Leading the Next Generation in the Sports Business
BY Dan Heilman June 26, 2024With their run to the Western Conference championship series, the Minnesota Timberwolves showed basketball fans a lot this year. And their success is due in no small part to the minds in the front office.One member supporting their success is Sianneh Mulbah, chief people officer for the Minnesota Timberwolves and Lynx. During a fireside chat titled “Leading the Next Generation in the Sports Business,” Mulbah spoke about the rewards and challenges of human resources work in the world of professional sports. At From Day One’s Minneapolis conference, Mulbah was interviewed by Megan Ryan, assistant business editor for the Minneapolis Star Tribune.Mulbah’s role doesn’t just sit in the realm of HR. With 13 years experience with the Wolves and two decades of human resources experience, she leads the strategic direction and execution of the team’s people-related functions.“My primary responsibilities with the team are really focusing on our employee experience,” said Mulbah. “A couple years back, I started transitioning the way we think about our employees. Now, [we think about and treat our employees] like we treat our customers, the Timberwolves fans.”Sianneh Mulbah, right, was interviewed by Megan Ryan of the Minneapolis Star Tribune, left“We are hyper-focused on making sure they have a great experience from the time they leave their driveway to the time they get back to their driveway. And we need that same thought when we’re thinking about our employees.”With Mulbah’s profession comes a necessary focus on DEI issues. She points out that the Timberwolves’ leadership team is half female, with 40% of the team’s overall staff being women. Part of fostering that culture, she says, is keeping the lines of information open internally.The fireside chat kicked off From Day One's Minneapolis conference “We host quarterly all-staff meetings, and we start with the state of the business,” she said. “The league has mandates about what we can and cannot share, but we communicate what’s important for them to know, and we try to be open to questions.”Embracing an authentic culture of diversity, equity, and inclusion also means reaching across generations, even when you find yourself puzzled by, say, a younger colleague’s work style.“It means understanding that everyone's different,” said Mulbah. “[People might] want to be addressed in a specific way. It’s about using our real-life experience that makes us authentic leaders.”With a low turnover rate at around 10% the Timberwolves and Lynx organization can boast that the people who come to work for them generally stick around, and this is in part thanks to their values around open communication and inclusion.Dan Heilman is a writer and editor based in St. Paul, Minn.
The New Age of HR: Meeting Higher Corporate Performance Demands
BY Dan Heilman June 19, 2024While its applications are still being puzzled over, artificial intelligence is already gaining a foothold in human resources decision-making. Neil Taylor, vice president of product marketing for workforce planning software maker Visier, maintains that AI is in a position to be leveraged to improve the performance of company managers – and by extension, their employees.In a thought leadership spotlight titled “The New Age of HR: Meeting Higher Corporate Performance Demands,” at From Day One’s Minneapolis conference, Taylor points to generative AI, which can create new content and ideas, as a potential conduit to attracting and keeping the best talent.“I’m the first to admit that I think about Gen AI taking my job all the time,” said Taylor. “But I would just challenge everyone to think about how Gen AI can impact work for the better.”Taylor points to a generative AI assistant that can be trained to offer insights about personnel that might not be accessible by more conventional means.Neil Taylor, Vice President Product Marketing at Visier led the session titled, "The New Age of HR: Meeting Higher Corporate Performance Demands"“There are huge advancements in bringing in data – specifically, data about anyone in the organization,” says Taylor. “You can ask a natural language question and get a natural language response in seconds, and it's tailored to your organization's data. It really allows people who need to make decisions about people to get insights in a matter of seconds.”Taylor pointed to a Deloitte study saying that only about 3% of executives say they have sufficient information about their employees to make good HR decisions. That’s where AI technology has the potential to fill the gaps that can be left by intuition alone.“People managers are getting squeezed,” he said. “They’re under an immense amount of pressure to do more with less.”As a work in progress, generative AI is being employed mostly by early adopters at the moment. But Taylor encouraged managers to at least give it a test drive. Industry analyst Josh Bersin has stated that only a small percentage of HR teams even have a strategy around generative AI. That potential needs to be tapped soon, says Taylor.“AI is going to unlock this huge wave of productivity increase,” he said. “It has all this horsepower, but that horsepower is essentially sitting in the stable.”Editor’s note: From Day One thanks our partner, Visier, for sponsoring this thought leadership spotlight.Dan Heilman is a writer and editor based in St. Paul, Minn.
Applying Machine Learning and AI in HR: Proven Playbooks and Approaches
BY Dan Heilman June 17, 2024Jason Radisson, founder and CEO of Movo has a simple request of human resources executives: Don’t be afraid of the future.Movo is an AI-powered human capital management tool for the frontline. In a thought leadership spotlight at From Day One’s Minneapolis event, Radisson led a presentation titled “Applying Machine Learning and AI in HR: Proven Playbooks and Approaches,” where he went over some potential applications of innovative technology.“It doesn’t have to be scary, and it doesn’t have to be vague,” said Radisson, who previously was a general manager for Uber. “When I started Movo, I wanted to try to figure out how to bring a modern, flexible experience to everybody else’s workforce.”This early in its adoption process, Radisson says that AI is mostly reserved for the recruitment and retention of white-collar talent. But that could be changing.Jason Radisson of Movo led the thought leadership spotlight in Minneapolis“Now, what we’re talking about is a little bit more like outsourcing,” he says. “If you look at a lot of the different operations that we run in H.R., those are the classic things that already can be automated.“We’re starting to see globally that there just aren’t enough people to take these jobs. How long have we not had traders on the stock floor at most of the major markets in the world? How long has it been since an airline ticket was manually priced? There are all kinds of areas where AI and advanced systems already can generate a lot of value.”Another use case for AI and machine learning in the HR realm could be the ability to treat remote locations and distributed work locations just like you would an office building, says Radisson.“We’re in a flex, multiple-location kind of a world,” he says. “With today’s AI, a person at the head office with a smart system can distribute tasks and follow up on those tasks, wherever the’'re happening in the world.”Radisson left the audience with a piece of advice to continue to progress and stay ahead of innovative technological transformations: “I think all of us right now should have some kind of AI counsel,” he said.Referring to “somebody in the company that’s really looking forward to six months or 12 months trying to see what’s coming: Where would it make sense to pilot this? Do we have the developers we need? Do we need to borrow somebody else's developer platform? What’s the cost benefit? Just experimenting, seeing if a piece of automation adds value to the company.”Editor’s note: From Day One thanks our partner, Movo, for sponsoring this thought leadership spotlight.Dan Heilman is a writer and editor based in St. Paul, Minn.
Hiring 10,000 Employees a Year With an Eye on the Horizon
BY Dan Heilman June 13, 2024If your company struggles with finding a few new employees every year, how would you like to try for thousands? That daunting number isn’t too much for Jason Grosz, Head of Global Talent Acquisition for St. Paul-based clean-water giant Ecolab. During a fireside chat titled “Hiring 10,000 Employees a Year With an Eye on the Horizon,” Grosz talked about how his company recruits workers for its businesses around the world while at the same time investing in its future workforce. Grosz was interviewed by Patrick Kennedy, business reporter for the Minneapolis Star Tribune at From Day One’s Minneapolis conference.“I once heard the expression ‘glocal’ when it comes to talent acquisition – global with a local twist,” says Grosz, a 19-year Ecolab veteran. “What we’ve tried to do is create a standard structure for hiring, and allow a local version of that to be executed.”Jason Grosz, Head of Global Talent Acquisition at Ecolab spoke at From Day One's Minneapolis conference. He was interviewed by Patrick Kennedy, right, Business Reporter at the Star Tribune,Part of finding good employees is presenting your company as a good place to work. But Grosz points out that just saying so doesn’t make it so, and prospective talent can often see through the hype.“We talk about our employee value proposition very intentionally,” he says. “But if you don't deliver on the promise, then it doesn't really mean anything. People figure that out. And that gets out.”Selling the company culture to employment prospects is one thing, but continuing to provide value to workers once they’re on board can be another. To that end, Ecolab tends to match its number of annual hires with a roughly equivalent number of promotions, says Grosz.“We’re actually moving people more than we’re hiring people,” he says. “We use Career Hub and Workday. We’re trying to build a visible internal capability and opportunity marketplace for our people. Our CEO will sift through different talent reviews and hear from our businesses: What’s the landscape of talent? What are the needs? Where are the gaps?”As a measure of how effective such extra effort is, Ecolab’s retention numbers tend to hover around 85 percent, Grosz says. Part of the reason lies with an aggressive approach toward acquisition and adoption of new technologies.“We’re looking for more people in that analytics world, and we’re looking for more people who are comfortable in the A.I. technology space,” says Grosz. “You want people who understand biopharma and bioscience. So we've always had this need to find these distinct, unique types of talent.”Dan Heilman is a writer and editor based in St. Paul, Minn.
Retaining and Motivating Employees by Showing Them Their Work Matters
BY Dan Heilman June 01, 2023Whether you’re a human resources professional in the private or public sector, motivating employees goes hand in hand with keeping them. And neither task is an easy one.A five-person panel recently went through the ups and downs of that process in a discussion titled “Retaining and Motivating Employees by Showing Them Their Work Matters” at From Day One's Minneapolis conference. It can be tricky to zero in on the intangible but important sense among employees that their work has meaning not only to the company but also the world at large. Part of that equation has to do with having employees buy in to your company’s mission, according to Laura Lorenz, vice president of human resources for 3M’s Transportation and Electronics Business Group.“The focus is aspirational,” Lorenz said. “We’re the world’s largest provider of N95 masks, and during COVID we kept our prices the same. That was a source of pride for our people.”In the public sector, keeping workers motivated and happy can be extra challenging. Toni Newborn, chief equity officer and director of human resources for the City of Saint Paul, said that tight budgets and the structure of the city government can be an obstacle.“We have 15 operating departments that are essentially their own businesses, with 3,000 employees,” Newborn said. “Our challenge was that during COVID, our budget wouldn’t allow people to work from home. So we set up a fund to create stipends for people to make working remotely a little easier–for Internet, for day care. It was a gesture that government employers usually don’t offer.”Ryan Faircloth, politics and government reporter at the Star Tribune, left, moderated the panel discussion (photo by Cassandra Sajna for From Day One)A natural outgrowth of retention effort is a benefits package, and as surveys have shown, the one most sought after among employees is one that provides help in having and caring for a family.“When people talk about work/life balance, what they usually mean is work/family balance,” said Jeni Mayorskaya, founder and CEO of Stork Club, a company that provides family and fertility-based benefits. “Twenty-five percent of women who give birth quit within a year. It will happen if they don’t get the support they need at work. They’ll put their family first.”Another obstacle in the way of attracting and keeping employees can come from above, according to Hannah Yardley, chief people and culture officer for Achievers, a Toronto provider of employee voice and recognition solutions.“I believe more than 40 percent of H.R. leaders don't think their leadership teams are ready to make change,” she said. “Leaders aren’t listening, and if you don’t take action, employees won’t trust you to make the changes they want.”One method for finding out what employees want is by, yes, asking them. Newborn said that when Saint Paul put together an employee engagement survey not long ago, a city employee of some 45 years said it was the first one he’d ever seen. “We didn’t know how important it was for employees to take ownership of city policies,” she said.One important thing to note is that there is no one-size-fits-all solution to attracting and keeping workers.“Like everything in H.R., there’s no one simple answer,” said Julie Kline, chief human resources officer for North Memorial Health. “There’s no, ‘Oh, just offer better benefits.’ With COVID, we needed to look at what would motivate our employees. And for them, it was providing a solid foundation. It doesn't sound exciting. But the reality for us was that we really had to look at how we could provide them with stability in their roles.”Dan Heilman is a Minneapolis-based journalist.
Making Diversity and Inclusion Happen on a Very Large Scale
BY Dan Heilman May 30, 2023The 2020 murder of George Floyd was a watershed event in the Twin Cities, including more subtle reasons than the ones most often noted.To Antonio Henry, vice president of global diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) for UnitedHealth Group, the murder and its fallout provided lessons and incentives for the work he does.“It reinforced the need to move mast traditional DEI training and into tactical planning,” said Henry. “The challenge we face most often is having the time it takes to achieve sustainable progress. We want to do things fast, but we need to do them the right way.”And what’s stopping large organizations from reaching that goal? A number of factors, including lack of education, the ever-shifting social/political climate, lived experience that can either encourage or discourage empathy.“It’s difficult for any of us to say we can effectively walk in someone else’s shoes,” he said. “I want to understand the shoes you walk in, not necessarily walk in them.” Henry was a guest at a fireside chat-format discussion during From Day One’s recent Minneapolis conference. He was interviewed by Steve Koepp, chief content officer at From Day One.Henry said he’s encouraged by seeing organizations be more proactive and deliberate about provoking thought equity and leadership around DEI initiatives.“How do we continue to say, ‘Hey, we’d love to hear your thoughts on this’?” he said. “And the resisters in your organization are just as important as advocates for (DEI) work because they can show you what the pulse of the environment is like.”Henry, whose background is in banking and finance, understood early in his career that it was crucial to connect finance to community. That connection, he found, was even bigger and more important in the world of health care. That has led to what he calls a hyper-focus on people when he’s designing and effecting DEI initiatives.“You have to look at the whole person before you look at them as an employee,” he said. “You need to ask, How do we contribute to the lifestyle they want? The employee’s performance absolutely matters, but you won’t get their best unless you put them in teams that can leverage their true potential.”Antonio Henry of UnitedHealth Group kicked off the From Day One Minneapolis conference (photo by Cassandra Sajna for From Day One)One key to making that happen revolves around the idea of sponsorship, as opposed to advocacy or even mentorship. What’s the difference? Sponsorship, as Henry sees it, creates the opportunity to speak on a promising worker’s behalf in important settings such as meetings, as opposed to simply providing one-on-one coaching. United Health’s sheer scope, more than 400,000 employees, offers its leadership greater and more effective opportunities to sponsor.“It lets you speak about someone’s work, their character, their ability to learn and succeed,” he said. “A sponsor, even if it’s a peer, can not only provide ongoing feedback, but determine how that person is seen in meetings and how their work product is seen.”As far as implementing and fostering DEI efforts, Henry advised working with the appetite for change that comes with volatile times. COVID, he said, has taught businesses the value of employing flexible strategies that might not be considered when external forces aren’t causing disruption in the workplace.“A good DEI strategy will be forward-thinking and agile enough to thrive when things are uncertain,” he said. “It’s those times that cause you to ask if you have a strategy that deals with an employee whose responsibilities might shift because of those circumstances.“I went from business operations to talent management to where I’m focused on social-impact things I wouldn’t have ever imagined,” he continued. “That was made possible because the organization saw me for more than just my current role. Look to your people for aptitudes, things that are special to them, that you can tap into.”Dan Heilman is a Minneapolis-based journalist.
Changes to Employee Benefits in an Uncertain Economy: 2023 Priorities for HR Leaders
BY Dan Heilman May 24, 2023Employee benefits are a crucial ingredient in attracting and retaining workers. But the area of benefits is a shifting one. What are the benefits that employees want, and that employers can afford?That was the theme of a thought leadership spotlight session by Jess Marble the director of growth marketing for Care for Business, a care solutions provider based in Massachusetts, during From Day One's Minneapolis conference. Marble’s presentation, titled, “Changes to Employee Benefits in an Uncertain Economy 2023: Priorities for HR Leaders” took a look at how human-resources executives are trying to optimize benefit spending with an eye on workforce productivity and retention.“It’s an evolving narrative,” said Marble. “Our research shows that 47 percent of employers are trimming benefits. We’re all being a little conservative.”In fact, employers’ concerns about productivity often outweigh their desire to keep workers, according to Care for Business’s research.What are employers getting rid of? Thirty-five percent say adoption and fertility benefits are first on the chopping block, followed by commuter benefits and financial education/wellness resources. What’s being most widely preserved are benefits aimed at workers with kids or parents who need care.“Seventy-three percent of the workforce are the primary caregiver for a child or an adult,” said Marble. “Since 2020, 16,000 child care centers have shut down. So even during times when our budgets are tight, when we’re asking employees to come to work and be more productive with fewer resources, we need to prioritize child and senior care as a way to keep those workers.”Jess Marble, the director of growth marketing at Care for Business, led the thought leadership spotlight in Minneapolis (photo by Cassandra Sajna for From Day One)The burden of employees who pull double, sometimes triple duty as caregivers is imposing. A quarter of parents struggle to find daycare, and about one in six cares for an aging loved one. Not surprisingly, when asked which one benefit they would insist on keeping, 22 percent of workers choose senior care services.“Employees don’t identify as senior caregivers until it’s too late,” said Marble. “Employers lose between $17 billion and $33 billion each year due to absenteeism and turnover related to that issue. Senior care is consuming the minds of your workforce.”As is often the case, that burden falls to female employees. According to the McKinsey Global Institute, employers face potential losses of $840 billion in economic output due to diminished workforce participation of women. How best to walk the line between productivity and retention? An important first step is to survey employees about benefits. Second, advocate for care, and then take your data and use it to shop for the right benefits and their providers.“Don’t ask [employees] what benefits they want,” said Marble. “Ask them what’s keeping them awake at night and go from there.”A frequently overlooked ingredient in benefits packages is proximity, she added.“Provide options that are where they are,” Marble said. “If they have to drive 45 minutes to see a provider, odds are they aren’t coming to work that day.“I am passionate about the mission of making sure that every single one of your employees has child and senior care benefits, because it is the only way that we are going to keep women in the workforce,” she added. “It’s the only way that we are going to bring our economy back to a healthy place.”Editor's note: From Day One thanks our partner, Care for Business, for sponsoring this thought leadership spotlight. Dan Heilman is a Minneapolis-based journalist.