workers of the impact program, such as “Don’t ghost your manager!” and “Feedback is a treat!”New York Life’s culture is exceptionally “collegial and caring,” Rodgers said, which is great, but can also be an impediment to honest feedback. “We make the distinction between nice versus kind. You could give someone feedback that may be not as constructive because you want to be nice to that person, because you like that person, but that’s not actually kind,” Rodgers said. “Being kind is really taking the time to be thoughtful about that feedback, and the receiver of that, to [make them] understand that feedback is always [given] with positive intent to make you more effective and even stronger than you are today.” The onus is on HR and leaders to help managers understand this way of thinking and provide psychological safety for employees to speak up honestly and fairly. The Evolving Role of AIAll companies are now facing–and embracing–advancing AI technology, and New York Life is no exception. “We immediately formed an AI circle to make sure there was institutional thinking around what AI means for our organization [and] how we develop digital natives within our organization,” Rodgers said. Even employees that don’t need to use or fully understand AI, she says, should still be educated on its power and potential. Technology is a major part of New York Life’s unique approach to skill-building. “We provide stipends for our employees in tech to develop the skills that they think are most important to them. We are trying to refine that now, to take a broader view [that] it's important that they have skills they want to develop, but that we're also leaning into the skills that we need to develop,” Rodgers said.Partnering with Eightfold.ai, a talent-intelligence platform, New York Life is using AI to understand what skills they have in-house, and what skills they need to hire for, such as prompt engineers. The company is working to brand itself as tech-forward to attract such talent. “We tailor what it means to be on the tech team at New York Life, how you’re going to be really driving powerful change, and given the size of our organization, potentially having much more of a meaningful impact than you may have somewhere else,” she said. Tech, data, and AI are all priorities for hiring, though there are certainly other skills New York Life looks for as well. The new AI tool allows both hiring managers and prospective employees to identify what skills they have currently and what they might be able to develop in a role at the company, or will need to develop for future advancement. “It's going to empower our employees to really own their careers,” Rodgers said, allowing them to see the full breadth of roles that might be right for them, including those that they may not have considered otherwise. Building the Company Brand“A huge part of being an HR leader is being a storyteller,” Burleigh observed. “There's a lot of power behind that in translating your employer brand to potential talent.” Rodgers said that New York Life asks employees in their annual survey to pick five words to describe the organization–and “diverse, inclusive and collaborative” were the top three words for the last two surveys. To bring that to life, Rodgers works with employee ambassadors to share their stories in-person and through social media and email marketing. “What we found most powerful is people hearing the stories from actual employees,” Rodgers said. She also suggests that employee referrals, which can be the result of good storytelling, can help attract new talent to the organization.And in terms of early-career professionals, New York Life is looking ahead and embracing the Gen Z workforce, noting its core values of purpose and flexibility. “Mental health is really important to them. When we go to college campuses now, instead of doing a little 45-minute discussion on New York Life, we roll out yoga mats and we do a mental health session with them, providing a unique way to make that connection,” Rodgers said. The company also has a community service program called Cheers for Charity, selling $15 tickets to company mixers, with all proceeds going to a charitable cause. Ultimately, understanding what your workforce wants and needs comes down to listening, Rodgers says, and making sure employees know you are responding accordingly. “We have to continue to be dynamic.” Katie Chambers is a freelance writer and award-winning communications executive with a lifelong commitment to supporting artists and advocating for inclusion. Her work has been seen in HuffPost and several printed essay collections, among others, and she has appeared on Cheddar News, iWomanTV, and CBS New York.(Featured photo: Joanne Rodgers of New York Life, left, with Emma Burleigh of Fortune)
How a Digital-Age Creative Company, Lionsgate, Leverages the Talents and Ideas of Its Employees
BY Katie Chambers December 04, 2024Hollywood has a reputation for being cutthroat. But in our new era of workplace engagement, is that still the case? Within at least one film studio, employees are met with a community approach focused on compassion, communication, and professional growth.At Lionsgate, the studio behind such franchises as The Hunger Games, Twilight, and John Wick, the company puts a high priority on attracting and developing top talent. Among the techniques: developing bold, original content with the help of employee-resource groups (ERGs) and a suggestion program to engage employees at all levels.“I spent probably about half my career in the business side and half my career on the HR side, both were invaluable,” Ross Pollack, now the EVP and chief HR officer at Lionsgate, said in a fireside chat at From Day One’s Los Angeles conference. His operations side gave him business acumen, which he passes on to his HR team by encouraging them to read the Wall Street Journal and sharing comments with them from board meetings. And the HR side has taught him more about how to work with people by honoring and appreciating their contributions.This people-centered approach is integral to Lionsgate’s business. “We have a leadership team that have worked with each other for many years, that are heavily compensated through equity, and so we're all pulling in the same direction,” Pollack said. “You see a higher level of collaboration and executives working across business units and across divisions than you would typically see in a Hollywood studio, and I think that helps foster intense collaboration and innovation.” Pollack feels this spirit encourages employees to have the confidence to take smart, calculated risks.In addition to cash and equity compensation, Lionsgate offers what Pollack feels “may be the best benefits program in the entertainment industry.” The nature of these benefits is communicated through monthly newsletters as well as local offices. “Increasing transparency is important,” Pollack said, especially during challenging times.Guiding Employees Through a Time of UncertaintyModerator Alison Brower, contributing editor for The Ankler, notes that while all industries are feeling the economic crunch, things are particularly challenging in Hollywood as large companies are consolidating, leaving workers fearful for their roles. “How do you manage and encourage teams and employees during these really challenging periods?” she asked.Again, Pollack says the Lionsgate team turns to a people-first approach of transparent communication. “The CEO meets with every single employee in the company at least once a year and holds coffee chats on a weekly or bi-weekly basis,” he said. “I think keeping employees in the dark will lead to anxiety.” The organization also invests in mental health benefits, such as access to Talkspace online therapy, as well. Brower agreed that this is a particularly effective solution for the social environment of 2024 and beyond. “People really need to be met where they are and be communicated with and treated as adults,” she said.Pollack’s guiding principle is compassion–and fun. Despite the Hollywood grind, “I try to honor the work and the effort that my staff puts in. They give up eight to 10 to 12 hours a day, five days a week, most of the year, and so that’s a lot of people’s time in life. And I want them to have fun,” he said. “I want them to enjoy, learn, and grow, both personally and professionally, and I try to instill that in the department and hopefully their business partners, and through the programs that we have. We’re communicating and living that through HR connecting to the rest of the organization.” While Lionsgate is shifting out of a hybrid environment come Jan. 1 with a return to office, they will offer essentially “permanent Summer Fridays” allowing employees to have Friday afternoons off with supervisor approval.The Big Acronyms of Modern HR: AI, DEI, and ERGsThere are several major changes impacting the industry, including advancements in artificial intelligence. Pollack says his team is exploring AI options through its people- management software. “The goal is not to replace HR people with AI but use it to supplement the work that's being done, to put more tools in the hands of the employees,” Pollack said. AI will be able to answer basic employee questions about services, leaving HR to “focus on being consultants.”There has also been a shift in the DEI space in Hollywood. “About a year ago, many of the big companies saw the exit of the top DEI officers that they had in the organization,” Brower said. “The best way to implement inclusion in these kinds of workplaces is still a very open question in this industry.” Lionsgate, meanwhile, is “all in,” Pollack said. In the last year, 60% of new Lionsgate hires were women; 30% were from historically underrepresented groups; and 75% of summer interns were from underrepresented groups.“We're not going backwards,” Pollack said. “It's important to our employees [and] it’s one of the things that distinguishes us. We don't spend a lot of time talking about our efforts in the press. I’d rather make them real and have the employees see it.” He wants his Hollywood workforce to reflect the moviegoers who support them, who are 50% people of color. “It makes tremendous business sense to have content that is appealing to a diverse audience be made by a diverse audience,” he said. “And we personally feel it’s a moral imperative” to cultivate young, diverse talent in the workplace. Lionsgate has even started a production accounting program in partnership with Cal State to encourage diverse communities to join this well-paying and often understaffed production role.For the last eight years, Lionsgate has helped its employees stay engaged through its nine ERGs, which are HR-funded optional groups employees can join to meet, discuss issues relevant to them, and have meaningful events. Its ERGs have even been impactful in driving business forward, Pollack says, citing how its Black ERG partnered with Ebony magazine to create a new fast development channel focused on Black content from the Lionsgate library. Six hundred of Lionsgate’s 1,400 employees participate in ERGs and the CEO reports on their activities at every board meeting. “It’s a cool way of getting employees involved in the business, having them feel connected to the business, contribute to the business, and for junior people to be recognized,” Pollack said. With an eye toward cultivating diverse talent, and a focus on transparency and community-building, Pollack’s team is on the cutting edge of compassionate Hollywood HR.Katie Chambers is a freelance writer and award-winning communications executive with a lifelong commitment to supporting artists and advocating for inclusion. Her work hasbeen seen in HuffPost and several printed essay collections, among others, and she has appeared on Cheddar News, On New Jersey, and CBS New York.(Featured photo: Ross Pollack, left, with Alison Brower)
Enhancing Manager Effectiveness With Transparency, Technology, and Leadership Development
BY Jennifer Yoshikoshi November 27, 2024Creating transparency and trust within a company allows for employees to feel trust with managers, but how can companies measure management success and continue to improve their impact on employees? In an executive panel discussion, leaders at From Day One’s Austin conference spoke about “Manager Effectiveness: Defining It, Measuring It, and Improving It.”“You have to really be able to be transparent. You have to be able to be authentic and be willing to not know all the answers and rely and trust your team to help you get things done,” said Patrick Felder, senior vice president of employee success at Salesforce.Using AI as a Tool“2024 is all about AI,” said Arun Serikar, vice president of digital human resources at Schneider Electric, who uses tools like Microsoft Copilot and ChatGPT in his role as a manager. Serikar says AI allows for more efficiency for meeting notes, scheduling and synthesizing information from meetings.AI however functions off of available data which means that in order for the system to function effectively, you need to ensure that the system has the knowledge, articles and information before deploying it.Ricardo Galan, vice president of diversity, inclusion and talent experience at QBE, says his company uses AI to train managers on skills such as how to facilitate difficult conversations. “Our HR department cannot go to every single leader and teach them how to have a difficult convocation, but AI can actually help you practice in a safe environment,” Galan said.For companies with thousands of employees, it can be difficult to reach each person and give each of them the necessary training and workshops but implementing AI tools can help streamline these processes.Companies like Salesforce overlook over 30,000 team members, many of which are based in India. Salesforce created its own AI virtual agent called Agentforce, a competitor to Microsoft Copilot. Within the company however, leaders use a separate tool called the manager 360 dashboard which allows them to access all of their team’s data, offers suggestions and provides summaries.Panelists spoke about "Manager Effectiveness: Defining It, Measuring It, and Improving It," in a session moderated by Tom Miller, morning anchor at KXAN“The idea is, to continue to build better leaders you have to give them all of the relevant information, make sure they understand all the component pieces and then bring that to them at their fingertips within the flow of work,” said Felder.Growing and Developing LeadersLeaders within a company don’t come out of thin air. Leaders like Jennifer Newbill, director of emerging talent at Dell Technologies, have to be able to spot future employees with potential in management and leadership.At Dell, the company has implemented programs around the world where students can rotate throughout the company and learn about different aspects of departments. Throughout these programs, a student’s potential is being measured through observations on whether they exhibit the skills that match existing company values and leadership principles.Haeli Harris, director of clinical operations at Nivati says empathy is also an important skill for leaders to have. “Empathy is a key piece in building trust,” she said.Leaders are natural problem solvers but it’s also an important skill to be good at connecting with employees on a personal level and be able to see when behaviors change and notice when there might be something wrong, says Harris. “We want managers to be able to recognize when people are struggling, and the tools of ‘how do I help them, and how can I be a better manager,’” she said.Training on emotional intelligence can improve relationships between managers and employees. One skill that managers can build is as simple as listening. “Sometimes people don’t want to sit and get advice. They want to be heard,” said Newbill.Learning to become a leader comes with experience and development and hosting workshops can be helpful in boosting the growth of current and potential managers. Salesforce uses a manager training program called Lead India, which aims for the growth of leadership in employees based in India.Over the last few years, Salesforce has expanded their leadership team in India to now over 900 leaders this year, says Felder. With this expansion, Lead India also had to adapt. The training program this year embedded wellness conversations, Indian luminaries to spark inspiration and focused conversations led by leaders.Felder adds that when hiring for a company, leaders should be hiring those who are better than themselves to build a strong team that will carry the company forward. “You really have to be open and make sure that you’re holding folks accountable to hiring better than who they are, because the talent that you need is out there, but leaders sometimes want to hire like themselves, and you've got to push people a little bit harder to think differently about that,” said Felder.Keeping Teams Connected RemotelyAs many companies are now allowing employees to work remotely or hybrid, it can be difficult to maintain the connection between your team compared to an everyday in-person setting. Serikar emphasizes that open communication platforms like Slack or Yammer, now Viva Engage, can be helpful in connecting with employees remotely.Felder, who uses Slack, said he will take videos with recaps of conferences and events to share to his team working offsite. Salesforce also utilizes multiple Slack channels where different teams and groups can connect with each other and maintain communication. Managers can build trust with their employees by opening themselves up to feedback and following up with what is shared.Jennifer Yoshikoshi is a local news and education reporter based in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Evolving a Strong Set of Cultural Values for a Remote Workforce
BY Katie Chambers November 26, 2024Pop quiz: What U.S. city currently has the most remote workers? That would be Austin, Texas, with a whopping 24.9% of its workers operating outside of a traditional office environment. Carmen Amara, chief people officer at Yelp, is one of them.While many companies have ordered their employees back to the workplace, others have remained committed to flexibility. During a fireside chat at From Day One’s Austin conference, Amara showed how Yelp develops its remote culture with three elements in mind: What are employees saying about it? What are the business results? And what is the pace of innovation? Plus: How to keep career development at the forefront in a distributed workplace.Responding to the Desire for Remote WorkEven among growing public discourse about the need to return to the office, many workplaces are still noticing a strong desire among employees to stay home post-pandemic. “We are a remote work culture now,” said moderator Ross McCammon, deputy editor at Texas Monthly. “17.9% of workers are remote, a full three times as much remote work as there was before the pandemic.” And Yelp is no exception.“In 2021 we said we were going to be ‘remote first.’ We opened up our office doors and employees voted with their feet. On any given day, we had less than 1% of our employees showing up in an office,” Amara said. Recognizing that remote work was, in fact, working, Yelp went fully remote in 2022.The job market today is different than it was in 2022, when there was heavy competition to attract the top talent and the Great Resignation was in full swing. Now, Amara says, “companies are hiring more selectively” and tenure is lengthening, which means productivity is up, but organizations must work harder to keep longer term employees engaged. We’ve gone from the Great Resignation to what McCammon calls “The Big Stay.”An Intentional Approach to Culture-buildingOne of the biggest concerns facing employers today: Can you create culture in a remote environment? “Yes, you can, but you have to do so with intention,” Amara said. “And it’s not the same playbook, you can’t translate what you were doing in an office environment and just do that at home.” Yelp does it by relying on its longstanding core set of values. “Culture is about the stories that we tell and the values we hold high. That has to be foundational. You have to live by your values. You have to show your values in action. You have to address breaches in your values. And leaders have to walk the talk,” she said.Yelp creates experiences for employees that allow them to feel the organization’s values in their daily work. It’s taken its formerly San Francisco-based employee resource groups global, so all employees can join in the conversations from wherever they are. It also holds awards opportunities tied to the values and select in-person and virtual community service events in cities where there happen to be a lot of what Amara affectionately calls “Yelpers.”Carmen Amara, chief people officer of Yelp, was interviewed during the fireside chatYelp has developed both structured and unstructured storytelling sessions tied to its corporate values and professional development initiatives. Amara herself recently recorded one about authenticity. Leaders and employees at all levels are invited to take part. Sessions are presented live, recorded, and then sent out for later viewing.Re-envisioning the Employee ExperienceAmara says Yelp has relied on employee listening to inform a lot of its actions during and after the pandemic. “We did more specific and targeted surveys and interactions with employees to learn from them, so that we could quickly create the new playbook,” she said, noting that the organization was even more willing to move quickly and learn on the fly while refining the employee experience, rather than waiting for it to be “fully baked” before launch.What came out of the listening sessions was a strong desire for flexibility and the benefits that can help support it–caregiver benefits, mental health benefits, and flexible health and wellness benefits, including a stipend that can be put toward gym memberships, acupuncture, fitness gear, or the like. “It’s about creating a person-first experience,” Amara said.Amara acknowledges that as an HR professional, it can be hard to capture employees’ attention when rolling out cultural changes and benefits opportunities. She suggests “trying to meet people where they are.” Yelp introduced a new framework called Connected by Conversation, which offers six templates of the most impactful conversations leaders can have with employees, such as goal-setting discussions and one-on-ones. “It’s not a script,” Amara said. “We want people to be authentic, but it gives them a menu of options in a two-page outline to enable them to amp up their coaching capabilities.”Addressing “The Big Stay” in a Virtual WorldKnowing that employees are now staying longer in their roles, organizations need to prepare to play the long game. When Yelp went fully remote, it revamped its employee value proposition. “The former proposition talked about what it felt like to walk into a Yelp office,” Amara said. Now, it focuses on “work-life fit,” and hires with an eye toward what sorts of people thrive in a remote working environment. “We look for people who are going to be self-sufficient, who are self-starters, but can also collaborate across geographies,” Amara said. “We tend to include other folks from the team in that interview panel, so that our candidates get a full understanding of what it’s going to feel like to work here.”Without the natural visual and emotional cues of in-office interaction, it can be harder to see if employees are fulfilled and thriving. Yelp uses tools to assist, sending automated reminders to managers to complete regular check-in protocols with employees. “And we're very intentional about creating robust onboarding experiences,” Amara said.Katie Chambers is a freelance writer and award-winning communications executive with a lifelong commitment to supporting artists and advocating for inclusion. Her work has been seen in HuffPost and several printed essay collections, among others, and she has appeared on Cheddar News, iWomanTV, On New Jersey, and CBS New York.
Guiding Employee Growth With Inclusive Pathways to Success
BY Carrie Snider November 25, 2024Success in an organization is never a given, and without a clear pathway, it becomes almost unattainable for employees. Creating inclusive pathways for employee growth is a strategic imperative that fosters engagement, trust, and long-term retention. Five panelists spoke on this during From Day One’s LA conference in a conversation moderated by Nick Wolny, columnist for Out Magazine.Leverage Employee Resource GroupsOne way that companies can create inclusive pathways for employee growth and success is to make the most of their ERGs. Panelist Antonio Hairston, VP of recruiting, diversity outreach & early career talent for William Morris Endeavor, says that leaders should join ERGs. That way, leaders can participate, advocate, and promote them. “Over 2,000 members are a part of them, and it’s an authentic way to really build community,” he said. “Four of my team members are either a part of the leadership board or a part of a committee, and so as we think about our conversations and quarterly reviews or semi-monthly reviews, we talk about their personal development, and we talk about ways in which we can stretch them, ways in which we can give them stretch assignments.”This kind of collaboration and skill-building is instrumental in helping employees grow. Taking it a step further, Hairston became a mentor as part of the company’s ERG mentorship program. “It gives me the opportunity to connect with someone outside of my direct team,” he said. “We’re bouncing ideas off of each other, and I get a fresh new perspective from someone far removed from my direct team.”It’s really a win-win for both, with the mentor gaining insight, while the mentee learns from a leader in the company.Create Sharing OpportunitiesAt Chedraui, previously Smart & Final and El Super, where panelist Joseph Tischbern is VP of talent development and engagement, they focus on looking at employees as individuals. “We’re not just going to train you. We’re going to help you find the skills that exist in you, and we’re going to coach you until you believe that you can do whatever’s possible,” he said.Everyone comes to work wanting to be successful, but success may look different depending on each person. In order to feel comfortable to do that, there must be an environment of trust. To do that, companies need to create sharing opportunities.When Chedraui acquired Smart & Final, the company went from 12,000 people to 25,000 overnight. Tischbern said while many of the employees shared some commonalities with regards to Spanish language and culture, they needed to bond as employees and speak a common company language. “We put them in as many learning environments together as we possibly could,” he said. They also focused on developing consistent language. That included putting everyone through the Gallup Strengths Finder and the Seven Habits for Highly Effective People. From that, employees began speaking a common language, which ultimately helped them to trust the environment. One company leader, an immigrant from Iran, shared stories of hardship living in his home country. Soon others began sharing their stories. “Him being so transparent in that learning environment started breaking walls down,” Tischbern said. “Forty leaders in a room started to talk about their experiences. And that started to transform the culture.” Shift to Skills-Based HiringAn inclusive pathway always starts with the first step, and that’s hiring. Panelist Christine White, head of talent acquisition, North America, at Alstom, said they’ve changed how they approach getting people in the door. “We created a matrix for the core skills that we needed for all of our exempt and non-exempt positions,” she said. Still, letting go of traditional ways of focusing on degrees from specific universities can be hard for some leaders. To help change the mindset, shifting to a skills-based hiring model is a constant topic of discussion, White says. One thing they’ve done is put potential hires through tests, and share the results with leadership.The group of leaders spoke on the topic "Creating Inclusive Pathways for Employee Growth and Success"As they continue to share the results, a pattern emerges. It challenges the educational ecosystem and makes them ask the real question—what makes a person ready to work? If a person took the SAT or graduated from a prestigious university, does that automatically make them better? White concluded no. That’s a bias that needed to be challenged. This mindset shift to skills-based hiring has created an inclusive pathway for success. “We've been successful dealing with the education issue. It’s pretty much nearly gone in terms of a four-year degree,” White said. “Without the educational [barrier], we’re having them undergo a few more skill assessments in the pre-screening phase.” And any skills they still need, they teach, allowing for growth and success. Embrace DiversityThe current environment is a collision between DEI and talent development, says panelist Katie Oertli Mooney, managing director at Seramount. No matter what you call anything related to DEI, the focus is diversity, and it’s only going to become more important as time goes on. “Representation matters,” she said. “When we think about the future of work, students and those of younger generations are two times more likely to turn down a job if they don't see diversity in the organization.” Equitable access and opportunities is required so everyone can compete and move forward, Mooney says.Data from EEOC shows a 10 percent increase in new charges, meaning if inclusion isn’t at the center of an organization’s focus, there will be risks organizations would need to manage. Alternatively, leaders can proactively create a diverse workforce. “Having inclusive leaders, involving curriculum of that magnitude, leads to more effective, efficient workplaces,” Mooney said. A culture of belonging reduces attrition risks. Use the Power of AI for Job MatchingLarge corporations especially can find creating inclusive pathways challenging. That’s where AI can prove a useful tool, says panelist Michael Watson, senior director at Eightfold. There, they try to remove bias by not requiring an education and looking more at skills with the help of AI.“Every day I go to work, I’m trying to level that playing field for veterans, for working moms that didn’t have a chance to go to school, dads, everyone across the board that just hasn't gotten a fair chance,” Watson said. Some of his best recruits, he added, were baristas or servers without a formal education but plenty of skills in talking to people and dealing with rejection. “We’ve ingested over a billion and a half career paths. We’ve ingested over a billion roles,” he said. “Because of the size of our dataset, we can see those adjacent skills that you have.”Originally, Watson interviewed for a different position with Eightfold, and they turned him down for that role. But they came back and told him he’d be perfect for a different position—something he never would have considered, but thanks to AI the company matched his skills with what they needed. “Never in a million years did I think I would be running customer success,” he said. “But because we’re using these large data sets, we can see these anomalies, and we can see these patterns, and then we can lay those out for our employees.”By fostering inclusive pathways, companies can unlock the potential of their workforce by emphasizing trust, collaboration, and shared growth. Organizations that prioritize these efforts will not only build stronger communities within but will also drive sustainable success.Carrie Snider is a Phoenix-based journalist and marketing copywriter.
Helping Managers and Workers Cope With Transformation
BY Jennifer Yoshikoshi November 25, 2024Over the last seven years, Samantha Khoury, vice president of human resources for the Los Angeles Lakers, has seen several changes in management, including four different head coaches. In times of change, Khoury advises transparency to maintain success and satisfaction among employees.During an executive panel at From Day One’s LA conference, leaders discussed the many ways companies can support the mental health of employees, guide them through challenges with company changes and ensure all voices are heard.Making Your Employees Feel SeenIn order to gauge feedback within a company, many employers will opt for a survey, but what makes the impact is for employees to hear back and see their survey responses being considered to make changes in the workplace.“It’s easy to roll out a survey. What’s important is what you do with the results, how you measure them, and how you communicate them with the workforce so that you can show you heard them loud and clear,” said Sarah Jingco, vice president of human resources for Securitas.Vulnerability and honesty from leadership can make a large impact on employee satisfaction and positivity. Creating a consistent feedback loop between management and employees can help build a culture where people feel safe and welcome to share their thoughts and feelings, says Carrie Bergen, senior strategist at Lyra Health.Especially in times of change, whether it’s a layoff or management shift, maintaining a strong sense of leadership as an employer is important for companies to move forward through change, despite leaders themselves carrying a sense of uncertainty.In these situations, leadership can be displayed through communication, offering support and opening up spaces for questions and concerns, said Jingco. Employees have to feel like they can trust their leadership and know that they are being prioritized by the company, says Laura Bartus, head of learning at Humana CenterWell Pharmacy.“I think people are craving leaders of fabric, leaders with high integrity, leaders that can lead from the front, lead in plain sight,” said Jeff Williams, president and CEO of Aptia.Providing Mental Health SupportChanges can also bring on increased mental health impacts, but how can managers recognize and respond to employee struggles while they manage their own well being?Faith Pinho, reporter for the Los Angeles Times, left, moderated the discussionBergen emphasizes that providing managers with training is a critical aspect to helping leaders recognize mental health issues and taking the appropriate action to help their employees. Even for managers to communicate to employees that they recognize their struggles and open the door to mental health support for when they want it can make an impact.Leaders play a large role in maintaining a sense of stability for employees during changes, but it’s also important to remind leaders that “it’s okay to not always be the strong one,” said Bartus. “It’s okay to seek help and find resources, because often we feel like we have to be invulnerable.”For managers and employees, acknowledging this vulnerability of not always being strong can be important to the long term well being of workers.“Sometimes you have to tell people to take a break,” said Jingco.”I always tell my employees, ‘You’re not a machine. You know you’re not gonna break down and I can just fix you and you’re back to work. It doesn’t work that way.’”From the pandemic, many companies have become remote, but some executives are calling for employees to return to the office. Jingco recognizes that it varies among employees whether they prefer remote or in person work, but the real key performance indicator isn’t about being in the office, it’s about getting the job done.Hardships During LayoffsCompanies nationwide have been announcing major layoffs over the years and during these transitions companies put a strong focus on rightfully taking care of the people being let go. In times where laid off employees are being supported, remaining workers who are left to pick up the company’s work might be seen as an afterthought.Despite how much attention is given to people being laid off, Bartus says it’s also crucial for companies to hold space for remaining employees to express their fears, nerves and to provide feedback. “I need to let them know we’re not going to do 100% of what we used to do with 20% fewer people. Let's talk about prioritizing what we don't do anymore, and talk about making what we do now more efficient, because that's gonna be their biggest fear,” Bartus said.Maintaining a healthy relationship with remaining employees is important to move forward during major changes like layoffs. Especially when workload and responsibilities might be shifting, companies should be setting a clear vision of future expectations for employees to understand.At the Lakers, Khoury says that layoffs are driven by changes in investment and moving towards what would benefit the company in the future. With new visions on how the company will progress, leadership will need to deliver the hard truth and recognize that not everyone will find themselves in those changes.“Getting to the heart of the matter on [changes] and making sure you have a group that’s aligned on the purpose, the mission and being true to that mission is vital as well because you can’t have this sense of active dissent of people who can't get past it either,” said Khoury.Finding the best avenue to addressing change is not a direct road. Companies have to take notes on what worked best, what didn’t and find the balance between “exploration and engaging the employees,” said Jingco.Jennifer Yoshikoshi is a local news and education reporter based in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Redefining Well-Being in Today’s Workplace
BY Katie Chambers November 25, 2024What does well-being mean to you? The standard six pillars of well-being are emotional, physical, financial, social, intellectual, and spiritual. Each one complements and impacts the other, and the most forward-thinking companies are careful to include each in their employee benefits package.Traditionally, employers viewed well-being through the lens of physical health and its impact on productivity. Today, the scope has widened, encompassing mental health, financial security, and social connections, in the context of hybrid and remote work as well as in-office. As this thinking evolves, how are leaders assessing the points where employers can be most effective–and how are they aligning those needs with new solutions? As workplace culture becomes a key driver of well-being, how are companies ensuring their efforts foster a sense of belonging for all employees?The key to an effective benefits plan is understanding how each pillar of well-being impacts the other, shared panelists at From Day One’s LA conference. “When you consider well-being, always remember it’s not one silo or one category. It’s about taking a holistic approach to well-being,” said Bernie Knobbe, head of global benefits & well-being at AECOM.Your approach should also be intentional. “Ambiguity kills culture and when you think about well-being and how people flourish in the workplace, if you don’t know why you do what you do and how it fits into the bigger picture, then you’ve got a very little chance of flourishing,” said Matt Jackson, GM & VP, Americas at Unmind. Holistic refers not only to the intersection of the pillars, but of the offering themselves. Vendors should work together to accomplish this, Jackson says.Creating a Space That Embraces WellnessAll panelists emphasized the importance of leadership buy-in to make a wellness program thrive. “Employees look to their managers for guidance and encouragement. So, you have to get those managers to buy into this concept in order for it to be successful. It shouldn’t be top-down… it should be middle forward,” Knobbe said. “Make sure you’re reaching everybody, and that it’s consistent.”Wellness can be a sensitive topic, but companies like BuzzFeed have created “safe spaces for employees to be able to share what they need for their physical and mental health,” said moderator Pamela Avila, entertainment editor at USA Today. Buzzfeed offers panel presentations, wellness fairs to highlight current resources, and manager dens for frank conversations on relevant current events. The company also tailors its offerings depending on role and department.“We also try to identify what different teams and different levels of our employee population need,” said Chandler Bondan, chief people officer at BuzzFeed. For example, those covering tough news topics might need additional mental health support. And honoring the lifestyles and values of a diverse workforce is key. Bondan shares that Buzzfeed ended a contract last year with its insurance provider due to its restrictions on IVF and LGBTQIA+ care, opting for “a carrier that would be more inclusive of our population.”The executive panelist spoke about "Redefining Well-Being in Today’s Workplace"Leveraging employee resource groups can be a pathway to making well-being offerings more inclusive. Jackson shares how Major League Baseball initially had an individual mental health ERG but found that it was more effective to have mental health integrated into all its other groups instead. “If you can talk about mental health in the context of how you experience life across those different ERGs, it’s going to resonate and have a much greater impact,” Jackson said. ERG’s are also “a great employee listening tool” to see which benefits are working, and which are not, he says.Well-Being as Company CultureMore and more, company culture is becoming a driving factor behind not only employee retention but also overall business success. “FOX Sports is a household name. But we’re no longer getting people because of just our brand. It’s really [about the philosophy,]” said Kim Beauvais, EVP, HR & business operations, FOX Sports. For Beauvais’ organization, offering an inclusive wellness benefits package helps build a culture of psychological safety, and therefore, risk-taking. “We believe it’s okay to fail, it’s okay to try things,” she said. “And listen, we’re not curing cancer. We’re putting on sports TV! It should be fun. It should be fulfilling. There should be a purpose in what you’re doing. And you should feel like it’s a fun place to come to work.”Culture needs to be cultivated with intention, especially when employees are being asked to return to the office at least some of the time. You don’t want all employees to feel forced to return only to continue to stare at a screen. “We have to help people feel connected when they’re back in the office, so that they have a sense for being there,” said Jack Schutzbach, VP, HR, Americas, Groupe SEB.Understanding Your WorkforceEspecially in large corporations, well-being offerings should speak to employees’ unique lifestyles and work situations, Beauvais says, citing different needs like childcare, at-home work set ups, physical labor vs. desk jobs, etc. “The shift that we had to make over the last five years was that empathetic leadership, that empathetic philosophy that not every employee is created equal. We have multiple buckets and types of employees, [and] their situations are all very different,” she said. HR leaders need to be visible among employees, listen to their needs, market current benefits, and carefully investigate potential offerings to make sure they are viable for the current workforce.And always remember that generally, use of benefits can be confusing or stressful to employees. “We try to make exceptions where we can, to make sure that it’s an easy part of someone’s day, not a hard part. Being as flexible as possible is a good [idea],” Bondan said.“The role of the HR business partner is changing,” Beauvais added, so that it’s less about enforcing rules and more about providing support and care so employees can stay healthy and productive. “Being a part of their world and understanding what they’re going through, so that they do lean on you in those moments that they wouldn't normally reach out to you, is really important,” she said.Understanding Your Role in the ProcessUltimately, you must remember that as HR you are in a people-first business. “One of my favorite sayings is, ‘We’re human resources. Human is our first name. Resources is our last name.’ Our customers are our resources, and we’re responsible for the human side of our business. So, we add value when we do that,” Knobbe said. “And ROI–it’s both ‘return on investment’ and ‘return on individual.’ If you can get your programs and your communications right, people feel like it's about them, not just about whatever it is they’re trying to accomplish.”Jackson shares there are three layers of well-being benefits: organization, interpersonal, and individual. For years, HR was mostly just focused on the individual, emphasizing personal resilience and being reactive to problems after they occur. In today’s workplace, that’s no longer enough.“What’s your responsibility as an employer? The organizational layer is all about how you want to talk about mental health. How do you want to talk about culture? How do you want to talk about well-being? How do you set the right tone for the rest of the organization?” Jackson said.The structural elements should be supporting your company values, be it mental health benefits, fertility benefits, parental leave or more. And manager training should incorporate these values, teaching how to be “empathetic leaders that create mentally healthy environments,” Jackson said. “If you are intentional and look across how you run your organization from a well-being, benefits, and culture perspective, and assess at each of those three levels, that’s a good starting place to think about what you need to do to create that mentally healthy environment.”Katie Chambers is a freelance writer and award-winning communications executive with a lifelong commitment to supporting artists and advocating for inclusion. Her work has been seen in HuffPost and several printed essay collections, among others, and she has appeared on Cheddar News, iWomanTV, On New Jersey, and CBS New York.