During a fireside chat at the From Day One conference in Dallas this month, Andre Joyner, the chief human resources officer of JCPenney, shared how the company is making workers feel that they, too, are part of its 120-year legacy and its future growth through shared purpose and inclusivity. He also addressed ways the company is responding to shifting values in both their consumers and employees and supporting purpose-driven work.

JCPenney, one of America’s iconic department stores, often elicits memories of family shopping trips. From Day One co-Founder Steve Koepp opened his conversation with Joyner by sharing one such memory. He said, “I have a special recollection, like it was yesterday, of shopping at your company back in a small town in Wisconsin. We were a family of six, and of course it was a family expedition. I really liked the slacks with no belt.”

The image painted by Koepp’s anecdote is still at the core of JCPenney’s mission. About the company’s rebirth after some difficult years, Joyner said, “We are in a very exciting place. We’re an organization with an ownership group that’s really invested in our growth and success. We have a clean balance sheet, which is important. We have a newly established leadership team with deep and diverse capabilities. And I’d say, most importantly, we have a mission that matters, and that’s to celebrate and serve diverse American working families.” Joyner, in fact, has four children of his own.

Today, companies are tasked with adjusting to rapid social change, a lingering pandemic, and economic uncertainty. Many companies are looking at their values and adjusting them. But Joyner said that JCPenney’s values have remained consistent. “Our primary core value is the golden rule. That’s what we are anchored in and on. We have belief systems that have evolved and the one that we amplified most consistently is the focus on inclusivity. In our company, we approach inclusivity as a verb, and focusing on how that shows up in both our customer engagement and our associate engagements,” he said.

The employment market is seeing the same shift in values, and the Great Resignation has been a challenge facing companies of all kinds and sizes. When asked about how, or if, this phenomenon is affecting JCPenney, Joyner said he takes a contrarian view. He said, “I see it as the Great Reflection. To me this suggests that people want to do less, but I actually think they want to do a lot more. I would say aspiration and engagement are alive and well. I think organizations that enable their associates to live more purpose-driven lives vs. pure profits will win.”

How is JCPenney supporting purpose-driven work? How is the company, which has a large employee base and locations nationwide, harvesting collaboration and growth? Joyner said that JCPenney has a particular benefit in that their associates represent their customer base. So when Penney’s managers are engaging with their associates, they are engaging with their customers. “Our focus is on how we get to more time spent on shared purpose and shared commitment. Because by nature we’re trying to get to a common place,” said Joyner.

This approach to shared purpose and commitment follows through to the opportunity for individualized career growth within the company. When looking at how best to offer this, Joyner said he looks for three things: what the person enjoys doing, what they are really good at, and what the organization needs. He said, “We’re leaning a little bit more into being hyper-focused on what that individual wants and needs from an experience standpoint, maybe to a greater degree than you would historically in traditional career-path models.”

This is a telling example of how the HR role is changing. Joyner said that finding the very best talent is an opportunity to offer individualized benefits, career growth opportunities, and substance and purpose–“something that’s deeper than maybe the recent past. I think you see some companies taking a human-centered approach. I’m going to care about your whole experience and whether that’s going to help you put the tools in your tool kit that’s going to help you live the life that you want to live. I think companies to a greater degree need to think about it that way. And that’s in some ways a bit of a departure, but I believe it’s the right way to go.”

Christina Cook is a freelance writer based in Dallas, Texas. She writes about a variety of topics, including art, film, and live theatre. Her 2017 children’s book Your Hands Can Change the World was a regional bestseller, and she is the founder of the hyperlocal arts blog, Dallas Art Beat.