Go Beyond Resumes to Hire Better, More Diverse Talent 

BY Jennifer Haupt | February 17, 2022

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Peace of Mind: How Employers Can Help Workers Get Their Final Wishes in Order

Have you thought about your end of life wishes? “As of 2025, 24% of Americans have a will, although 67% of Americans acknowledge that this is a very important document,” said Paul Fried, founding member of I Made the Arrangements.Fried spent a year and a half building a website focused on end-of-life planning. Through the lens of human resources, this kind of benefit, like offering a will and encouraging employees to document their plans, can create a meaningful partnership between employer and employee, he shared during a thought leadership spotlight at From Day One’s Minneapolis conference. It also gives employers a way to approach support with compassion—recognizing that employees are whole people with complex lives. By offering a tool to ease the logistics of difficult life circumstances, companies can show care beyond the workplace.Paul Fried, founder of I Made the Arrangements, led the thought leadership spotlight The website includes features like a “wish capture,” where users can document their end-of-life preferences and share them as a PDF. It also offers a will builder with advanced directives. Employees can then designate a wish keeper, or someone who will receive access to these documents after the employee’s passing. The employees can write their own eulogy, obituary, or video eulogy, final thoughts, e-mail your children every year, and upload videos that can be synced with music. “While over six in 10 (63%) older adults say they have had an end-of-life conversation with a loved one, far fewer have made end-of-life preparations like preparing a last will and testament (36%) or a living will (33%),” according to Cheryl L. Lampkin in Thoughts on End of Life: For Most, Concerns do not Equate to Action. Moreover, less than half of the adults aged 45 and older who have not made these or similar preparations, say it is very likely they will.Most employees don’t leave jobs because of pay, they more often leave because they are not appreciated, Fried says. End of life planning support helps build a genuine feeling of appreciation and value for workers, says Fried. Employees might not remember how much their bonus was, or how many steps they took in a wellness app but they will remember the company and the employers that helped guide them through life’s most challenging situations. Fried created I Made the Arrangements with a clear goal: to take the stigma out of end-of-life planning and turn a traditionally taboo topic into something approachable and empowering. By offering creative, compassionate benefits like this, employers can do more than support their teams, they can strengthen employee loyalty, deepen trust, and improve retention by showing they care about the full arc of their employees’ lives.Editor’s note: From Day One thanks our partner, I Made the Arrangements, for sponsoring this thought leadership spotlight. Tabitha Cabrera, Esq. is a writer and attorney, who has a series of inclusive children's books, called Spectacular Spectrum Books.(Photos by Travis Johansen for From Day One)

Tabitha Cabrera June 06, 2025

How to Shape Your Workforce for Peak Performance

David Bator, managing director at Achievers Workforce Institute still remembers his first encounter with José Morales. They met at an annual customer conference, where Morales, then executive director at Cineplex, shared a story that stayed with him. Over 22 years, Morales had risen through the company’s ranks, starting from one of the most unglamorous roles in the theater: scooping popcorn.“I asked him how many jobs he’d had in 22 years. And he said he’d had 10,” Bator said during a thought leadership spotlight at From Day One’s NYC benefits conference. His first job was scooping popcorn, and his second was teaching people how to. Bator says he went on to pry if Morales had any education that prepared him to excel at scooping popcorn and teaching others how, but, unsurprisingly, that wasn’t the case. Morales credited his ability to empathize, collaborate, and problem-solve, plus Cineplex’s ability to recognize these skills, for his rise up the corporate ladder. Morales developed his skills on the job because the opportunities were there—and because the company created space for growth. That, Bator noted, is the difference between employee engagement and employee experience: engagement is the outcome, but experience is what makes it possible.David Bator, managing director at Achievers Workforce Institute, led the session “Employee engagement is the commitment an individual makes to doing the job they’re paid to do,” he said. Bator went on to define employee experience as “the responsibility we all share to create conditions so that employees can be engaged in the first place.” Organizations can’t measure engagement without first building an environment that enables it, he says.  Bator’s four C’s of shaping employee experience challenge traditional notions of engagement by emphasizing connection, celebration, compensation, and choice as the pillars of an efficient workforce. Only 15% of employees think their organization effectively connects them to colleagues, despite the explosion of collaboration tools like Slack, Trello, and Google Docs. Bator urges leaders to make improving connections between employees a top priority. He recommends investing in platforms that provide easy access to people, skills, and resources, and regularly conducting meaningful manager one-on-ones. Bator notes that surveys compiled by Niagara Institute show employees are twice as likely to feel like they belong when connected to the rest of their team, and 28% say being connected gives them the confidence to tackle unexpected challenges. Celebration is the second “C” of employee engagement. It’s a catch-all phrase for recognition, award, and reward. Bator cites data from Achievers that shows employees who receive frequent, impact-driven recognition are more than three times more likely to be engaged, and more than five times more likely to feel they belong. The data also shows that workers who are recognized at least monthly are ten times more likely to recommend their manager and less inclined to job hunt even if their salaries lag behind market rates.“It’s better than nothing, but it’s worse than average,” Bator said, challenging the annual award status quo. When surveyed, 58% of employees reported annual awards felt repetitive, while 71% said the same people won each year. 58% wanted consistent recognition at least monthly. “What gets recognized gets repeated,” Bator said, citing data that reveals recognition tied to DEI programs led to a 300% increase in engagement. Bator says while employee pay matters, it’s not the sole driver of engagement. One survey shows 75% of workers would prefer a job that made them feel valued over one that paid 30% more. Only 53% felt fairly compensated for their roles, but that number jumped to 73% among employees who were recognized monthly. Bator coined the term emotional salary to include the daily moments that make employees feel seen, valued, and supported beyond what raises and promotions can provide. Choice is Bator’s final “C,” and he notes that while 21 to 26% of employees enroll in wellness programs, more personalized benefits shaped by frequent feedback drive 50% higher engagement and 88% increased feelings of value. “We’re leaving one-size-fits-all programs for an era of hyper-personalization,” he said, urging organizations to survey employees at least quarterly on what they need to thrive. Bator closed his presentation by returning to his popcorn anecdote about his friend José Morales of Cineplex. Morales has held over ten jobs with Cineplex over 22 years, from scooping popcorn to an executive role, because his employer recognized his open-mindedness, collaborative mindset, and problem-solving skills. “Our role in talent and HR is to create conditions so people can do the best work of their lives,” Bator said. Editor’s note: From Day One thanks our partner, Achievers, for sponsoring this thought leadership spotlight. Ade Akin covers workplace wellness, HR trends, and digital health solutions.(Photos by Hason Castell for From Day One)

Ade Akin June 04, 2025

Revolutionizing Talent Acquisition: The Human Edge in an AI-Driven Era

Pat Griffin, the chief revenue officer at Randstad Digital, didn’t get the smooth search improvement he expected the first time he tested an artificial intelligence screening tool on a live candidate pool. What Griffin noticed instead was that an entry that perfectly matched every data point, like degrees, keywords, and experience, was flagged as “low fit.” For Griffin, that moment illustrated the promise and pitfalls of AI in talent acquisition, a topic he spoke about during a thought leadership spotlight at From Day One’s NYC half-day TA conference. The real advantage lies in “unique human connection” in a world focused on integrating artificial intelligence into everything, says Griffin. While AI can help to accelerate initial resume scans; it can also miss nuanced indicators such as tone, passion, and cultural fit that highlight a candidate’s true potential.  “We can deploy AI agents to identify skill gaps or run pattern matching across hundreds of profiles, but only a recruiter can read between the lines,” he said. He cemented his argument by sharing a story about a top candidate who hesitated when asked to describe a professional setback, despite having impressive credentials on paper. An AI agent would have penalized the applicant for that, but a seasoned recruiter noticed her vulnerability and resilience, qualities many organizations find valuable. That recruiter's intervention showed that the human touch is essential in the screening process. Pat Griffin the chief revenue officer at Randstad Digital | Torc led the thought leadership spotlightGriffin says the use of AI in the recruitment process doesn’t replace recruiters. Instead, it empowers them by helping them to notice trends in application flow, pinpoint diversity gaps, and forecast hiring needs. “We’re using next-gen tools to model volume and quality of candidates, predicting when talent pools will dry up,” he said. “That lets us proactively build a digital community before roles even open.”Griffin highlighted a pilot program where Randstad Digital Torc used data innovation to identify emerging roles in software security. A targeted outreach campaign was created within weeks, with a 40% increase in qualified leads. “That’s not magic,” Griffin emphasized. “It’s a recruiter armed with insights, using AI in concert with their own expertise.”Griffin says the days of blackhole application portals and ghosting candidates are long gone and that having a smooth application process that prioritizes applicant experience is vital. He cautions against overreliance on AI as chatbots handle more roles like scheduling, answering frequently asked questions, and delivering personalized coaching tips for interviews. “We’ve seen AI agents misinterpret simple questions, leading to frustration. You still need someone monitoring those conversations,” he said. Randstad Digital introduced a hybrid recruitment process to combat the limitations of artificial intelligence. AI handles routine tasks, while human recruiters step in at critical touchpoints. “If a candidate expresses uncertainty, that triggers a handoff to a human,” Griffin said. “That balance improved our satisfaction scores by 25 percent.”Griffin tackled the role of AI predictions in the hiring process, noting that while machine learning excels at sifting through data and forecasting trends, it struggles with contextual judgment. “We saw false positives in early models, candidates flagged for 'overqualification' who turned out to be perfect fits after conversation,” he said. That led to the creation of new guardrails, such as all automated disqualifications requiring human review. Companies should view technology as a recruitment tool, not a replacement for recruiters, says Griffin. He highlighted three pillars for transforming any organization’s recruitment process. Organizations can integrate AI strategically by starting with pilot projects, such as improving search results for niche roles, and then scaling the models that prove successful. At the same time, it's essential to invest in upskilling by providing recruiters with training in data literacy and the ethical use of AI, ensuring that innovation is balanced with human judgment. Finally, fostering a digital community through ongoing engagement with potential candidates via social platforms and virtual events can help nurture long-term interest and relationships.Griffin urges recruiters to remember that the recruitment process is all about connecting with the right people. “AI agents are powerful, but they aren’t human,” he said. “When we prioritize unique human connection, we future-proof our hiring models and deliver an exceptional candidate experience.”Editor’s note: From Day One thanks our partner, Randstad Digital Torc, for sponsoring this thought leadership spotlight. Ade Akin covers workplace wellness, HR trends, and digital health solutions.(Photos by Hason Castell for From Day One)

Ade Akin June 03, 2025