How Microsoft Innovates: An Inside Look at the Culture Behind Some of the Biggest Breakthroughs
BY Katie Chambers April 29, 2025Contrary to popular belief, “innovation” is not synonymous with “invention.” Instead, innovation is all the hard work that comes after invention to bring that idea to life. Tech giant Microsoft has long thrived on this energetic cultivation. Two veteran Microsoft engineers and entrepreneurs are offering a rare inside look at how one of the world’s most influential companies unlocks human creativity and collaboration. JoAnn Garbin, former director of Innovations at Microsoft and now founding partner of Regenerous Labs, and Dean Carignan, partner program manager in the Office of the Chief Scientist at Microsoft, co-authored The Insider’s Guide to Innovation at Microsoft. In a fireside chat at From Day One’s Seattle conference, they shared key lessons for anyone looking to thrive in an era defined by rapid change and innovation.The Joy of Innovation Despite living in unusual times, with the future of work seemingly powered by AI, Garbin and Carignan found throughlines about innovation that can help workers across a variety of eras and job descriptions. “We felt like there were core lessons that transcend time and technology and industry and role. It doesn’t matter if you’re in HR or in engineering or research, there are practices that everybody could benefit from,” Garbin said. One of these universal truths they discovered about innovation is team dynamics. “We discovered this incredible joy and collegiality in the teams that were innovating,” Carignan said. “And so that was our motivation: to make people better innovators so they could be productive, but also so they could be happier.” Innovation, Garbin says, is a fundamental human need. “We are builders. Since the dawn of humanity, we’ve been creating things. And up until the computer age, we were still creators and builders,” she said. But with today’s technological advances, we don’t all always get to participate in innovation in quite the same way. And whereas most businesses are “zero sum” and looking to be cost effective, Carignan says, innovators instead have a positive sum mentality in generating new and exciting things for their constituents.A Method to the Madness “Part of Microsoft’s secret sauce is that it has embraced innovation,” said moderator Cathy Duchamp, assistant managing editor at the Puget Sound Business Journal. And that innovation, the co-authors say, is “loopy.” Playing off the notion that tech creators may get pegged as “mad scientists,” they explored the loopiness of the innovation process. “There are all sorts of patterns in the innovation process itself that are iterative. You discover, you design, develop, you learn, you fail, you iterate,” Garbin said.But that’s not to say there is no structure in place. “There is a method to the madness. If there isn’t a method, you can’t teach it to people, and you can’t bring in new people and get them into the process effectively. So, you have to make it a structured, standard process,” Garbin said. Fortunately, the linear notion of work is highly familiar to those in the corporate world. HR leaders need to look for innovators who understand how to bridge the gap.“The best innovators that we found understood, ‘I’m in an environment that wants predictability and linearity. It’s my job to explain why things are going to be loopy and prepare the people I’m working with and anticipate when it might loop back and when it’s going to loop forward,’” Carignan said. “And so fitting innovation into a corporate structure, or any company structure, is hard and it requires a certain profile of person.”Building a Culture of Innovation Garbin and Carignan signed copies of their book for attendees Innovation cannot, and should not, be limited to creative or technological pursuits alone. “We found that the best innovators at Microsoft were thinking way beyond the technology,” Carignan said. “They would innovate their business model, their culture, their processes. And it’s that holistic approach to innovation that really leads to breakthroughs.” The co-authors call this systemic creativity “architectural innovation.” Carnigan shares an HR-specific example from Bing, Microsoft’s search engine. “Bing does the candidate-driven loop. They basically leave time in a recruiting loop for the candidate to reach out to people, connect, follow up, schedule a coffee, and they look at how [the candidates] use that time and whether they’re actually using it to learn, engage, and build relationships,” he said. “It’s a good indicator of whether or not they’re going to be innovative when they hire in.”Another Microsoft example: gaming arm Xbox hires for “culture adds” rather than “culture fits,” Carnigan said, acknowledging that each new hire will fundamentally change the organization’s DNA–and that’s OK. “Adding to it is way better than fitting into it,” he said. Xbox manages its culture the way it manages a product. “They say culture is something we need to proactively shape and create, so they have reviews, metrics, and targets. It's not as definable as a product, but they've invested in a team that takes it seriously and whose sole job is to think about where the culture is today and where we need to go with it,” Carnigan said.Best Practices for InnovationPeople are essential to innovation. In the innovation loop of “discover, design, develop,” the most successful organizations have people who take part in more than one part of the process. The co-authors identified different work personalities, such as pioneers, developers, settlers, and town planners. But a group’s ability to innovate is dependent, Carignan says, on another category: boundary crossers. “The discipline is different from the role,” Garbin said. “The trick is to connect all these people together.” Failure is key to a healthy innovative process, Carignan says, citing Microsoft’s failure to jump on the search engine bandwagon fast enough, leaving room for Google to take the lead. Learning from those mistakes, the team has taken on an early adopter approach when it comes to AI, establishing themselves as leaders on the cutting edge. The co-authors also described the concept of “re-hiring the team” at Xbox when there is a major business or technological shift. “They map [the change] down to every individual job description, and managers are then charged with going and having the conversation: ‘How do the new requirements of the organization map to your interest, background, skills, and passions?’ The vast majority see this as an opportunity to learn and grow, and become even more connected to the organization because they’ve been re-hired,” Carignan said. Ultimately, we are all innovators. “Innovation is everywhere,” Duchamp said, in all departments and across all roles. “90% of the money invested in innovation goes to technology,” Garbin said. “But 90% of the value created comes from everything around the technology: the business model and the people systems. So, the companies that figure out [how] to innovate with everyone, and bring all the roles, all the disciplines, all the parts of the business together, they’re the ones that really achieve monumental success.”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.(Photos by Josh Larson for From Day One)
What Trump’s Immigration Agenda Means for Employers
BY Katie Chambers April 16, 2025Do you and your team have a plan in place if ICE shows up at your office looking for one of your employees? It’s a shocking thought, but something that HR must now consider in our new normal.The new Trump Administration 2.0 is moving aggressively on new immigration policies, including significant changes to the immigration process. Yet we have plenty of experience from his first term to help guide us toward adapting to the new era.During a recent From Day One webinar, attorneys Matthew Hellrung and Matthew Meltzer, co-Founders and managing partners of Meltzer Hellrung Immigration Solutions, discussed what they see as the most likely immediate adjustments, as well as later developments, and the steps you can take now to ensure compliance and minimize disruptions to your immigration program moving forward.They offered an insightful and practical guide to how employers can adapt and anticipate the myriad changes to U.S. immigration policy to ensure access to a global talent pool.The State of ImmigrationPrior to the start of the new Trump administration, U.S. Citizen and Immigration Services (USCIS), had a 4% denial rate, U.S. Department of State (DOS) had a 20% denial rate, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) was largely focused on arresting undocumented immigrants with criminal convictions or pending charges.“I-9 enforcement was focusing on employers that didn’t use E-Verify and employers that were suspected to have people who might not have work authorization, businesses that have historically unauthorized workers, like car washes, factories, or slaughterhouses,” Meltzer said.Actions Affecting Lawful Immigration PathwaysUnder the new administration, lawful entry into the U.S. has become even more difficult. Refugee entry, including pending applications, has been suspended indefinitely pending a 90-day review and report, stranding 22,000 previously approved refugees. And there is a directive heightening the already very high identification standards such that current unsettled approvals may be denied. This is a particular challenge for those coming from countries that don’t have as rigorous and standardized an ID system as the U.S., Hellrung says. Matthew Hellrung (pictured), led the webinar along with Matthew Meltzer (company photo)Asylum seekers, those who arrive at the U.S. border claiming a credible fear of persecution in their home country, unlike refugees who wait in their home country for approval, are also facing challenges. “Via the Constitution and the various immigration laws, CBP is required to accept those individuals to document who they are, to potentially interview them for their asylum claims, and then release them into the United States with a court date to plead their case for the asylum benefit that they’ve applied for at the border. As soon as Trump took office, essentially all asylum applications that were in process were halted,” Hellrung said. Reports indicate CBP no longer honors asylum claims at any U.S. Border, and the “CBP one app” asylum interview system was terminated a few days into the new administration, canceling 30,000 appointments. Humanitarian programs and parole, which are generally granted by executive order, are no longer available for Cuban, Haitian, Ukrainian, Venezuelan, Nicaraguan nationals seeking entry. Trump also ended Biden’s green card program reuniting families separated from children (enacted in response to the first Trump administration), and ICE is now allowed to invalidate anyone’s parole immediately. Temporary Protected Status (TPS) has been partially rescinded for over 800,000 people. “[TPS] is temporary permission that allows folks coming from war torn countries, famine, and natural disasters to enter the United States for temporary period of time,” Hellrung said. “There are a lot of folks employed as Venezuelans [and Ukrainians] in TPS status. They do have the authorization to work. They pass the I-9 process.” He says the administration is likely to rescind most or all TPS designations in the next 18 months, impacting 14 nationalities. DOS has also made it harder for visas to be renewed abroad via Dropbox. And some moves have happened as political retaliation, such as the canceling of hundreds of Colombian visas after the country complained about deportees, and the looming threat of canceling F-1 student visas for supposed Hamas sympathizers, often conflated with those simply supporting Palestinian rights. Hellrung says some of the more extreme measures may not come to pass, including the executive order attempting to end birthright citizenship. “It’s pretty clear in the Constitution that birthright citizenship is a right. We don’t think this is going anywhere.” But he warns to expect continued ICE harassment and arrests of green card holders and U.S. citizens as the officers work to meet their arrest quotas. Actions Affecting Undocumented ImmigrantsWhile most employers are less concerned about the actions affecting those who are in the U.S. illegally, “it can still have a significant impact if you are a supermarket or a place where people congregate publicly–a food bank, a health clinic.” Even if your employees are here legally, your clientele may not be, and ICE will often make their arrests at public gathering spots for easy access. ICE noncriminal arrests have increased tenfold, and ICE is now empowered to remove someone from the country immediately without due process.Meltzer advises employers to stay prepared regardless of their direct workforce or customer base. “I always remind all of my clients that you don’t know who your employees’ families are,” he said. “You can have people who work for you who are U.S. citizens, who are married to undocumented workers. You can have people who are U.S. citizens who are the children of undocumented people. The stress here is real for workforces, regardless of whether they’re not undocumented.”One of the biggest changes is that DOS has been ordered to create a registration process for all non-U.S. citizens and failure to register would be a criminal offense. Meltzer notes that this law has actually been on the books since the 1940’s but was never truly implemented until now. Immigration enforcement is taking top priority, as workers from other agencies like the IRS, DEA, FBI, and Homeland Security are being taken off of other criminal enforcement to focus on immigration instead. Most of these provisions against undocumented immigrants, Hellrung says, have lawsuits against them pending in the federal courts. What to Expect NextGoing forward, Hellrung warns employers to expect travel bans in over a dozen countries, while others will be expected to improve their security and information sharing so their citizens can still be allowed to travel to the U.S. plus delayed consular processing for visas. Employers may be impacted by increased barriers to immigration benefits, including higher income requirements for permanent residency and an increase in filing fees for humanitarian, family, and employment-based visas. There may also be termination of work authorizations for asylum applicants, parolees, and H-4, L-2, E-3D, and J-2 dependent authorizations.“You should know who these people are inside of your workforce and identify them because they are at risk of losing work authorization,” Hellrung said. “It would be a good idea to sponsor that person in the [visa] lottery if they qualify.” Plus, there may be termination of TPS designations and all humanitarian parole, affecting about 1.5 to 2 million immigrants in the U.S. with work authorizations. And a rise in inquiries, audits, and denials across all family and employment-based filings. Trump has mentioned a substantive change in the H-1B lottery system, making it more merit-based, but what that means exactly has yet to be determined. Currently, Hellrung’s clients are already experiencing increased site visits from USCIS and ICE, auditing I-9s, checking on H-1B and L-1 workers, or doing worksite raids for specific individuals. They also anticipate increased immigration coordination and enforcement by federal, state, and local law enforcement, since the “mass influx” designation allows the deputization of state and local agents. How to Stay PreparedIn the face of this daunting information, there are a few concrete ways Meltzer and Hellrung suggest employers can stay prepared: Centralize your company’s I-9 and immigration data. Adopt a system that allows for safe storage and quick reporting and adopt E-Verify or E-Verify+ if appropriate. Review your I-9 completion, storage, and audit procedures. A spot audit might be useful to understand your overall financial risk.File everything you can file now! This includes work authorization extensions, before the possible expiration. Initiate green card cases as long-term solutions and ask vendors to prioritize the fastest options, including EB-1, EB-2 NIW, and EB-2EA. And sponsor workers for the H-1B lottery if you can. Create a site visit protocol plan. Who will receive a government agent? Where will you put them? Do you know your employer rights? The latter, the ICE site visit, is the most daunting for many employers. Gather as much information as possible, including names, agencies, and badges. Know which parts of your business are considered public and which are considered private, which impacts whether a warrant is needed. Be ready to supply paperwork when asked. Meltzer advises to keep your cool “and don’t assume the government is going to do everything right.”Editor’s note: From Day One thanks our partner, Meltzer Hellrung , for sponsoring this webinar. 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.(Photo by AnnaStills/iStock)
The Debate Over RTO and WFH: What the Research Really Shows
BY Katie Chambers April 15, 2025Despite headlines over the last year touting the full RTO of major corporations like J.P. Morgan Chase and Amazon, Nicholas Bloom the foremost expert on remote work and professor of economics at Stanford University, says the RTO trend seems to have already passed. Citing a recent study of more than 1,000 companies, he said “we asked them about their return to office plans, looking ahead a year, and 85% of them said they have no plans to change.”“The big data I’ve seen suggests there is not a major return to the office. I don’t think there’s going to be much major change outside of the government sector,” said Bloom. Some companies have been tying bonuses to office attendance to incentivize employees to come in, which Bloom finds ineffective. “There are only so many dollars you can give [an employee] for a bonus,” he said. “If you start to take away some of that from performance and put it onto days in the office, you’re just giving her less bonus for performance. You’re basically saying, as a business to a manager, ‘We care less about performance.’”And still, latest headlines regarding return to office are contradictory. “One will say that being in the office full time will make your workers more productive, and then the next day you might see one that says being hybrid or fully remote will make your workers more productive. What is the actual answer?” asked moderator Katherine Bindley, technology reporter at the Wall Street Journal during a fireside chat at From Day One’s Silicon Valley conference.As more large employers enforce a return to office, Bloom shared insights on what the latest research shows about productivity, employee engagement, and other factors that companies need to take into account when developing their policies. For employers insisting on RTO, what can they do to make the arrangement more effective? And for those offering flexible arrangements, what approaches provide the best results?We all want to know: which is the more effective strategy, RTO (return to office) or WFH (work from home)? “It really depends on the task,” Bloom said. Certain duties like call center work benefit from the quiet of home. Generally, Bloom and his student researchers have found that a hybrid model is optimal.A recent two-year study on the company Trip.com did an A/B test of their workers, with half working from home two days per week and the other half in the office full time. The study showed no demonstrable effect on performance.“[In interviews] they’d say there’s a huge benefit of coming into the office. It’s great for mentoring, it’s better for innovation, it’s better for building culture,” Bloom said. “But by the time you’ve gone three days a week in the office, it’s not obvious that days four and five are useful.”In fact, spending the other two days at home allowed for deep work and an additional 90-minutes of working time. And the employees who were allowed to work part-time from home were 35% less likely to quit. “The Trip.com CEO and the board said this is massively profitable, because every person that quits costs us something like $30,000 to $50,000,” Bloom said. It can be hard to measure performance among certain professions–even more so when employees are working from home and you can’t physically see or hear what they are doing, says Bloom. But it’s crucial for employers to figure out how to gauge results to allow employees this highly sought-after benefit. “Make sure you have good performance evaluations,” Bloom said, suggesting complex metrics and sliding scales based on each role.How to Enforce RTOBloom cautions against using RTO as a method of downsizing, referring to Amazon and even DOGE as guilty of versions of this, essentially making work so uncomfortable through RTO and other mandates that people quit. But organizations that do really need a full RTO need to roll it out in a way that is both enforceable and attractive. Companies that announce RTO, he says, see an uptick in “card swipes and Wi-Fi logins” at the office at first, but after the initial mandate, compliance starts to slip. Buy-in from managers is key, as they set the tone for their teams. “What’s happening is this very weak enforcement. In order to enforce, you have to have a strong mandate and incentives,” he said. Bindley also notes the importance of having the actual space to bring back workers, especially after so many companies downsized their spaces during the pandemic. “You have to have enough desks,” she said. Nicholas Bloom, William D. Eberle professor in economics and foremost expert on remote work, was interviewed during the fireside chat The Best Model of Hybrid With hybrid schedules, it can be hard to coordinate workers, Bindley says. You don’t want a situation where people head to the office just to be on Zoom with colleagues at home. “The most common model is three days in the office: Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday,” Bloom said. “There’s no exact science on which days, but you want to coordinate two or three days.” People still work on Fridays, but most do it from home, Bloom says. In fact, the London Underground has even made Friday an off-peak travel day due to the change in work-styles.And with coordination must come enforcement. “There’s an old Roman saying that a good law is an easy to enforce law,” Bloom said. Allowing employees to work from home means “treating employees more like an adult,” Bloom said. It means you trust them, knowing that even though they might be technically working fewer hours as they pick up their kids or go to the dentist, they will still make it up on the other end to get everything done. Workers end up less stressed, and more personally and professionally productive, when they are trusted to manage their own time. Looking ahead, WFH is the way of the future, Bloom says. And we’ve been moving toward it for years, with the advent of personal computers in the 1980s, inexpensive Wi-Fi phone calls in the 2000s, and the like. Innovations like Google’s Starliner project and other technological advances will make remote work that much easier.And perhaps most importantly, it’s what the next generation wants. “If you look at the people that are against working from home, they tend to be 50 plus. As time goes on, those folks tend to drift out,” Bloom said. “If you look at leaders in [their 30s-40s], they’re much more balanced on this. Those folks, in 10 years, are going to be the CEOs of the future.” 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.(Photos by David Coe for From Day One)
Enhancing Employee Engagement Through Whole-Person Management
BY Katie Chambers April 14, 2025The best way to find out what employees want is to ask, but the next step is not always straightforward. “Employee surveys can reveal a lot about what people need, but translating that feedback into action is really hard,” said moderator Rebecca Knight, contributing columnist for Harvard Business Review.Whole-person management is revolutionizing the employee experience by recognizing the importance of addressing all aspects of an individual’s performance and well-being. What are some effective strategies and initiatives used to enhance the overall employee experience? Experts during a panel discussion at From Day One’s March virtual conference discussed the different areas of the whole-person approach: financial, emotional, familial, and more, and offered tools and strategies to bring value to employees while mitigating costs. Keeping the employees involved throughout the whole process, not just the initial inquiry, can be effective. Amina Lobban, head of culture, engagement & HR business excellence, GMS & GQ at Takeda, shares that her organization’s Mexico site had a relatively low well-being score, so it immediately took steps to get them more engaged with each other in ways that were most fun and meaningful to them through what they called “a people squad” with various interests that showed up in surveys.“They formed a volleyball squad. They started yoga. They started doing celebrations for Mother's Day, Father's Day, Children's Day–all these different days,” Lobban said. “Their well-being score went up significantly in one year, which is remarkable. It was an employee-led solution. When you involve the employee in ‘What is it that you want?’ versus telling the employee, ‘This is what I think you should have,’ that's when you see success.”Working Across DepartmentsRebecca Tinsley, VP, talent engagement & culture at Teradata, and her team have found success by working across departments, pairing benefits, well-being, and talent development to form one cohesive strategy. “We’re analyzing trends in learning, program participation, engagement survey and we’re also looking at benefit awareness and usage,” Tinsley said. “What that’s allowing us to do is to tailor programs to different employee segments based on what they’re directly telling us, or what they may be indirectly telling us through some of the feedback.”Panelists spoke about "Enhancing Employee Engagement Through Whole-Person Management" (photo by From Day One)This has led to new initiatives like their mid-level management program that blends leadership training with well-being support for some of the stresses that naturally come along with the role. Or financial wellness sessions that are integrated into career development programs. “I like to think of it as a mix between growth and balance,” she said. “It’s helping our people feel empowered to thrive in all different aspects of their life.” This holistic approach values both an employees’ personal and professional life and recognizes the impact of one on the other. Providing Rewards With an Eye Toward Cost “Compensation is a huge part of feeling valued and supported at work,” Knight said. Rewards programs can help your compensation model go the extra mile, especially when corporate budgets are tightening and “employees are struggling to afford life,” said Aaron Shapiro, founder and CEO of Carver Edison. His organization struck the balance when it launched its cashless participation program, which helps employees increase their overall compensation through stock purchases.“Employee stock purchase plans were actually America’s first modern financial benefit written into law in 1964 as part of Johnson’s War on Poverty, almost 15 years before the 401(k) came into existence,” he said. “The number one wealth creator is equity ownership.” And the statistics are indicative of this type of program’s success. “87% of employees using cashless participation at public companies, ranging from small NASDAQ biotechs all the way up to the Fortune 500, said that cashless participation is a more important financial benefit than other benefits at their company because it gives them the flexibility to build wealth while at the same time freeing up disposable income,” Shapiro said. More Than Just Job TitlesAn inclusive culture can be valuable to employees and make all the difference for acquisition and retention. “Sometimes the benefits are not even something that we need to spend money on. Community doesn’t require investment,” said Fatma Ghedira, head of community at ThinkHuman. “Sometimes it’s just employee-led ideas that really feel valuable to them.”“A strong culture is really what determines whether employees feel valued,” Knight said, and “whole person inclusion” can make employees feel respected, safe, and ultimately more engaged. “Shared values and beliefs need investment over time,” Ghedira said, for employees to feel the true impact. Culture has become a buzzword, and Ghedira warns employers to take an intentional approach as they set out to define their workplace values.Leaders should understand why they are developing a culture, whether the goal is engagement, performance, or something else. HR can help coach leaders on how best to communicate culture to employees. “If we do not know how to communicate the vision, and how to communicate conflict or feedback, then there is no way of actually creating the way we relate, which comes down to behavior and how we interact with each other,” she said. Part of a “whole person” approach is systemically encouraging employees to take breaks and practice self-care. This includes instructing managers to respect boundaries around breaktime and role-modeling behaviors, Lobban suggests. This is especially pertinent for remote workers who, thanks to technology and the blend of workplace and home life, feel like they are “always on.” Innovation like delayed delivery on emails to respect time zones and office hours can be helpful. Increasing Engagement Through Accessibility and Creativity Managers are often on the frontlines of encouraging culture, boosting morale, and explaining benefits, but don’t necessarily have the training to take on the whole-person approach themselves. Tinsley’s organization has systematized this through management training sessions, quarterly check-ins, and creating toolkits and conversation guides. Digital solutions, like Teradata’s “People Hub,” can also provide a one-stop location for employees to easily access vital information about their benefits offerings on their own.Employers will need to remain nimble in their strategies to adapt to rapidly changing times. “I would encourage employers to think about how to be more flexible, be more creative, [and] to come up with solutions to help address some of the challenges employees are seeing on the affordability side, but also that shareholders are demanding from a cost perspective,” Shapiro said. “Now is the time to think in a slightly different way and take some new approaches to some of these historical problems.”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.(Photo by jacoblund/iStock)
Developing an Employee-Experience Strategy for Your Organization
BY Katie Chambers April 08, 2025The statistics are grim: a recent Gallup survey showed employee engagement is at a near-all time low, while the share of workers who want to switch jobs is at a 10-year high. “Why is it so darn hard to fire up the team these days?” asked moderator Callum Borchers, columnist at the Wall Street Journal during a fireside chat at From Day One’s March virtual conference. Fortunately, some companies are finding a way to break through the doldrums with innovate their engagement strategies.Global Head of Employee Experience Jason Simmonds and his team at Morgan Stanley, a global financial-services firm with 80,000 employees across 41 countries, has developed a comprehensive employee-experience program, covering resources that improve employees’ careers, the workplace, and well-being. Among the upgrades: improving the onboarding process.Responding to Changing TimesThe social contract between employer and employee has shifted dramatically since the onset of the pandemic, Simmonds says, as workers came to expect greater mental health support and increased their focus on their families. “Employers reacted in kind, providing more generous benefits [and] flexible working arrangements, investing in products and tools that ultimately provided more to employees,” he said. Gen Z has also entered the workforce within recent years, and their unique values are beginning to impact demands on benefits. They prioritize mental well-being, social impact, meaningful work, and flexible working options—having never known anything else—leading to tensions as “return to office” mandates increase, Simmonds says. HR professionals are even starting to see “a managerial gap,” as balance-focused Gen Z hesitates to take on higher level positions due to the anxiety that can come with the job. Callum Borchers of the Wall Street Journal spoke with Jason Simmonds of Morgan Stanley (photo by From Day One)While the “talent wars” of the immediate post-pandemic period might be over, with a 26% decrease in open positions and layoffs on the rise, employers still need to take engagement seriously, Borchers says. To put it bluntly: In today’s job marketplace, if an employee is unhappy, they will leave. “Ultimately, if you want to attract, retain, [and] develop talent, and differentiate yourself amongst your peers in this quite increasingly competitive landscape, employee experience is really central,” Simmonds said. “Most people agree that their employees are their greatest assets. So how do we invest in them? How do we make sure that they're providing the best outcomes for the business and for their team?”Shaping an Employee-Experience StrategyMorgan Stanly experienced major growth during the pandemic, including two major acquisitions and record revenues. They also guaranteed no layoffs during that time of global crisis. The bigger challenge came, Simmonds says, coming out of the pandemic with a newer, bigger workforce. “50% of the firm was hired in the last five years,” he said, and the organization needed a strategy to help transition those newer workers into a hybrid or fully in-person working model. During the pandemic, the organization had already amped up its benefits offerings, without the official title of “employee experience strategy” per se, including better mental health resources and expanded paid parental leave. “And then also we did a lot of investment in reimagining and redesigning our workplaces, [so] that when we bring people back into the office, we provide a flexible working arrangement that fosters collaboration, that fosters innovation,” he said. The company launched a branded employee experience program called “My Experience,” focused on three pillars: career, well-being, and workplace. “The importance of the ‘my’ part is that we wanted to create more ownership and connectivity between the experience and our employees,” Simmonds said. Within each pillar are sub-pillars like “financial” and “family,” so that employees don’t need to “doomscroll” through a roster of benefits options before they find what they need. The “My Workplace” pillar of the program also comes with its own app for better access and a chatbot to efficiently understand HR policy.Prioritizing the Communication of Resources While the launch of the program did mark the addition of several benefits options, the rebrand also served as a way to refresh and better communicate the ample offerings that Morgan Stanley had already had available for quite some time. Simmonds says this employee-centric rebrand led to an uptick in awareness of and engagement with the program. His team also relied on employees themselves to be ambassadors for it. “What better way to market our employee resources than to amplify the voices of employees who have used it?” he said. “We’ve been starting to highlight employees who’ve gotten out of debt using our financial wellness resources. We highlight employees who survived cancer, leveraging our relationships with cancer research hospitals. And even if you're not in that situation, I think it makes employees very proud to work at a firm that has these resources.” Onboarding is also a crucial part of the employee experience, and it too hinges on communication. Having all the employee resources consolidated in a single, easy-to-understand package helps keep new workers from getting overwhelmed and empowers them to better understand both their role within the organization and what the company has to offer them. Morgan Stanley has a digital onboarding process that relies on fun and informative videos. “It brings the experience to a 21st century, and it creates better connectivity with our firm leadership”Of course, adding employee benefits costs money. “How do you achieve an employee-centric culture in a bottom-line driven business?” Borchers asked. One way a good experience program can offset costs is through retention, since replacing employees is expensive. “90% of employees decide to remain with the company in their first three to six months,” Simmonds said, so the sooner they understand and enjoy the experience program, the better. Simmonds says that happier employees often turn out to be better workers: “When we communicate through this employee-centric lens, it helps to increase engagement, increase culture, and ultimately increase business outcomes.” 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.(Photo by Urbanscape/iStock)
How to Be Clear About Business Principles So Both the Company and Workers Can Thrive
BY Katie Chambers March 28, 2025Justin Sibley, CEO of POWDR, has moved through diverse work environments, from HR roles in Silicon Valley to the more “laidback” culture of a leading outdoor recreation brand. Each experience contributed to a smart, intuitive, and flexible management style, one that has become a particular asset at his organization based in the beautiful mountains of Utah. When employees understand what sustains their business and the purpose of its policies, they’re in a better position to help all the corporate functions work well together. Sibley, the CEO of the adventure-lifestyle company POWDR, owner of Snowbird and many other resorts, illuminated how this principle influences hiring, education, corporate culture, and dealing with new challenges during a fireside chat at From Day One’s Salt Lake City conference.The Value of TransparencyOne of the keys to clarity is transparency: being honest and open with your employees about what is going on at the business—both the good and the bad. “There’s a lot of dialogue around being authentic. And if you’re in any business long enough, you’re going to have speed bumps, you’re going to have issues that come up, and you’ve got to figure out the best way to get through that,” Sibley said. If that is the first time you decide to be open with employees, Sibley says, you could get burned. “A lot of companies get accused of not following their corporate values when they have to make tough decisions, [such as] not pursue a great opportunity, cut back on expenses, or even [have] layoffs.”Staying open with employees from the outset can help them better understand the how and the why behind painful decisions. “There’s a lot of pressure for people, when they're developing their mission, vision, values, and culture, to present it in this altruistic way,” Sibley said. At POWDR, Sibley and his team aim to “balance the objective with the subjective,” instilling a welcoming community-centric culture while also not shying away from a focus on sales, profits, and longevity. This requires buy-in from HR. “It’s important the HR team understands what we’re doing and why, [so] that when they’re onboarding people, they can support the same thing,” Sibley said. “The HR team is part of developing that authenticity around, ‘Hey, we're in this business because we love it, but we're also in this business to stay in this business.”Reimagining the Hiring ProcessMany of us have a mental image of what kind of person might work at an adventure-lifestyle company like POWDR. “Historically, the outdoor rec industry used to hire people who could display as much passion as possible for a powder day,” said moderator Lauren Gustus, executive editor of the Salt Lake Tribune. But Sibley is changing that. When he first arrived, he found a staff that was full of “really great mountain bikers or skiers,” but was finding it challenging to reach the next level in departments like tech, finance, and infrastructure.So, he prioritized hiring employees who displayed just as much passion in their vocabulary and body language during an interview about their work skills as they do for the great outdoors. “The outdoor industry is just like every other industry. We have complicated problems we need to solve, and we have opportunities that we need to grab on to, and it takes that functional skill set to do it,” Sibley said. This all comes back to a continued conversation with HR about values: “What are we doing, why are we doing it, what kinds of skill sets do we need. It’s just part of the conversation, not an event. It’s what we talk about on a regular basis.” Navigating Modern ChallengesHaving a strong set of values and a focus on organizational growth and success is particularly helpful as POWDR navigates the unique challenges of the current moment, including the impact of climate change on the outdoor adventure industry and how recent immigration reform efforts might impact the availability of seasonal workers, many of whom rely on H-2B and J-1 visas. Sibley wishes the reform conversation in Congress would touch on things like stability, lifting the caps on how long foreign workers can stay, or making the hiring timeline more flexible. Currently those visa candidates must be hired in January, when businesses like POWDR are already well into their core season.His organization is taking a proactive approach. “We’ve hired somebody who has deep experience with working in D.C. with our government and has those relationships, and we've worked on getting in front of the Department of the Interior [and] whoever we need to get in front of to make that happen,” Sibley said. He urges that corporations can’t rely on trade associations alone to advocate for governmental changes for their industries. “When we came through COVID, I realized that we need to take responsibility for ourselves on that front, and make sure we have those relationships and that we're speaking to our representatives directly.” He says HR teams can add value to this process by hosting lunch-and-learns with local reps to familiarize them with business initiatives. Expanding on a National Level With government relationships top of mind, POWDR is now breaking into a new area: national parks. This expansion includes running Stovepipe Wells in Death Valley and the lodge inside Zion National Park, taking over admin, hospitality, and HR from the Park Service, bringing their luxury adventure hospitality brand to established government properties. “We took everything that we consider to be our core competencies, hospitality, food and beverage, hotel management, retail rentals, helping each place be the best version of itself, and we don’t try to homogenize anything,” Sibley said.Even though Sibley acknowledges this side of the business does not have the highest margins, it still provides a valuable opportunity for the staff within POWDR, even boosting retention. Among its 8,000 employees, about 6,000 are seasonal. At the parks, Sibley is finding that people who want to enjoy “gap year” style jobs but keep it for longer can simply shift from working at his ski resorts during the snow season and move on to, say, Zion National Park in the warmer weather. “There’s tremendous employee synergy in having these off-season businesses where we have housing available for people. It’s seamless for them to move from place to place. And kids in their early 20s, they love it.” POWDR looks forward to bidding on additional national park opportunities in the future. Ultimately, company culture must come from the top. “It’s my job to set the tone, hire the team, and make sure people have the tools. My focus is on making sure that [the mission] is well-known. We work hard with the HR and tech teams to make sure that we have scalable ways to disseminate that to the farthest reaches of the organization,” Sibley said. Part of the culture includes communicating actively with all employees, meeting them where they are, whether they communicate via company email or WhatsApp. “But my job is to make sure that I’m living the culture that I say I want,” he said. “And then to make sure that I’m fighting for the resources with the board to make sure we have all the tools to get it done.”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.(Photo by Sean Ryan for From Day One)
How to Become a Skills-Based Organization on a Large Scale
BY Katie Chambers March 12, 2025Covid put healthcare professionals’ skills to the ultimate test and redefined how entire health systems are organized. This was certainly true at Memorial Hermann Health System. Lori Knowles, SVP and CHRO at Memorial Hermann said it was a time of “rapid-fire decision-making and precision.” Knowles spoke during a fireside chat at From Day One’s Houston conference, interviewed by Jennifer Vardeman, Ph.D., Director and Associate Professor at the Jack J. Valenti School of Communication, University of Houston. “People were exhausted, but they came together for the community and for each other in ways that changed the fabric of the organization and what we believed we could do,” said Knowles. As the biggest healthcare system in Texas with more than 34,000 employees, Memorial Hermann is moving toward becoming a skills-based organization, in which jobs and careers are remapped to focus on skills. The goal is to improve employee recruiting, retention, and quality of care.HR as a Problem-solverAs a fully integrated health system, Memorial Hermann encompasses everything from hospitals to outpatient care, physicians, urgent care centers, and health plans—all driven by its mission of community support. “We are non-profit. The only health system in Houston that is community-owned, so there are no shareholders. We actually give back to our community to the tune of about a half a billion dollars a year in community care,” Knowles said. Given the organization’s wide reach, Knowles wears many hats in her role, overseeing not only the usual HR tasks of total rewards, benefits, professional development, and employee relations, but also chaplaincy and “a centralized float pool” of 1,200 floating caregivers that fill in for regular employees when they are on leave. But the fact that Knowles wears a lot of hats is not unusual to someone in HR. She shares that especially post-pandemic, organizations have been looking to HR for guidance on many major workplace issues, including mental health, wellness, resilience, burnout, and even rules on mask mandates. “That gives us an opportunity to prove that we are more than just the traditional functions of HR, but we are true contributors to the business who can think on our feet, and can problem solve in real time,” Knowles said.Skills-based Professional DevelopmentMany organizational obstacles can be solved through skill-building, either by hiring for certain aptitudes or developing them within existing employee rosters. After Covid, the healthcare industry was facing a crisis, including a nursing shortage and a lack of clarity for long-term career development as workers experienced burnout. At the same time, Memorial Hermann was having to overhaul its job listings to comply with nationally accepted pay transparency standards.Knowles and her team decided to incorporate all these issues into one solution, redefining job descriptions in such a way that clarified pay and emphasized skillsets over years of experience, transforming the interpretation of the healthcare career track. “Let’s not just look at job duties and what experience you bring to the table, because the world is changing so fast. People don’t have 10 years of experience in AI, right?” she said. Lori Knowles, SVP and chief HR officer at Memorial Hermann Health System, left, was interviewed by Jennifer Vardeman of the University of HoustonThe leadership team created a new framework for the 2,200 different jobs at Memorial Hermann and tried to identify where there were gaps. “For example, what we found in our corporate offices is we had very few entry-level jobs–-everybody has to have at least two years of experience,” Knowles said.The organization used AI to scrape similar jobs across the country, identifying the 10 most prevalent skills attached to each job as well as the 10 most emerging skills, so that the company could understand both the current needs and the future framework for the role. This allows current and potential employees to visualize the pathway for growth and development, as well as helping HR better grasp succession planning and how to utilize the talent marketplace to create new teams. A focus on skills also takes the emphasis away from degrees, breaking down some barriers for talent that might otherwise feel excluded. Nurses, of course, need certain licenses. “But we are looking deeply at, do I really need a degree for everything? And if I do need a degree, do I need a master’s, especially if I have the skills that I can demonstrate [otherwise]?” Defining some roles, when able, by skills instead of certificates focuses on the true day-to-day demands of the business. “People are being hired in ways that are a little bit more attuned to the needs of the organization,” said Vardeman.Attracting the Next Generation of WorkersAs the population continues to age, so does the workforce at Memorial Hermann. Therefore, Knowles and her team must think ahead, providing employment models that are attractive to younger generations who may not want to spend their entire careers working difficult “bedside” roles, while also providing part-time flexible opportunities that might entice those of “retirement age” who still want to work, just not every day. The organization also provides a comprehensive benefits package that includes on-site personal counselors, elder care benefits, and retirement plans. To keep her employees of all different generations motivated, Knowles always goes back to the mission and value of the health system’s work. “What I try to do all the time is remind people that this is a noble profession. I’m famous for saying, ‘We’re not making peanut butter here, folks. We’re taking care of people’s lives for generations to come.’” 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.(Photos by Annie Mulligan for From Day One)
Building a World of Accessible, Affordable Healthcare For All Women
BY Katie Chambers March 06, 2025Women’s health, once overlooked, is now receiving the attention it urgently needs. In response to growing demand, the Women's Health Coalition for Digital Solutions was formed to leverage technology and innovation, and to improve the accessibility and affordability of women’s care by working with employers to improve corporate benefits and workplace support.During a From Day One webinar, experts from the coalition and women’s health advocates discussed resources and solutions to ensure every woman has access to high-quality care tailored to her specific needs, focusing on virtual behavioral health, digital health solutions for women and families, personalized menopause care, 24/7 fertility and pregnancy support, and best practices to support women’s health and improve overall well-being.The Women’s Health Coalition for Digital Solutions was formed two years ago by partner organizations including: Ovia (pregnancy), Conceive (fertility), 30 Madison (reproduction), Evernow (menopause), Talkspace (mental health), FitOn (exercise), and Nutrium (nutrition). “All of these companies came together with a goal of creating access and creating affordability to close the gaps in women's health care,” said Natalie Cummins, chief business officer at online therapy tool, Talkspace.Among those gaps is the growing need for healthcare for women past reproductive age, as employees in their 40’s and 50’s become one of the largest demographics in the workforce. “The fastest growing benefit that [workplaces are] offering to employees right now is this menopause and perimenopause benefit. And they’re looking for something beyond just a conversation with a general practitioner–they’re looking for very deep clinical expertise that can continuously be high touch for this journey, because it really is a decades-long process,” said Dr. Alicia Jackson, CEO & founder of Evernow, which offers online menopause treatment. The cognitive symptoms of perimenopause can start as early as someone’s late 30’s or early 40’s, Jackson says, which can impact their work performance. “Their most severe symptoms are things like inability to focus, brain fog, and sleeplessness, which leads to fatigue and compound brain fog,” Jackson said. “The workplace dynamic gets pretty complicated, because it either looks like they’re not capable or they’re lacking engagement, when the real thing is that they’re going through this huge physiological change without any form of support.”Because of the stigma attached to menopause and aging, women have been afraid to speak about it, especially when facing the glass ceiling at work. Providing women with the tools they need to navigate this hormonal transition, which often happens right as they hit the peak of their leadership years at work, can support their career longevity.Providing Mental Health SupportParticularly post-pandemic, mental health benefits are also becoming a popular option. “This is more than just a women’s issue,” adds moderator Tricia Schmidt, SVP, senior healthcare strategist at Alliant. “It’s more of a family issue,” she said.And indeed, mental health support is essential across all genders, ages, and cultural demographics. Cummins highlights five key mental health trends to consider when planning benefits.First, emotional burnout and the mental health toll of caring for a family are significant challenges, especially for women. Second, hormone fluctuations can have a major impact on mental health, particularly in relation to conception, pregnancy, and menopause.Third, there has been a huge increase in anxiety and depression, which are the top two concerns clients seek help for on Talkspace. Fourth, there is growing acceptance of women speaking publicly about trauma and PTSD. Finally, digital options now provide convenient, 24/7 access to mental health support.Panelists spoke about "Building a World of Accessible, Affordable Healthcare For All Women," during the webinar moderated by Tricia Schmidt of Alliant (photo by From Day One)For all benefits, but especially those related to mental health, immediate access is crucial. “To be able to send a text message to my therapist when I can’t sleep at two in the morning is great because. There are studies that show that [opportunity to get something off my chest] relieves anxiety and probably will put me to sleep, even without a response at the moment,” Cummins said. Talkspace has 6,000 providers across all 50 states and matches a patient with a provider within 24 hours of initial intake. The digital benefits are always there but need to stay top of mind for patients to use them. Cummins says it all comes down to consistent communication and awareness. “We can’t just stop at one-time awareness or a one-time message. It needs to be a true campaign around women’s health and all the aspects around a women’s life cycle,” Cummins said.Incorporating Inclusive Reproductive Healthcare for EmployeesGiven the volatile political landscape in the United States, reproductive healthcare is top of mind for many employees. “What we hear from our patients is widespread uncertainty: uncertainty around access to critical services, and also uncertainty around how to access accurate information,” said Rajani Rao, chief business officer at Nurx, an online platform offering birth control, skincare products, weight management solutions, and more.Nurx is listening to both clinical experts and patients through surveys and direct conversations to understand how best to support them. “27% of women are not confident that their right to use contraception is secure. More than half of women surveyed are concerned about a national abortion ban, and 43% of women are concerned about changes in the state-level abortion restrictions. Just shy of 50% are concerned about more limited access to their [preferred] choice of contraceptive care, and 43% are concerned about changes to insurance coverage for contraception,” Rao said. “That, for us, is additional fuel for how we drive access.”Given the highly localized nature of some of the restrictions, telehealth may become increasingly critical in providing access to reproductive care. “For HR, when you have to manage a program across 50 states with different mandates and different laws, having a strong provider that can provide these services digitally helps you make sure that your employees have coverage,” Schmidt said.Increased Accessibility For AllDigital solutions have more expansive options for follow-ups, allowing patients access to doctors beyond the standard once-per-year consultation that may last only a few minutes. “[Evernow does] a full consultation, but then we also have unlimited care follow up, similar to Talkspace, where you can text your doctor anytime you could do a video visit,” Jackson said. Patients have the freedom to get their questions answered as they pop up any time along their healthcare journey. Cummins emphasizes the importance of having a strong navigation tool so employees can easily access all the benefits on offer. “When we have healthy minds, we have healthier bodies, we’re more present, we’re less absent, we’re more satisfied,” Cummins said, so providing a benefits navigation tool will impact all areas of business. In terms of measuring ROI, Cummins points to “absenteeism, presenteeism, work satisfaction, retention, and turnover” as stats to measure in relation to the implementation of a new benefits program. Ultimately, providing comprehensive health benefits for women is a way of ensuring economic parity. “In a year, women will have $15 billion more out-of-pocket expenses in the U.S. compared to their male colleagues,” Cummins said. “And so providing these digital solutions, it’s a really important gateway for accessibility and affordability for support.”Editor's note: From Day One thanks our partner, Talkspace, for sponsoring this webinar. 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.(Photo by gorodenkoff/iStock)
Career Growth as a Competitive Edge: How Employers Can Attract and Retain Top Talent
BY Katie Chambers March 04, 2025Monica Green, global head of early careers and talent pipelines at State Street, encourages her new employees to take their development into their own hands. “I tell every new person that joins the organization, you’re going to have to meet at least 50 people within your first six months. I’m not going to prescribe it. It could be a coffee chat. It could be an elevator conversation, but I want to see that you’ve met 50 people, because as you build your network within your organization [it] will enable you to identify folks who can be your sponsor,” she said. She never wants workers to be shy about their goals. “Make sure people know what you want to do. You know it is your job to make sure that you are driving your career.” By establishing a culture of individual growth, Green says leaders can build a self-driven workforce eager to acquire talent from within. Today’s workforce puts a high value on career growth when evaluating both prospective and current employers. How can companies design equitable career development strategies that attract top talent, retain their best employees, and foster an inclusive workplace? Green and other leaders discussed these strategies during a panel at From Day One’s Atlanta conference.Making Career Growth a Competitive AdvantageModern candidates are looking for more than just the basics like wages, benefits, and pensions. An attractive total compensation package, says Eldridge Banks, VP, HR, at Kaiser Permanente, includes opportunities for career development. This can include anything from tuition reimbursement, skills training, or courses in emotional intelligence or cultural dependence. “Those things really make us understand how you can take your career to the next level,” Banks said.But you are not necessarily just offering skills training so that employees can switch to a new company–instead, development can lead to retention as workers find new ways to follow their passions within the same organization. “Retention is the new talent acquisition,” said Jason Burgamy, managing director, Americas, SHL.Development programs also need to keep in mind the unique challenges faced by today’s professionals, including increased pressure on middle managers. “How do we equip this critical segment of our population to deal with the pressures that we put on those folks, equipping them with the leadership skills, the technology skills, and finding ways to develop those people within their role quickly?” Burgamy said.Keeping such development at top of mind can keep its association with the current workplace stronger, encouraging retention. Melanie Moore, head of global talent acquisition at Honeywell shares that her organization has workers revise their individual development plan (IDP) every six months. “Once you have something written down, it makes it visual, it makes it attainable. And when you’re updating it twice a year, it just really keeps it fresh in your mind,” she said.Pathways For DevelopmentMany companies now offer a wealth of courses that employees can pick and choose from to build their own unique learning path. “At Honeywell, we have a system that we call Accelerator, and there are literally thousands of classes that are self-driven,” Moore said, citing courses in everything from communications to public speaking to business. Of course, during the day-to-day, learning might be the farthest thing from people’s minds. “When everyone at work is just trying to execute and do their jobs, it can be hard for some people in your workplace to think longer term,” said moderator Kelly Yamanouchi, reporter at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. That’s why organizations should actively encourage employees to take advantage of internal learning opportunities. Honeywell, Moore says, has one development day per month, during which everyone clears their calendars to participate in webinars and focus on their personal improvement.The panelists shared their ideas on "Career Growth as a Competitive Edge: How Employers Can Attract and Retain Top Talent"Green says her organization encourages employees to take their career growth into their own hands, “managing themselves up” through the company’s skills program, rather than relying solely on their supervisor for support. “Don’t wait for someone else to tell you, ‘Hey, you need to work on this.’ You should be taking that for yourself,” Green said. Volunteering for stretch assignments can help leaders recognize your potential too. In the same vein, Burgamy says, while mentorship and leadership are key, more and more organizations are recognizing that not all managers are cut out for helping their team members grow. “We all would like managers to do a better job of sharing feedback and articulating what an individual needs to do to develop their own skills. A lot of organizations are asking employees to take short assessments to better understand themselves, highlight what skills they need to develop, what kind of assignments might be leveraging their strengths, and which might be a stretch. [Then they can] seek input from a mentor or a peer or a manager to help them in that journey,” he said. To do this, Burgamy says, SHL offers a 15-minute global skills assessment that measures 96 skills across the working world. This allows workers to get a handle on their strengths and areas for improvement, and can help them decide what stretch assignments or new roles to pursue. “Then you start to aggregate that across an organization, and you have a view of your talent and all the skills, and how those line up against the strategic and operational priorities of the organization,” he said.Encouraging Organic NetworkingAll of this lead’s back to Green’s task for the early career professionals: share what you are interested in and meet as many people as you can. In other words, always be networking. And, Green said, “make sure you’re showing up as your best self.” She also encourages young employees to identify people within the organization who have the skills and pathway that they want, and to pursue them for support. “People love to talk about themselves! You can learn from them and most of the time they’re very willing to help you.” Organizations can nurture networking opportunities by setting up employee resource groups (ERGs). Moore encourages workers to join all employee networks, even if they don’t meet the criteria if it’s based on gender, ability, veteran status, or cultural background. “That’s a great way to meet new people [including] senior leaders,” she said. “Don’t sit at your desk and do your job. That’s never going to help you advance to the next level. Approach people and have your elevator speech ready.” Being your authentic self is key, Banks says. Letting colleagues and leaders get to know you as a full and unique human being will encourage deeper connection and investment in your growth and wellbeing. Ultimately, career growth is not a choice–it’s a necessity in today’s workplace. “The job that you’re in today will not likely exist, certainly not in the same form, in five years,” Burgamy said. “If you’re not developing, if you’re not expanding your views and your horizons on what your career can be, and building up those skills on a regular, consistent basis, there is a good chance that AI will take your job or there will be some other reason you’re looking for something different. You can prepare for it. You can own it. But it’s a good idea to start today.”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.(Photos by Dustin Chambers for From Day One)
4 Must-Have Talent Retention Strategies for 2025
BY Katie Chambers February 20, 2025Did you know that nearly two thirds of your workforce might be seeking a job elsewhere? A recent study by Achievers Workforce Institute found that 65% of employees have at least one foot out the door. Why? This is, in part, due to the fact that 43% of employees are experiencing at least some burnout, only 28% would recommend their manager to others, and a measly 15% feel their organization does a good job connecting them to colleagues.So, how do you fix it?The last four years have witnessed record levels of resignation and historic labor shortages amid shifting expectations of what work should look like so that it works for employees. In 2025, many organizations will continue to be challenged by economic uncertainty and may not be able to hire their way out of their people problems. At From Day One’s Chicago benefits conference, David Bator, managing director of Achievers Workforce Institute, shared the four must-have research-driven talent strategies that will help engage and retain employees in 2025.Building the Foundation for Talent RetentionBator notes that the buzzwords “engagement” and “experience” are often thrown around by HR. Both are important, but what do they look like in practice? “When I talk about employee engagement, I'm talking about the commitment an employee makes to doing the job that they're paid to do. And by contrast, when I talk about employee experience, I’m referring to the responsibility [of leaders] to create conditions so that folks can be engaged in the first place,” he said. Each is crucial to talent retention.While salary is a piece of the puzzle, Bator says, it’s not enough. Surveyed employees were also greatly swayed by feelings of appreciation, celebration, community, and growth. So, a holistic approach is needed to build a workplace where employees feel empowered and excited to thrive.Here are Bator’s “Four C’s” of talent retention:1.) ConnectionEngaged employees are able to develop and maintain relationships across a diverse network. An Achievers study found that people who say their company supports them in building meaningful friendships at work are 2.4 times more likely to feel a sense of belonging.“Connection is more for a philosophy than it is a series of features,” Bator said. “The fundamental question we need to ask ourselves is, ‘Are we making it easy every single day for our people to access the people, the skills, [and] the resources they need so they can be productive and positive from anywhere?’”David Bator of Achievers led the thought leadership spotlightConnection has a direct impact on an employee’s resilience and adaptability, both of which are critical now in an ever-evolving workplace. A recent Achievers study showed that only 28% of employees felt that they could manage change at work. This was due, in part, to their inability to connect to the organization’s mission, their peers, and their manager, all of which impacts their confidence.To help strengthen the connection between managers and employees, Bator suggests focusing on four key factors of manager effectiveness. First, regular one-on-one meetings provide essential support for employee success. Second, recognizing employees helps them feel valued, and those who receive regular recognition report a stronger connection to their peers. Third, effective coaching offers guidance to help employees improve their performance. Finally, investing in career development supports both personal and professional growth.Leaders can gauge manager success in part, Bator says, by regularly surveying teams to see if they would recommend him or her to others. And, despite recent backlash against DEI initiatives, those too have been proven to strengthen connection. Bator says employees are three times as engaged at companies where recognition efforts integrate diversity and inclusion.2.) Celebration“Frequent recognition has a massive impact on how employees feel about their work,” Bator said. “It's not just about connecting them through frequent recognition to the mission, to their manager, and to their peers, but it’s also about the opportunity to connect them to the behaviors that drive performance. 74% of employees will repeat an action if they are recognized for it.”The effects of recognition are far-reaching, impacting several areas of a worker’s outlook. Bator cited a 2023 research study of more than 5,000 respondents which showed that employees who are recognized weekly are twice as likely to report positive mental and physical well-being; are three times more engaged at work; are five times as likely to feel a strong sense of workplace belonging; and are 10 times more likely to recommend their manager. And these “warm fuzzy feelings” of recognition can be a “protective factor” on business outcomes when it comes to retention, sustainability, and growth, Bator says. 64% of respondents said feeling recognized reduces the desire to job hunt and 73% said it inspires productivity. And when it comes to the bottom line, 54% of employees surveyed remarked that feeling recognized and appreciated reduces the impact of having a salary that is below their expectations.In fact, it’s social recognition, rather than monetary reward, that drives engagement, retention, and productivity, Bator says. While many larger organizations rely on rewards programs, Bator says it’s not the best strategy: “It’s better than nothing, but it’s worse than average.” 71% of employees feel the same people win every year, only half find the rewards to be something of value, and not many are invested in or excited about winning. When asked what they actually want instead, the option with the highest votes was “consistently receiving at least monthly recognition for the impact I’m having in my role,” he said.3.) CompensationFrequent recognition and feelings of belonging increase perceptions of pay. Of course, the ability to adequately house, clothe, and feed oneself is still vital to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs – and all of that requires cash. Offering competitive salaries is well-known to increase the acquisition and retention of high-level talent.When fair compensation is combined with recognition and connection, the results are impactful. More than 70% of employees say being paid market value and being celebrated frequently would strengthen their sense of belonging. But with corporate budgets always tightening, raises are not always possible. Fortunately, Bator says, 52% of employees say feeling meaningfully recognized would outweigh a salary freeze.4.) ChoiceAn Achievers study showed that employees who are asked for feedback four times annually are 50% more engaged and 88% more likely to feel valued. Soliciting comments, critiques, and suggestions is one way to signify that employees are valued and accepted without reservation. The most successful companies, Bator says, promote an inclusive environment where employees feel seen, heard, and respected.This inclusive spirit should infuse every business decision. “The call to action here is to not do more engagement surveys, even though they have utility for the work that we all do, but it's to think about the programs, the products we're trying to take to market, the policies we're rolling out, and where are the opportunities to involve our employees [and] to include them in that conversation,” Bator said.He also notes this does not mean you should just flood your employees with benefits options for health and well-being. They may look good on the surface, but are rarely used. “Participation in those programs hovers somewhere between 21-26%,” Bator said. “So many of the things we build for our people, we build with a supply side focus. Meaning, ‘Here’s all the stuff that's available to you,’ rather than a demand side focus that understands the moments that matter to employees and meets them there. And that’s exactly what choice is all about.”Editor’s note: From Day One thanks our partner, Achievers, for sponsoring this thought leadership spotlight.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.
In Employee Benefits, Balancing Cost Efficiency with Good Employee Outcomes
BY Katie Chambers February 12, 2025Did you know that 20% of pre-menopausal and 50% of post-menopausal women suffer from sleep apnea? And that 90% of them go undiagnosed? These startling statistics can have a significant impact on your female workforce’s well-being and performance. This is just one example of why a truly inclusive and holistic benefits package should cover more than just the basics – it should address everything from mental health support to women’s healthcare, fertility support, sleep wellness, and much more.As the cost of healthcare keeps rising stubbornly, benefits leaders need to be ever-more innovative in finding ways to keep spending under control while serving an increasingly diverse set of employee needs. How are benefits leaders using new tools and approaches toward evaluating their prospective and current providers? At From Day One’s January virtual conference, a panel of leaders discussed the latest offerings.Building an Inclusive Benefits PackageNow more than ever, the modern workforce has remarkable age diversity. “Supporting a multigenerational workforce is a huge challenge and it’s important that benefits cater to the needs of all their employees, especially as these needs vary with different life stages,” said moderator Rebecca M. Knight, contributing columnist for the Harvard Business Review.At Micron Technology, HR uses “Personas” to “look at people from a couple of different lenses,” including age, gender, and career stage, said Marni McDowell, senior director, global well-being & experience, Micron Technology. “When we look at it from a mapping perspective, we can take an approach of, ‘How do we create a customized experience for everyone?’” The persona approach eschews a one-size-fits-all approach to instead focus on what is useful and personally meaningful.Maven, too, approaches the different life stages holistically when it comes to benefits planning. And Katie Wallace, senior director of client success at Maven, says that these stages don’t necessarily fall into tidy buckets, especially for women and families. There’s a lot of overlap. “Every individual's journey to and through parenthood and reproductive health is completely unique, and their needs are completely unique,” Wallace said, citing an employee who is coping with an older child being diagnosed with a learning disability while simultaneously facing the legal, financial, and emotional realities of trying to adopt a second child. “At Maven, we have a platform that is one-size-fits-one, that is able to meet the individual where they are.”Wallace also notes the importance of including different work setups within benefits planning. For example, certain remote workers may live in areas where there is less access to quality care compared to their city-bound colleagues. And employers should also be prepared to let some in-person perks, like on-site gym offerings, fall by the wayside as fewer employees are physically going to the office.Addressing All Aspects of WellnessHealthcare and family planning are just some of the benefits forward-thinking employers should consider offering to their workforce. Especially post-pandemic, employees are valuing mental health and sleep health more than ever before. Nox Health is one organization that focuses on the clinical impact of sleep-related chronic conditions. “There’s an incredible amount of friction in the current care pathway related to getting and treating sleep disorders [like] obstructive sleep apnea and chronic insomnia,” said Jonathan Fox, CCO of Nox Health. “We step in and streamline the testing and acclimation phase, [it’s] tech-driven with a human touch.”Financial wellness benefits are another crucial offering. Bureau Veritas takes a creative approach to providing employees with financial literacy. It provides the basics: one-on-one coaching, 401Ks, and monthly financial health seminars. But it also takes it a step further: the finance department offers all employees an inside look at how certain financial decisions are made, such as cost analysis and corporate budgeting. “We’re trying to be very transparent with employees. But at the same time, as we do this, we’re teaching them how to budget,” said Techy Madrid, director, NAM Center of Excellence, benefits & payroll, Bureau Veritas. Feedback has been positive, with some employees sharing how the courses taught them to create a better budget for their household expenses.Incorporating Employee FeedbackThe best way to find out what works best for employees? Just ask! MilliporeSigma feedback is an essential part of the decision-making process. “Our feedback is gathered through a variety of channels. We conduct post Annual Enrollment surveys, which provide us with a lot of tangible data, both positive and negative. We also conduct an annual employee engagement survey to document some baseline responses and monitor employee sentiments over time,” said Elizabeth Chappelear, head of benefits strategy, MilliporeSigma. “We tend to work with a very curious and innovative population, so they regularly come across things in their own day to day interactions [and] want to share these new products or offerings that would benefit not only themselves but their coworkers.” Employee resource groups (ERGs) are another way for the different generations within the organization to support one another, and a good way to keep tabs on their interests and needs.Panelists spoke on the topic "In Employee Benefits, Balancing Cost Efficiency with Good Employee Outcomes" (photo by From Day One)Wallace says many organizations are finding that right now, “excuse the pun: menopause is absolutely the hot topic.” It’s much discussed now in the media and among employee resource groups. With 1.3 million women entering menopause every year, it has a marked impact on the workplace, especially on senior leaders. “Research has shown that one in five people going through menopause have either quit or considered quitting, and it’s estimated that the average global productivity losses top $130 billion so this is a really huge issue,” Wallace said. Having it addressed in workplace conversation and benefits programs helps employees feel seen, heard, supported, and empowered.Keeping it PersonalIn listening to employees’ needs and providing a wide range of options for all lifestyles and life stages, modern benefits packages are becoming highly personalized. This can make it challenging to find a service that will satisfy every customer, but certainly not impossible. Chappelear says that programs like Maven and Nox Health that rely on a combination of technology and human interaction work the best. “[Through Maven], employees are able to reach out to a clinician to help connect the dots and have somebody validate what they're feeling,” she said, which aligns with the values of her data-driven workers.“Oftentimes, people just need someone to talk to,” McDowell said. So Micron offers team member advocates to help explain what is available and help employees consider their options. “They’re not a licensed professional counselor, but they are very well-versed in all of the benefit programs, all of the things even available in our local communities, [and then] they can help hand off [the employee] to the right next best resource,” she said.Ultimately, the most successful benefits package will be the one that is easy to explain, easy to use, and inspires repeated engagement. As Fox says, a plan’s effectiveness can be measured in three ways: “adoption, adherence, and persistence.”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.(Photo by WANAN YOSSINGKUM/iStock)
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.
Hope for Cynics: How to Replace a Lack of Trust With “Hopeful Skepticism”
BY Katie Chambers January 13, 2025“I wrote this book because I needed it,” said renowned psychologist and author, Jamil Zaki, Ph.D. about his latest book, Hope for Cynics: The Surprising Science of Human Goodness. “I’ve been studying the science of kindness and empathy and connection for 20 years, and oftentimes people assume that must mean that I walk around blissed out by human goodness constantly. But the secret is that this entire time, I’ve tended towards cynicism,” Zaki said during a fireside chat at From Day One’s December virtual conference.In life and in work, cynicism is making us sick, but Zaki offers a cure. While cynicism is an understandable response to injustice and inequality, in many cases it is misplaced. Dozens of studies find that people fail to realize how kind, generous, and open-minded others really are. Dr. Zaki imparts the secret for beating back cynicism: “hopeful skepticism”–thinking critically about people and our problems while honoring and encouraging our strengths.“We are living through a quiet but devastating epidemic of cynicism,” Zaki told session moderator, Megan Ulu-Lani Boyanton, reporter at the Denver Post. In 1972, about half of Americans believed most people could be trusted. By 2018, only a third believed the same. He cites the financial collapse of 2008 as a time when our faith in institutions plummeted. “We are living in a trust deficit. When trust is depressed, cynicism rises. Cynicism is poisonous for our mental health, our physical health, relationships, our communities, including our businesses and organizations and our culture.”But not all hope is lost, cynicism is often just a mistake or a bias. “When you pay closer attention to the data, people tend to be more generous, trustworthy, open minded and kind than we realize,” Zaki said. That’s where his “hopeful skepticism” comes in—“acknowledging that oftentimes our bias means we underestimate each other and by connecting more with the data and with people in general, we can rebuild our sense of faith in each other and use that to fight for a future that more of us want.”Hopeful Skepticism in ActionThe difference between cynicism and skepticism is key. “Skeptics withhold their judgment and look for evidence,” Zaki said. And while optimism, in assuming a positive outcome, can lead to complacency, hope instead can inspire action. “Hope is the belief that things could improve, but that we don’t know that… the future is uncertain, and in that uncertainty, our actions matter.” Therefore, hopeful skeptics are data-driven and withhold assumptions, while knowing that people and situations can surprise us in a positive way.Jamil Zaki, Ph.D., Director of the Stanford Neuroscience Lab and Author, “Hope for Cynics: The Surprising Science of Human Goodness” was interviewed by Megan Ulu-Lani Boyanton, Reporter, the Denver Post (photo by From Day One)At work, cynicism can be lethal, says Ulu-Lani Boyanton. “[There is] a heavy price for mistrust in a corporate environment.” The data shows that cynics are less likely to rise to positions of leadership, have poor morale, perform worse, and are less loyal to organizations. Cynicism spreads easily and having too many cynics at an organization can lead to a collapse of collaboration, innovation, and productivity. “Why take a risk if the person next to you would prefer to see you fail?” Zaki said. “Leaders need to be quite intentional about fostering trust and cooperation, because without that, our tendency is to focus more on the negative.”Political and social polarization can also breed cynicism. “Americans have lost contact with folks who are different from them. We no longer rub shoulders with people who are politically different from us. We’ve sorted so that we interact less with real folks we disagree with. So how do we know who they are?” Zaki said. We rely on media depictions for that information, and often it’s inaccurate. “We conjure up a version of people we disagree with that is quite frightening and quite wrong. And we miss out on the common ground.”This extends to workplace disagreements and divisions. “People stop talking with one another. They start to exaggerate the negative qualities of the other side. They start to think a ‘win’ on the other side is a ‘loss’ on their own. We focus so heavily on what separates us that we lose sight of all the things we have in common,” Zaki said. To solve this within the workplace, Zaki says, bring both sides together and have them list all the things they agree on and disagree on. They will be shocked at how the agreements outweigh the disagreements.Seeing Each Other More ClearlyIt’s incumbent on HR to help team members move past their own biases and internal disagreements. When Zaki surveys employees, he always finds that the vast majority want collaboration and trust to be at the center of their work, and that they also don’t realize that other folks want it too. “If you’re a leader, one way to fight cynicism is not to lie to people, but to tell them the truth and to show them the truth in as quantitative and specific a way as you can,” Zaki said.One way organizations can inspire collaboration, creativity, and trust, Zaki said, is by “rewarding people for not just their individual performance, but how they showed up for their colleagues.” Mission-driven companies like Patagonia or Cotopaxi, that are not only focused on product development but also “advancing a philosophy of caring, not just for ourselves, but for the planet” all speak to Zaki’s tenets of hopeful skepticism.He encourages organizations to invest in developing “soft skills,” or what he calls “human skills,” so that employees can get better at understanding themselves and others and communicate more effectively. Empathy and emotional intelligence are vital to success.Humans suffer from a negativity bias as part of an evolutionary response to physical threats. Noticing that knee jerk response within oneself is key to moving past it. “Being a hopeful skeptic can open us to incredible numbers of social opportunities, whether that’s pleasant conversations with strangers, bridging differences with people we disagree with, building relationships, friendships, collaborations, parenting more effectively, and building more trusting communities. And in all these cases, the steps are simple,” Zaki said. “I’m much more positive and hopeful since researching cynicism, because I realized how much of it is just an error, and that’s true in our politics, in our organizations, but just in our everyday lives as well. Hope is not naïve, it’s not privileged, it’s not toxic. It’s an adaptive and adaptable response to the best data that we have. We can fight for that better future together by seeing it more clearly.”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.(Photo by Liudmila Chernetska/iStock)
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.
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.
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.
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)
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.