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Taking a Holistic Approach: College Planning as an Employee Benefit

Modern workers expect more from their employers when it comes to employee benefits. Rather than looking at just the individual, employees want benefits that include the whole family. Post-pandemic, working parents are faced with a myriad of additional financial, emotional, and psychological strains, from the increasing overlap of work and home to the uncertainty of college and beyond. These stressors can have a direct impact on employee outlook, productivity, and even retention.Forward-thinking corporations are developing a more holistic and personalized approach to employee benefits that address the unique needs of employees and their families as a unit. This includes consideration of college and career planning needs for employees’ children.In March 2023, Empowerly, a data-driven education technology company that provides personalized college and career guidance to students and their families, conducted a survey of 1,000 working parents of teenage children in partnership with SurveyMonkey. The study gained valuable insight into their perspectives on productivity, well-being, and college career planning for their children. Following the survey, Empowerly released a summary of its findings, demonstrating the need and the impact of supporting employees as their families navigate the college admissions process.How College and Career Planning Affect the WorkforceHelping teenagers prepare for college and post-high school careers is mentally and emotionally taxing for parents, who are worried not only about their children’s well-being but also the logistical and financial ramifications of sending them into the next phase of their lives. The results of Empowerly’s study supported this: 95% of parents indicated experiencing stress or nervousness related to the topic within the last year, with over 50% reporting that they were usually or always stressed about it at any given moment.Empowerly’s study highlights the importance of supporting whole families and looking beyond individual employee benefits (photo by Empowerly)The planning process also takes a toll on children’s mental health. That stress is, in turn, absorbed by the caregivers. Over 50% of parents stated that they could see the negative impact on their kids. 29% of parents indicated that they spend between 6-15 hours per week thinking about their children’s mental health, with 6% thinking about it even more than 15 hours per week. It is a constant source of concern. Such constant distraction is bound to have an impact on their work focus, productivity, and commitment.The sheer amount of effort involved in helping children transition post-high school ends up taking up hours of parents’ time and attention. According to the study, 25% of parents dedicate between 6-15 hours per week helping their child with college and career planning – and a whopping 88% of them have done at least some of it while at work. Corporations that provide college and career-planning can help offset some of this effort, bringing employees’ time and attention back to the workplace in the process.The Positive Impact of Offering College and Career Planning BenefitsEmpowerly’s study demonstrated that there is a need and desire for employers to provide the parents in their workforce with benefits that could lighten the load of college and career-planning stress. When participants were asked to rank a selection of similarly priced voluntary benefits, “College & Career Planning for My Family” came in at a close second behind “Financial Wellness Courses.” (The other options included “Identity Theft Protection,” “Nutrition and Fitness Counseling,” and “Discounted Legal Services.”)Providing such a benefit doesn’t just spread good will among the workforce, it also makes a corporation more attractive to current and potential team members. 71% of working parents said it would positively impact retention, 74% said it would positively impact recruiting, and 74% also said it would positively impact their decision to recommend their employer to a friend. Building out an employee benefits program that incorporates the whole family makes a workplace more enticing as employees feel cared for in the ways that matter most to them personally.Boosting Employee Satisfaction, Productivity, and RetentionThe stress and time-consuming preparation that goes into college and career planning for teens can have a significant impact on working parents’ performance at work, causing distraction, a dip in productivity, and even a disruption to their overall commitment to prioritizing their job.By providing free college and career planning for families as a voluntary benefit to employees, corporations can alleviate some of this additional work and stress, allowing employees to focus on their jobs and feel seen and supported by their employer, increasing retention and recruitment in the process. This sign of understanding and respect for the employee not just as a worker, but as a caring member of a family, can have a lasting positive impact on the organization as a whole.Editor’s note: From Day One thanks our partner, Empowerly, for supporting this sponsor 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, Honeysuckle Magazine, and several printed essay collections, among others, and she has appeared on Cheddar News, iWomanTV, and CBS New York.

Katie Chambers | October 09, 2023
The Hidden Costs of Menopause: How It Affects Workers–and What Employers Can Do to Help

During the Great Resignation, organizations all over the world decried the loss of talent and expertise, as well as the difficulty and cost of replacing it. But another great resignation has been happening all along: Every year, 20% of women going through perimenopause or menopause (a period that extends from their 30s through their 50s or 60s) leave the workforce, costing businesses around the world hundreds of billions of dollars in lost knowledge and replacement costs. About 20% of the workforce is going through perimenopause or menopause at any given time. By the end of the decade, the estimated cost of menopause to businesses in lost productivity will be $150 billion annually. Maven Clinic, a comprehensive health platform serving women and families, found that there could be an extra $2,100 in healthcare costs annually for those transitioning through menopause, including $400 in pharmaceutical costs. For an organization, the economic toll comes from loss of workforce expertise and leadership. It can cost up to twice the salary of a lost employee to replace them. There is loss of diversity, lower productivity — Maven says up to 14 days of missed work — and increased turnover. How do employers address this? Here are 4 steps to demystify menopause and insulate your people and organization from its impacts, drawing on a report from Maven on the hidden costs of menopause:Know what it is: Menopause is defined as the cessation of menstruation for 12 months, but the impact can begin years prior as perimenopause, when hormones begin to fluctuate, and last years past its onset. That means some women will experience symptoms from their mid- to late-30s through their 60s, when they are in the prime of their work life. Know the impacts: There are dozens of symptoms associated with menopause. The most common are hot flashes and night sweats (known medically as vasomotor symptoms); sleep disturbance, brain fog and memory lapses; mood disorders like depression and anxiety; vaginal dryness and changes in libido; headaches and nerve disorders like tingling extremities; digestive disorders and changes in taste; joint and muscle pain; and dizzy spells. While the symptoms themselves are troubling, the changes in hormones also lead to medical issues, including increases in LDL cholesterol (the bad one), increased risks of osteoporosis, and increased risk of cardiovascular events.Maven’s new report on the hidden costs of menopause and how employers can support workers Stress can make all of these symptoms worse, and a recent study found that 6.7% of women reported an increase in symptoms during the pandemic. Know how to help: Education is key, not just for women experiencing menopause, but for their colleagues and managers as well. Only a third of people going through menopause feel supported by their managers, many of whom know nothing about menopause, its symptoms, or their impact on work.Make simple environmental changes. Access to fans, desks away from sunny windows or heater vents, and access to a cool relaxation room can help with vasomotor symptoms. Flexible work arrangements – hybrid or full-time remote work, or flexibility to start earlier or later – can help with issues related to sleep disturbances. Wellness programs can help everyone, but those going through menopause can benefit from reflexology, yoga, walking programs, or aromatherapy. Those modes were found in a recent review study to improve insomnia significantly. Stretching and exercise also improved quality of sleep. Evidence was inconsistent related to depression symptoms, but it could help.Provide access to expertise: Most gynecologists report being “barely comfortable” helping patients through this time – or even talking about it to them. Only a fifth of residency programs feature any instruction on menopause. The lack of education leads to women being told to get a hobby, see a psychologist, or wear layers. Health-insurance plans often don’t fully support the specialized help that a woman needs to get through this time.Maven has a network of menopause specialists that are available 24/7 to help patients manage their symptoms, through coaching or second opinions. They also facilitate setting up support groups – something that 2/3 of respondents to a Maven survey said helped them manage symptoms. Will all of this help? There is limited data on the return on investment for menopause-support benefits, but what is there seems to underline the benefits. A review study released in June found that cognitive behavioral therapy, yoga, exercise programs, and menopause education improved symptoms significantly. The first of those showed a special benefit in presenteeism. Awareness programs significantly improved knowledge and attitudes throughout organizations. The study authors noted that there have been some small studies on limited populations that showed improved work outcomes related to implementing menopause support programs. The population is aging, and it is already difficult to find and retain experienced talent. Creating a menopause program or benefit can help organizations avoid turnover, improve engagement and productivity, and make the workplace better for everyone. Editor's Note: From Day One thanks our partner, Maven Clinic, for supporting this sponsor spotlight.Lisa Jaffe is a freelance writer who lives in Seattle with her son and a very needy rescue dog named Ellie Bee. She enjoys reading, long walks on the beach, and trying to get better at ceramics.

Lisa Jaffe | October 05, 2023
How an Iconic Brand Cultivates Its Workplace Culture for Modern Times

“I am in service of Main Street, not Wall Street,” said Christine Kinahan, Welch’s chief people officer. Kinahan was interviewed by Callum Borchers, workplace columnist for the Wall Street Journal during the opening fireside chat of From Day One’s Boston conference.Kinahan became Welch’s chief people officer after almost 15 years at Schneider Electric, and a year-long stint at product design company Shark Ninja. “When Welch’s came knocking, I had no idea what a cooperative was. I learned it was owned by 700 families.” This caused a drastic shift in mindset, but Kinahan is used to shifting gears.Kinahan is a polymath in the HR space. She has a master’s degree in political science from Villanova University, work experience wherever Schneider took her, including Rhode Island, Tennessee, Shanghai, South Carolina, New Jersey, and Southern France, and is certified to drive a forklift.Moving between states, countries, and continents taught her how different cultures approach work. She also came to understand the frustration frontline workers experienced when their bosses lacked understanding around what they do. “That’s the perfect case of why I learned how to drive a forklift,” she said to Borchers. “We were having so many issues in attracting and retaining talent and getting them to understand the test–you have to take a test for PIT (powered industrial truck). We were struggling with the recruiters on how to bring people in quickly.” The best way to understand this gap was to learn the skills that were a pain point.Kinahan and Borchers kicked off the event at the Artists for Humanity Center in BostonWelch’s is still dealing with talent shortage. “I think the talent shortage is still very real. We’ve been slow to adapt, we have to change the mindset of hiring managers to skills-based hiring more, lowering requirements more, investing in L&D more. I want to see more investment in technical schools,” she continues. “You don’t need the classic credentials if you have the requisite skills.”Kinahan recommends starting by understanding who your hiring managers are, and if they’re trained to hire correctly. What are the cultural differences in your company, from a value perspective, that you need to work out very quickly? She endorses the Who hiring method, saying it has helped her understand who people are.The hiring process moved to a scorecard model, which entails the core competencies, the values, and what’s needed for the job. “I tend to build a scorecard for very critical roles,” she says, acknowledging that it’s labor-intensive. She then expands it with the following criteria: What are we able to coach? What can be seen as a growth area? What are we able to accept that this candidate may not change in that area? “We’re hiring full-blown adults that have already materialized into certain behaviors that we might not be able to coach out,” she reasons. “There has to be that acceptable threshold.”A good start is accepting that making everybody happy is impossible, and adaptability is key. “Equity is so important, and taking the time to really listen, it’s important for us as leaders to be there and it’s important to show gratitude and appreciation to those workers who have to be on the line,” she said.“We’re also responding to the market of employees. It’s more of a gig economy, and some don’t want to work 12 months, some just want to do 8 months. We bring seasonal workers in, from a business perspective. Without that ability to adapt, we would be struggling for sure.”Still, she hasn’t felt this energized in quite some time. “Yesterday we spent all day with our sales team. We had about 30 people of all different levels, talking about what we wanted to focus on for the next few years—we wouldn't have been able to do that as effectively in a hybrid environment,” she told Borchers. “There were so many of those water cooler conversations, so many opportunities for us to get consensus and alignment,” she said. “We’re a CPG company, we have to be there to test it, see it, make it happen.”Angelica Frey is a writer and a translator based in Boston and Milan.

Angelica Frey | October 05, 2023
Emergency Savings: How Employers Can Help Workers Be Financially Secure

Money is routinely cited as the top cause of stress in America, and stressed employees aren’t leaving financial worries behind when they come to work. Financial stress is associated with increased absenteeism, lost productivity, and a greater likelihood of departing for a new job. Employers frequently offer financial wellness programs to address their employees’ needs. But with nearly four out of 10 Americans unable to afford a $400 unexpected bill without borrowing money or selling something, education alone may not be enough to alleviate the problem of stressed and distracted workers. At From Day One’s September virtual conference on creating a health work environment, best-selling author and financial educator Suze Orman, who co-founded the workplace emergency savings program SecureSave in 2020, explained why. “When you don't have enough money to pay your bills, you don’t care about learning about money at that point in time. That is not what is going to help you,” she said in a conversation titled “What Is the Goal of Money?” The primary goal of money, Orman said, isn’t the stuff you can buy. It’s financial security. “When you're insecure, it's very hard for you to be happy or productive.” Given the messages Americans hear about how hard it is to manage money and how much help they need, it’s not surprising so many are insecure about their finances and do nothing out of fear of making mistakes, Orman noted. Financial education, including workplace financial programs, have a role in teaching Americans to manage money. Financial advisor and SecureSave co-founder Suze Orman, left, and finance journalist Ellen Stark (Image by From Day One)But first, she added, employers should help workers with the pressing need for a pool of savings set aside for emergencies. “When you have financial stress and you go to work, rather than sitting there doing what you’re supposed to do and be powerful in your job, you’re sitting there worrying about, Oh, my god, how am I going to pay my bills this week?” said Orman. “The only way for you to feel secure is to have savings.”With a workplace emergency savings account (ESA), employees can have small amounts of money deducted from each paycheck to fund an account for unplanned expenses, ideally reducing the chance they’ll resort to credit card borrowing or tapping their retirement savings early. These plans can be tied to a 401(k) workplace retirement account or operate outside of it, as SecureSave’s plan does. The SECURE 2.0 Act, passed in 2022, made it easier for employers to automatically enroll workers in emergency savings accounts tied to their workplace retirement plans — an important milestone for these plans. While most companies don’t yet offer ESAs, Orman noted, an increasing number are adding the option to their benefits menu, and when they do, employees are embracing them. When an employee sees how an ESA works — the ease of use, that they can get their money whenever they want, the portability if they leave the company, that the account is FDIC insured — every single person wants one, Orman asserted. “We even had one company that within one week had 100% adoption.”In another positive sign, employees enrolled in SecureSave appear to be using the accounts as intended. “The greatest feedback that we get is that 90% of the people who put money in, they check it all the time, but they don't take it out,” Orman said. Over time, having liquid savings in an emergency account may make workers more inclined to contribute to a retirement account. “I have no doubt that a lot of these people who have never contributed to their 401(k) plans before because why they’re afraid that they couldn’t get the money out if they needed it, they will now also start to put money maybe for the first time in the employer-sponsored retirement accounts,” Orman said. “They will work hand and hand together.”After decades of educating Americans about managing their money, Orman considers enabling emergency savings the most important work she has ever done. “If we can change the savings rate of every single person in America today, and that can be done with the help of all the employers that are out there, we can change the personal happiness and security of the whole world,” Orman said. “Once you start to save and you see you have money for the first time, you start to get as much pleasure out of saving as you did spending. And when that happens, everything in life starts to change for you.”Editor’s note: From Day One thanks our partner, SecureSave, who sponsored this thought leadership spotlight.Ellen Stark is an executive editor with Foundry 360 at Dotdash Meredith, where she creates relevant and engaging content for major financial services companies. Previously, she spent more than 20 years as a writer and editor at Money magazine and Money.com. 

Ellen Stark | October 05, 2023
The Future of Work Is Here: New Workspaces and New Workflows

2023 marks important milestones in technology and workplace trends. LinkedIn is 20 years old, Google is now 25 years old, as is the iMac computer, which revolutionized the design of desktop computers and modern workstations.These anniversaries are important in understanding workplace trends, as they go hand in hand with technology developments. During a recent thought leadership spotlight at From Day One’s Boston conference, Matthew Confer, VP of Strategy at Abilitie, listed quiet hiring, AI, loud quitting, hybrid work, remote employees, non linear workdays, and boomerang employees as the trending topics in workplace trends, as found on TikTok.And, perhaps counter to the trends of asynchronicity and location flexibility as observed in the last three years, companies are mandating returns to office.“Zoom brought people back to the office this year and it was not lost on the media,” said Confer. As of 2023 only 30% of Americans work from home, the National Bureau of Economics Research reports. Full-time work from home now only applies to 12% of the workforce. 58.7% of Americans work full-time on site, and that is reflected in the search trends: lunch options, backpacks, and how to make a presentation.There’s less flexibility than in 2020, but there’s still flexibility within reestablished constraints. Companies are offering “work from anywhere” weeks, a set amount of time when you can work from anywhere, without it compromising your PTO. “This was rolled out alongside a more stringent requirement to be in the office,” said Confer.Matthew Confer of Abilitie led the thought leadership spotlight sessionBut while workers might be in the office physically, more and more of their tasks are taking place virtually, especially with developments in AI. ChatGPT surpassed 100 million users in two months. To compare, the telephone only reached this number of users 90 years after its introduction.At work, ChatGPT helps with tasks such as writing and refining an email, design ideas, searching for information and analyzing data, and drafting blogs. The language model is now sophisticated enough that it scored in the 97th to 99th percentile of the Torrance Test of Creative Thinking.In a survey of 31,000 people, 49% are worried about AI. Still, of those surveyed, 70% would still use it as a tool. It’s not all dire, it’s a matter of using it sensibly. “The buzzword of next year will be responsible AI,” says Confer.When it comes to delegating, AI could help tremendously in meetings. Meetings can spend too much of a company’s time (and dollars). “Over half of remote workers say that the vast majority of meetings just could have been an email,” says Confer.Shopify decided to cancel meetings with more than three people that were set up as recurring, requiring organizers to manually re-book these time slots if they were needed. They added a widget that would show an estimate of how many company dollars the meeting would cost. Organizations should think of how to implement AI in their stead if meetings are still important to the company. The technology could dial in, give you a summary of the meeting, and inform you of your priorities.“Technology is amazing, it moves unbelievably fast,” says Confer. “People are creative, and there's absolutely no idea and nobody has a prediction about what the ideal home office will look like in the future.”Editor’s note: From Day One thanks our partner, Abilitie, for sponsoring this thought leadership spotlight. Angelica Frey is a writer and a translator based in Boston and Milan.

Angelica Frey | October 04, 2023
Why Improving Frontline Jobs May Be Your Company’s Ticket to Success–or Survival

In the midst of several years of environmental, social, and economic upheavals, including the lasting effects of Covid on the workforce, consumers and workers have been pulling companies toward conscious capitalism. And while companies have been pulled, that isn’t the denouement of this story. Recently at a property summit in Australia, Tim Gurner expounded upon the need for there to be pain in the economy and for companies to flip the script on workers. Namely, workers should be afraid and feel lucky for their jobs, not the other way around. This seems to be the opposite direction of where companies should be going according to Zeynep Ton, a professor at MIT’s Sloan School of Management and author of The Case for Good Jobs: How Great Companies Bring Dignity, Pay, and Meaning to Everyone’s Work. “A good job could mean different things to different people. Right sense of belonging, achievements, purpose, recognition are all the ingredients,” Ton said, but there are “minimum conditions that all companies should have.” “Those minimum conditions are first, very obviously, being treated like a human with brains with a heart, not just a pair of hands. And then the second one is for pay to be high enough so that people can take control over their lives.” Ton was interviewed by Editor in Chief of the Harvard Business Review, Adi Ignatius. They spoke at a recent From Day One fireside chat in Boston. Market Rate Pay vs. the Good Jobs Strategy Taking a step back, Ignatius pointed out that Ton actually wrote two books about jobs, her current one The Case for Good Jobs and her previous The Good Jobs Strategy. In The Good Jobs Strategy, Ton used the low cost retail market as an example of how companies make a choice on two different ways to operate. Companies can choose to offer low wages, have low productivity, and high turnover rates. This is a “bad job strategy” according to Ton.“The other world is to pay employees a lot more than competitors do, offer them better benefits, and design the job for high productivity, high contribution, and operate with low employee turnover, great customer service, and more,” Ton said. Ignatius brought up the fact that a lot of CEOs “care about the planet” per se, but don’t pay mind to labor issues. “It’s always amazing to me that some leaders talk about conscious capitalism, but when it comes to their frontline workers,” Ton said, are “completely fine with below subsistence wages” and all the problems that arise from it. She points to generations of business leaders being taught that “market pay is the right pay” and says the market pay mentality is driven by the idea that “labor is just another cost of production that is just like any other input.”  “And when we think about inputs to production, the right pay is the market pay. So because people are just another cost, we should pay market wages. And paying market wages is so dominant, that people can’t even imagine operating any differently.”Zeynep Ton, author of The Case for Good Jobs was interviewed in the grand finale session in Boston (company photo)Using Costco as an example, Ton says co-founder Jim Sinegal comes to her classes every year to address students and his message is: Of course, you pay people more. “Because you understand that when people can’t focus on the job, turnover is going to be high. And now there’s so much research that shows that low pay is associated with all sorts of health costs. It even lowers cognitive functioning, low pay is equivalent to a 13 point reduction in IQ.”Ton says the resistance to higher pay is short-sighted. Low pay and high turnover leads directly to high turnover costs. “We have worked with organizations, frontline organizations, and we’ve seen turnover levels, anywhere from 40% to 400%. So the direct costs are recruiting, hiring, onboarding, time to productivity training. Those costs can be 10 to 25% of the total labor payroll spent annually.” Turnover costs pale in comparison to other financial costs, like lost sales, mistakes, lower productivity, lower quality. Why isn’t higher pay being adopted?Ton gave three reasons why she believes leadership is resistant to making the better pay change.“There’s a lack of imagination that there could be another world. And one of the things that makes imagination very difficult is a lot of organizations make their decisions, looking at just numbers. And oftentimes, they work in silos, and they look at the history and what happened in the past. And that prevents them from imagining any other possibility going forward,” Ton said.Secondly, leadership has a long laundry list of priorities, with board members and stakeholders being top priority and high turnover and the cost of high turnover being much lower. “The investors and board [are] not asking you about what’s your turnover? What’s your cost of turnover? How good is your customer satisfaction?” Given all that leadership has to deal with, accepting high turnover, and its costs, are simply easier.“The playbook for a good job strategy is harder than the playbook of pay as low as possible. In the good job system, you pay high. You design the work, which means you cross train your employees. You empower them to make decisions. You make their work better. You pay attention to staffing levels, so they can come up with improvement ideas.”The third reason these changes aren’t more commonplace is both a lack of conversation on the topic and a misplaced lack of trust between management and staff. “When they are stuck in their own vicious cycle of poverty, because pay is so low, they have all sorts of problems, cognitive problems, health problems. They’re not performing well on the job.” Ton says management incorrectly equates this to a lack of capability on the part of the worker. “Well, I can’t trust you, because you show up late. I can’t trust you, because you just yelled at the customer. So how am I going to empower you to make decisions? How am I going to invest in you?” Ton said.AI as an AnswerBefore stepping off the stage, Ignatius asked Ton what she thought about AI’s impact on labor. “I think it really depends on how we use technology, right? Technology doesn’t have an effect. Technology’s effect on work and workers will depend on how we use our imagination to deploy technology,” Ton said. Turning to the example of Sam’s Club, Ton described how they were able to use technology to better utilize staff, raise salaries, and improve the customer experience. She gives the example of purchasing a tire for your car several years ago versus now, a process that used to take 20 minutes or more. “Now with technology that processes just a few minutes. That means that the associate, instead of wasting their time looking through different manuals, can focus on the customer. They can ask you for ID. What are you using your car for? What performance are you most interested in? Do you want a low cost?” They are now better advocates for their customers. “And because their job is a lot more productive. Sam’s Club can pay them more.”So what should business leaders talk about the next time they find themselves at Davos, for example?“Instead of talking about other things, people at Davos should be talking about pay. And make sure that everybody makes a living wage,” Ton said.Matthew Koheler is a freelance journalist and licensed real estate agent based in Washington, DC. His work has appeared in Greater Greater Washington, The Washington Post, The Southwester, and Walking Cinema, among others.

Matthew Koehler | October 04, 2023
Generative AI Is Forcing Employees to Be Agile—Companies, Be Ready  

It used to be that if you had a “smart” job, you were safe. Manual labor could be replaced by a machine. But get an education, work with your brain, and you’d be set.Well, that’s not the case anymore. Presenting at the From Day One Conference in Boston, Jeff Maggioncalda, CEO of Coursera, said new data points toward a big shift in how people do their jobs, all thanks to generative AI. The thing is, it’s potentially going to impact pretty much every industry. Especially top wage earners who had previously been less replaceable. AI is changing that. “We’re all in the same boat,” Maggioncalda said.Back in 2017, a report from McKinsey & Co. showed AI would have a minor impact among the more educated. But the report, updated just a few months ago with new data about AI, changed dramatically. Now it’s the opposite. “Fasten your seat belts, because things are changing,” Maggioncalda said. Not that every job will be automated, so to speak. But many jobs will have to be done differently. Adapting RolesCoursera’s co-founder Andrew Ng once said, “Artificial intelligence is the new electricity.” While it’s not necessary for everyone to become electricians per se, knowing how to apply AI in job roles will be key, which is where HR comes into play to assist employees. “It will be far less dependent on technical expertise,” he said. “It’s going to be much more about understanding jobs, understanding people navigating through change.”Jeff Maggioncalda, CEO of Coursera, led the thought leadership spotlight session in BostonCoursera works with governments and businesses around the world to help them help their employees rise to the challenge of how generative AI is changing the global market. What they’ve come up with is targeted training for existing employees, while also moving to skills-based hiring. Finding new ways to assess whether people have those skills to open the aperture of who’s qualified for a job. “There’s a whole range of potential implications of this impact. And there’s different occupations that will be most impacted by this,” he said. In particular, business and legal professionals, STEM professionals, community services, creatives, office support, anyone who deals with language, images, audio or video, will all be impacted. “As one of my colleagues said, it’s one of those situations on the plane where they say, fix your mask before helping those next to you, because L&D is going to have to figure out how to educate people differently.”CEOs Take NoteMcKinsey & Co. estimated that generative AI will impact production by the trillions. Nearly every single software tool is going to have AI built into it that can be used in a different way to help increase productivity by automating and augmenting certain tasks, says Maggioncalda. “Depending on how you respond to it, it can be an opportunity or a threat,” he said. Companies can use technology to better serve customers and increase productivity, and everyone’s got to be on board from the top down, including the CEO.One of Coursera’s largest clients is a pharmaceutical company whose CEO recently created a global generative AI initiative for the company. Three people lead that initiative, including the CLO, the CTO, and the head of strategy. They report to the C-Suite once a month on generative AI. Maggioncalda asked the CLO, “When’s the last time you presented to a CEO?” To which the CLO responded, maybe once a year. But now they’re talking to him once a month. That’s how important generative AI is to this global company, specifically their strategy to use it.Specifically, the changes are in how people do their jobs, and that requires strategy. Training. Shifting. They can even use AI to accomplish these things – an inception of AI, if you will.“Learning is going to be far more personalized and interactive than anything we’ve ever seen,” Maggioncalda said. “The ability to take and tailor training programs far more effectively than anything that you’ve ever seen before.”Language translation is a huge part of it. Coursera has translated 2,000 courses into seven languages, building up to 4,000 courses in 14 languages. The potential to change things on a global scale is huge.Training vs. DegreesCurrently underway is Coursera’s Generative AI Academy to assist with workforce transformation, helping people of different job roles figure out how to adapt to generative AI. “So, if you’re a digital marketer, here’s what you need to know, if you’re an IT Helpdesk, here’s what you need to know, if you’re a software developer, here’s what you need to know. It will be very role specific, and it will be changing very quickly,” he said.There’s so much more in the works, Maggioncalda added, and it’s going to change hiring and training for a lot of companies. In fact, hiring people without college degrees won’t be an issue; if they’re agile and adapt to the company training, employees can have more equitable access to the knowledge and the skills as well as the credentials.Essentially, Coursera can help companies create program templates from building blocks that already exist, saving time and money and bringing the company forward quicker. One of their customers wanted to build a reference program that different company managers could customize. Curating content, using AI, is what will help companies train their people.Using AI to help employees learn how to use AI? Now that’s the wave of the future.Editor’s note: From Day One thanks our partner, Coursera, for sponsoring this thought leadeship spotlight. Carrie Snider is a Phoenix, Ariz.-based journalist and marketing copywriter. 

Carrie Snider | October 03, 2023
How Workers–and Their Employers–Can Build a Healthier Relationship With Work

While covering the labor beat for publications such as The Atlantic and Wired, journalist Simone Stolzoff observed how work had become like a religious identity for many people. But it wasn’t until five years ago when he decided to leave the newsroom to join a design firm, that the concept became personal. “It really threw me for an existential loop,” he told moderator Steve Koepp during a fireside chat session at From Day One’s September virtual conference. “Maybe some of our listeners have been in a similar sort of career crossroads where it didn’t feel like you were choosing between two jobs as much as it felt like you were choosing between two versions of you.”That’s what prompted Stolzoff to write The Good Enough Job: Reclaiming Life from Work. This book, which comes at a time when millions of workers are realizing they want to create better boundaries between their jobs and the rest of their lives, casts light on ways employees and their managers can take new approaches to help workers flourish on and off the job.Stolzoff advocates for focusing on work while on the clock, but also understanding the importance of going home when the work day is done. “I think so many people, myself included, can fall into the trap of letting work, expand like a gas and fill all of our unoccupied space and kind of perpetually stay in a state of half-work with one eye open on our emails,” he said. However, he added, “we are more than just workers. We are also friends and parents and neighbors and citizens. And those identities need investment in the same way that our professional lives do.”How Did Work Become an Identity? Conflating work and identity is nothing new in American culture, according to Stolzoff. “You might say that capitalism and the Protestant work ethic were the two strands that intertwined to form our country’s DNA,” he said. “But I do think there is something about the past 40 or 50 years that has really made work more central.”Steve Koepp, From Day One co-founder and chief content officer, interviewed Simone Stolzoff in the grand finale fireside chat session (photo by From Day One)One reason why people’s relationship to work in the United States is so fraught is the consequences of losing your job are severe, according to Stolzoff. For example, many employees have their healthcare tied to their jobs, and an immigrant’s ability to stay in the U.S. is often contingent on their employment status.There’s also the popular concept of the workplace as a family.“I really think the ethos behind trying to create a family-like work environment is often well intentioned,” Stolzoff said. However, familial love ideally is unconditional, but relationships in the workplace are conditional by definition, says Stolzoff. “Your work can be your family until they let you go, which is something that so many people found out during the pandemic,” he said.How to Achieve a Healthy Work-Life BalanceIt’s up to company leaders to take the first step in creating a culture that helps employees keep their work life separate from their personal life and identity, according to Stolzoff. “I think too often companies can have great policies or ideas in place. But if the CEO or your boss is responding to emails at 10 p.m. or answering Slack messages on their vacation, that culture is going to trickle down to the rest of the company,” he said. It’s crucial for companies to recognize employees who live outside the office and not contact them after hours, according to Stolzoff. He also said managers should help people connect with their intrinsic motivation and find their reason for working, beyond just accomplishing the daily tasks on their to-do list.For some workers, that reason might be using their job as a vehicle for changing the world. However, other employees’ motivation might be providing security for their families or supporting themselves so they can do what they love outside of work. And none of these reasons are more noble than the others, according to Stolzoff. Finally, companies and employee benefits form an atmosphere of trust, which empowers workers to “get their work done how and when they see fit,” Stolzoff said. “I think the best managers are able to understand their employees as individuals, and to cater to the work style that works for them.”Mary Pieper is a freelance reporter based in Mason City, Iowa.

Mary Pieper | October 03, 2023
The Equitable Employee Experience: How Total Rewards and Career Development Go Hand in Hand

Jason Cerrato, senior director of product marketing at Eightfold, a talent intelligence platform, discovered a downward trend in companies during the pandemic: women at every level were leaving their jobs at high rates, with working mothers bearing the brunt.In the early months of the pandemic, one in four women in the U.S. lost or left their jobs due to lack of childcare, nearly twice the rate of men. The pandemic exposed the gaps in companies’ benefits, with demand for childcare, once deemed a luxury benefit, to become a necessity.Demand for childcare support wasn’t the only change benefits packages saw: mental health benefits and workplace flexibility have also become a talking point for job seekers as well. In a panel discussion during From Day One’s Boston conference, moderator Janelle Nanos, business reporter at The Boston Globe, spoke with Cerrato and other industry leaders on how the pandemic reshaped the world of benefits and what leaders must do to keep their workers supported.Ditching the One-Size-Fits-All ApproachWith an increasingly diverse workforce, companies need to offer benefits that cater to different demographics and life stages. “The benefits landscape has drastically changed in the post-Covid era because of the diverse demographics coming into the organization and the level of awareness that the employees have,” Shahina Islam, vice president of HR at IT service management company Zensar, said.“The focus used to be mostly just compensation, but the conversations happening in the post-Covid era are now ‘You’re offering me compensation, but what else can I look forward to if I join you?’” Benefits should be made to serve every employee, however, that’s not the case. In the U.S., only 61% of employees are satisfied with their benefits.The disparity calls for greater scrutiny and a problem HR leaders need to be constantly working to solve, says Shawna Oliver, assistant vice president and head of global benefits & wellness at insurance company Manulife Financial Corporation.“We presume that everybody was having this delightful experience with their benefits. But Covid gave us the permission to say that’s not what happened because we started getting real about the things that we talked about,” Oliver said. “Everybody in this room has a different experience when they go to see their provider, their clinician, their specialist, their mental health provider. And I want everyone to ask themselves, is that what you want from your benefits? To me, when I offer a program, I want everyone to have that really amazing experience when they cross that line. And if that's not happening today, it’s my job to work with my team to make sure it does.”Data from benefits usage can tell a compelling story for companies, Oliver said. Employee engagement is among some key metrics that can provide data to help companies improve benefit offerings.“We all look at claims data, we look at engagement, we’ve counted how many people are using value, return on investment, but who here really looks at who’s not using your benefits? That’s just as meaningful,” Oliver said. “If you have pockets of employees with commonalities that are not using your benefits, there’s something wrong with your benefit. Look at your data, look at who’s not using your benefit because it’s really those two combined that’s telling you the full story about what's going on in your program.”Including Employees in the Benefits TalkIn transitioning to a post-pandemic workplace, employees are making sure the benefits that came about during the pandemic are here to stay. Today’s employees are learning to vocalize their needs more than ever, with employees contributing to the conversations.Janelle Nanos of the Boston Globe moderated the executive panel discussion.As Head of Technology at C&W Services, a facility services company, Jodi Enggasser discusses the success she found from involving workers in the benefits conversation. Straying away from the traditional top-down approach and leaning into a discussion forum allows workers to discuss their needs more openly, Enggasser said.“The decision that was coming from executive leave or leadership was going to be pushed down on us. It didn’t let us have a say or a choice,” Enggasser said. “But now you can raise your hand to be part of a council where that council has a slice from the various types of populations in the company and you have an opportunity to review the types of benefits. It helped us feel like we were a part of the process and like we were part of the solution.”Supporting ManagersManagers are often the ones interacting with employees the most and can learn of problems and conflicts workers may be dealing with. For managers to best serve employees, managers must be trained and equipped properly, Jess Marble, director of Care for Business, said.“Your managers are on the front lines of your workforce. They’re the first to hear about a child missing school or a parent being sick. They’re the first to identify some of those triggers that are going to be disruptive to the workforce,” Marble said. “If you empower managers to have the tools to help employees get started on solutions, it’s going to benefit you as an employer because managers are going to be empowered to come to you and ask for solutions that will address some of the pain points that they’re hearing in the workforce.”The benefits of providing employees with adequate resources and substantial support not only lead to increased employee satisfaction but can increase work productivity and employee retention as well. By removing obstacles for the employees in and out of the workplace, companies are also investing and supporting employee’s career development as well, Cerrato says.“We build a process that helps with the career side of this career development and sometimes it’s just the visualization of that and making that a reality [for employees],” Cerrato said. “But sometimes that’s not what’s holding that person back. Sometimes it’s the availability of work, the schedule, or returning to the office. When we start to combine these worlds and have some of these, “How are you doing?” conversations, then we’ll be able to have career development conversations.”Wanly Chen is a writer and poet based in New York City. 

Wanly Chen | October 02, 2023
A New Era of Fair, Data-Driven Performance Reviews

Performance reviews play a crucial role in promotions and pay raises, but research shows that 60% of manager’s ratings are based on their own idiosyncrasies. The study further notes that only 20% of the typical rating is based on the employee’s actual job performance. How can companies make performance reviews more fair and accurate so the best employees receive the recognition they deserve and don’t leave out of frustration? And how can leadership teams identify employees who need additional support to succeed?In a From Day One webinar experts from Confirm, an all-in-one people platform that truly reflects each employee’s impact and influence, answered these questions and more. Organizational network analysis (ONA) is at the center of what Confirm does, CEO Josh Merrill told session moderator Anna Maltby Patil. “It’s a really effective tool for surfacing things like, who are the subject matter experts that are enabling the people around them to get their work done? Who are the people energizing the workforce? Who are the people making an outstanding impact? And in some cases, who are the people creating concern as well as causing problems?” Merrill said. ONA ensures that decision-makers at a company see this crucial information, according to Merrill. This is why the most innovative businesses are now using it, he said. Why Is the Current Performance Review System Broken?The U.S. military created performance reviews after World War I, and companies began using them in the 1920s. Today’s performance reviews still use the traditional four-point or five-point scale, with managers determining if an employee meets, exceeds, or falls below expectations.“It’s interesting that even today, modern companies, tech companies, and large organizations, are still using these methodologies that were invented 100 years ago to make crucial performance decisions,” said Confirm president and co-founder David Murray. “In many companies, 80% of their money is spent on payroll, maybe more. And yet, the set of tools that we have to identify top talent are very limited.”The workplace has changed drastically over the past century, and the traditional performance review model no longer works, according to Merrill.Anna Maltby Patil, top right, moderated the discussion among Josh Merrill and David Murray (photo by From Day One)“In the 1920s, work was solitary, it was repetitive,” he said. “We didn't have computers, we didn’t have the internet, we didn’t even really have telephones. Today, we work in networks. If you weren’t using Slack, Teams, or Zoom before the pandemic, you’re probably using it now.”Many interactions that once happened in the office where a manager could observe them, such as one employee constantly helping another get their work done, now take place through messages in Slack. This means supervisors may not be aware of the situation, “and that’s where performance reviews have really started to break down,” Merrill said. How ONA Fits the Modern Workplace The idea behind ONA is to make interactions between employees more visible so they can take that into account during performance reviews instead of relying solely on the opinion of a single manager, according to Murray. He said this is not a new idea but a twist on an older one. 360 reviews introduced the concept of incorporating feedback from an employee’s peers. American companies began using these reviews in the 1980s, but Murray said they aren’t effective.“People pick the people that are going to say good things about them,” he said. “And yet we expect that CEOs and executives are going to trust that data, that somehow these pre-selected folks are going to say the critical feedback that needs to be said.”Companies that use the ONA method ask each employee within the organization four questions: Who do you go to for help and advice, and why?Who energizes or motivates you at work, and why?Who do you see as an outstanding contributor?Who are you concerned about that needs additional support or attention?Merrill used a real-life example, with the names of the employees changed, to illustrate how ONA is more fair and accurate than the traditional performance review model. In this case, Tracy and Michael have worked for a company for the same time, but have different supervisors.Tracy is a source of help, advice, energy, and motivation to the people around her. She’s making an outstanding impact. On the other hand, Michael has very little influence. No one’s really going to him for help and advice or identifying him as a source of energy or motivation.Tracy’s manager wants to give her an ‘exceeds expectations’ rating on her performance review. Still, company officials tell the manager too many employees are getting that rating, and not enough promotions are available. Therefore, Tracy’s supervisor downgrades her to ‘meets expectations.’ However, Michael’s manager ‘likes him just fine’ and gives him a ‘meets expectations’ rating, Merrill says. “If all you had were those manager ratings, you would treat Tracy and Michael exactly the same,” Merrill said. “But when you bring in the ONA data, that network data from the people around them, now you can go, ‘Oh, these are totally different contributors in this organization, they need to be on different paths.’”Overcoming Performance Management BiasSome companies use ONA to identify bias in performance reviews so they can take action to solve the problem.“As HR professionals, I think we’re all aware of the biases that exist around our organizations and within our leadership teams,” Murray said. “But something we don’t always face is that if you want to address a bias problem, you need to measure it.”When employees feel included, they are connected to those around them, according to Merrill. This means their colleagues are more likely to name them as sources of help or advice.When company leaders take ONA data on who employees consider top contributors and layer it with demographic information, they can tell where inclusion is and is not happening.Confirm did a study of multiple companies to see if the gender of an employee had an impact on performance reviews. ONA data found that gender was a non-factor in who colleagues identified as a source of help, motivation, and impact.“But what we then found was, if you are male, you are about 20% more likely to be rated higher by your manager than what our network data would predict,” Merrill said. “That’s a really important bias to be able to call out.”One concern some people have about the question “Who energizes or motivates you at work?” is the answers might skew toward a company’s more extroverted employees. However, Murray said ONA “actually surfaces quiet contributors, those introverts that don’t always get recognized by their manager.”Editor’s note: From Day One thanks our partner, Confirm, who supported this webinar. Mary Pieper is a freelance reporter based in Mason City, Iowa.

Mary Pieper | October 02, 2023
Building Upon Workplace Culture Through Recognition and Engagement

Global pharmaceutical company Takeda takes its Japanese roots to heart, infusing its mission and vision with traditional Japanese values such as integrity, fairness, perseverance, and honesty. Company leaders set the tone for this culture, valuing trust first and foremost, followed by reputation and then business success. These core values are also embraced by Takeda’s employees who, despite being scattered across several continents, in various manufacturing plants, offices, and remote working environments, remain committed to the “Takeda-ism.” Company culture is integrated naturally from the top down.Amina Lobban, head of HR business excellence global manufacturing, supply & quality at Takeda shared insight into this culture in a panel discussion at From Day One’s recent conference in Boston. Lobban says that the company appoints “values ambassadors” to whom fellow workers can voice concerns that are then trickled up through ethics and compliance. Having employee advocates working side-by-side with colleagues is just one strategy to make workers feel seen, heard, and appreciated.The panel explored how a workplace culture that supports productivity, loyalty, and overall organizational success is built when employees feel recognized and engaged. Experts from five successful organizations discussed scalable strategies for bolstering workplace culture.Taking a Much Needed Pulse CheckThis is where new technological advancements and software comes in, automating data collection to further employee engagement. Regular surveys allow employers to get a sense of how the team is feeling about workplace issues, company culture, recognition, career advancement, and more. Alexis von Kunes Newton, head of global talent development & performance at online retailer Wayfair, notes that leaders should cross-reference that data with demographics to see trends that might indicate deeper issues tied to culture and identity. “We ask questions about whether they have a sense of belonging,” Newton said. “Can I come to work feeling like I don't need to hide a part of who I am?”Surveys with open text questions can help employers gain insight into issues they might not have otherwise been aware of or have known to ask about. Newton says Wayfair likes to ask, “What’s one thing you value about your role or team?” and “What’s one thing you would change?” both of which not only help employees feel seen and heard, but can also drive strategy for adjustments to corporate culture.Jacqueline Fearer, head of global culture & engagement communications at enterprise information management company Iron Mountain, shares that her organization has asked “What’s one thing you wish the CEO could know?” – with surprising results! “We got almost 10,000 comments,” Fearer said. Easy fixes like “the lights are out in the parking lot, there's no coffee in the kitchen” that helped employees feel appreciated, to bigger company-wide cultural concerns like “we need to know the strategy better” or “I don't even know why I'm answering this because nothing is ever done.” The latter lit a fire under management to begin taking even the smallest of concerns more seriously.Surveys can help leaders bridge the gap to understand and connect with employees with wildly different personalities and performance styles and learn how best to support them. Matt Stone, senior solutions consultant at Attuned, describes an otherwise beloved employee whose communication style was different from his own. “Because of the methodology of a survey, I had better data to understand another human being who's not like me a little bit better, and give him more of what he needs to feel recognized and respected.”Using Intentional LanguageThe language used by corporate leadership can have a trickle-down effect on employee morale. Certain words that are part of hyper-modern corporate jargon, for example, may not play well outside of the United States, where nuance or a sense of irony can be lost in literal translation. Iron Mountain used to brag about “obsessing over our customers.” Fearer pushed back on this notion. “Obsess is not even a good word in North America,” she said. “So, if you have someone in Singapore or China who wants to please the CEO, and they look up the word ‘obsess,’ it's not going to go well.”This careful choice of phrasing extends to how employee recognition is discussed – or not. It’s vital to call a professional development opportunity exactly what it is. Networking opportunities, educational programs, and promotions are all forms of professional development, but employees may not realize that is what is happening and report it as a missing element of corporate culture if it’s not spelled out. “You have to name it,” Fearer said. Such educational opportunities and promotions, Newton notes, are an important form of employee recognition. “Career development is highly correlated with overall employee engagement and retention,” Newton said.Takeda even offers a career navigator program that can match current employees with other open roles across the company, increasing retention by encouraging those that might want to change their pathway to do so without leaving the organization, Lobban says. Takeda also provides visual career pathways (digitally and even laid out on the walls and floors of its manufacturing hubs) so that employees can visualize the map of their career advancement at the organization.Paris Alston moderated the executive panel discussion at the Artists for Humanity center in Boston.A Personal Touch Goes a Long WaySession moderator Paris Alston, co-host of “Morning Edition,” GBH News, points out that sending out finely tuned employee surveys is helpful, but not enough. “Even though we have this reliance on technology, there are some things that can be lost,” Alston said.One-on-one conversations are meaningful, shares Deborah Merkin, CEO and Founder, GiftCard Partners, a company that provides workplace incentives. “It’s saying, ‘you did a good job.’ It’s saying, ‘thank you,’” Merkin said. This makes a difference especially for companies that are particularly small or fully remote. Fearer shares that one team leader at Iron Mountain sends handwritten postcards to the homes of employees who are excelling, which also means their spouse or children may see the praise too.Establishing a Culture Across a Hybrid WorkforceModern employees value a sense of belonging in their daily work life. “Belonging is developing or creating an environment where people feel like I can be who I need to be at work, people understand the challenges that I have, and I'm accepted for that.” Lobban explained.This can prove a little challenging in a remote working world. Companies with a hybrid model can encourage remote workers to occasionally come in for in-person meetings or community days, while in turn also respecting certain employees’ needs and desires to work mostly outside of the office, if that is what they choose. It all comes down to finding a balance of maintaining personal connection while also respecting each person’s individual identity, preferences, and needs. In a post-pandemic world, companies where remote work is possible should consider, Lobban says, giving “that flexibility for people so that they can live their life and be successful at work at the same time.”When it comes down to it, leaders and employees need to practice self-awareness and self-acceptance when developing a workplace culture that works best for their team, recognizing when something is wrong and having the humility and dignity to fix it. By developing strategies that incorporate compassion, listening, and relationship-building, companies of all sizes can build a workplace culture that makes employees feel respected and drives the company’s mission forward.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, Honeysuckle Magazine, and several printed essay collections, among others, and she has appeared on Cheddar News, iWomanTV, and CBS New York.

Katie Chambers | September 29, 2023
Why Sleep Care Is an Employer Matter

At the acme of hustle culture, sleep deprivation was worn like a medal. Heidi Riney, MD, and chief medical officer at sleep healthcare provider Nox Health, is happy to see the bad habit fall out of fashion. “People would brag about not getting enough sleep, that they were able to achieve so much on just four hours’ sleep.’ Other times, the boast was, ‘I got eight hours, and I can’t believe I spoiled myself.’”Burnt out and hungry for work-life balance, workers have replaced “hustle” with wellness, and though it’s less common to boast about getting little sleep, people are still doing it, and their wellbeing, inside and outside of work, is suffering.From Day One hosted Riney and her colleague, Shannon Cyr, a behavioral scientist and SVP of Nox’s sleep care telehealth services, for a recent webinar on the benefit of sleep healthcare—and why it’s a workplace matter. They discussed the connection between a lack of sleep and worsening chronic conditions, emphasizing just how important sleep hygiene is.What Happens to the Sleep-DeprivedWe cheat ourselves and our health when we don’t get enough sleep, Riney explained. Our ability to concentrate suffers, so does muscle repair and recovery, and our immune system. Short-term, lack of sleep inhibits our memory, the ability to pay attention, our appetite, and the way we metabolize food. “Sleep is a very active process where a lot of incredibly important functions happen when we sleep, a lot of restorative functions,” she said.Dr. Heidi Riney, pictured, led the webinar alongside Nox Health colleague Shannon Cyr (company photo)Sleepiness and fatigue—or that feeling of moving through mud—show up after just one night of poor sleep, “and if you have a safety-sensitive job, that can be very challenging,” Riney said.If we’re sleep deprived for long periods of time, cognition, the ability to problem-solve, and the ability to make decisions can be impaired. Riney called sleep deprivation the silent partner to chronic diseases, often increasing the risk of “type-two diabetes, chronic systemic inflammation—which has been linked to things like cancer, heart disease, hyperlipidemia, or high cholesterol—increased risk of anxiety and depression, increased risk of Alzheimer’s disease.” Sleep is so important to systemic health that in 2022, the American Heart Association added sleep to its cardiovascular health checklist.“When sleep is treated adequately,” Cyr explained, “then those chronic conditions that may be present in our patient, it seems to slow the progression of that chronic disease. In some cases, it also reverses some of the symptoms of those chronic diseases.”Generally, sleep-related costs constitute just a small portion of total healthcare spend for employers, but, according to Riney and Cyr, members who have sleep disorders often cost twice as much as those without, and constitute a substantial share of total healthcare spend.“Sleep disorders represent a hidden, overlooked, but remedial gap in care,” said Riney. “They represent a significant safety, health, and productivity issue for every employer.”Changing Sleep BehaviorCyr noted that improving sleep is often a matter of behavioral change—Nox tends to use behavior modification as its first-line therapy—and the results are not only quality and quantity of sleep, she said, but also quality of life.Nox Health’s model of proactively contacting members about their quality of sleep—Are you feeling more productive? Less fatigued?—makes it easier for members to track over time changes in sleep quality.That’s especially important for patients who work in transportation, Cyr said. “We want to make sure that they’re not accident-prone, they’re not working while sleepy and while they are driving heavy machinery.”Riney noted that a patient pushing their primary care provider to talk about sleep can prompt the doctor to start asking other patients too. “You can bring it up and say ‘I don’t feel like I am sleeping at my best,’ then list two or three symptoms that you’re experiencing.” It’s not a typical topic of conversation at the annual health check-up, they said, but you can make it one.Editor’s note: From Day One thanks our partner, Nox Health, for sponsoring this webinar. Emily McCrary-Ruiz-Esparza is a freelance journalist and From Day One contributing editor who writes about work, the job market, and women’s experiences in the workplace. Her work has appeared in The Washington Post, Quartz at Work, Fast Company, and Digiday’s Worklife, among others.

Emily McCrary-Ruiz-Esparza | September 28, 2023
From Day One Celebrates Its Fifth Anniversary

Half a decade ago, the news was erupting daily in an avalanche of headlines about Corporate America. A lot of those headlines were about scandals. About mistakes and injustice. These were not just mainstream media headlines, but also major stories emerging from digital media and social media. In fact, it seemed like for the first time everyone suddenly had a voice, and many of these voices were shouting. Many people within these companies were already committed to making positive change. But corporate values issues are often complex. They are typically interwoven with other business priorities, history, or plain old inertia. “Companies were being held accountable for their behavior in new and important ways, and it seemed like there was real, and possibly permanent change happening,” recalls From Day One CEO Nick Baily. “But then what? Even once you agree on a new set of values, there’s a lot of work to do in making them real.”  This was the historical turning point the three founders of From Day One were contemplating when they launched, exactly five years ago this month, the organization’s very first event, a one-day conference of hundreds of business leaders at BRIC House in Brooklyn, a place not previously known for business conferences. From the start, it was designed to be something different.The idea was that the country needed a “forum on corporate values,” a gathering of professionals to talk about the relationship between companies and their employees and communities. In other words, their stakeholders, rather than just their stockholders. The founders–Baily, Erin Sauter, and me–felt certain that we didn’t know the answer to these pivotal questions, but we felt equally certain that there were many people with inspiring, practical insight on these topics, and that bringing them together into the same room would be a positive first step.The first event was a hit. Speakers from companies including IBM, NBCUniversal and Condé Nast offered fresh ideas on “building a more purposeful team” and “setting your values and following them.” Sponsors ranged from AT&T to Con Edison to Eileen Fisher. Attendees, for their part, asked: What will you be doing for an encore?The three founders decided to bring the Brooklyn-bred idea to Chicago, Boston, and beyond. Five years later, From Day One has hosted 45 one-day conferences from Seattle to Miami. The pandemic produced an existential moment of doubt for the company, but necessity proved inspirational. From Day One has hosted more than 60 virtual conferences and 220 webinars. All told, more than 72,000 professionals in HR and related fields have attended From Day One’s events. This year, Inc. magazine recognized From Day One as one of America’s 5,000 fastest-growing companies. The audience at a From Day One conference in Atlanta; featured photo: a panel onstage in Seattle (Photos by From Day One)Since the company has taken a journalistic approach to its conversations, it has never lacked for topics. History-making events of the past five years provided fuel for conversations that From Day One’s founders never could have expected. To start with, the pandemic brought the remote-work revolution. As Harvard professor Tsedal Neeley told our virtual audience: “I am 100% convinced that, if we do this hybrid right and with courage, and we set our policies based on need and not fear, we’re preparing for the digital revolution that’s right around the corner.” She was prophetic about the challenge of getting it right.The murder of George Floyd inspired a push for racial justice in Corporate America that would prove to be fitful, but the conversation was groundbreaking. “All of a sudden, I was talking about this, and our employees’ eyes were opened. We’ve never really talked openly about racism before at work,” Hoai Scott of NBCUniversal told our audience in Los Angeles. As the pandemic eased, the pent-up demand for more rewarding and meaningful work triggered the Great Resignation that sent companies into a frantic search for talent, which has only somewhat eased. “Comparing where we are now to where we were pre-Covid, I think the employee is going to retain a lot of power,” AT&T executive Ben Jackson told our Dallas audience last year. In turn, the need to retain workers inspired a major push among companies for better learning-and-development programs. “Our vision is–and it’s very lofty–we want to redefine what education means in this country, full stop,” Walmart’s head of L&D said in a From Day One fireside chat.What may be the most consequential development of From Day One’s short life is a debate about not only the future of work, but the meaning of work in our lives. To be sure, our colleagues at Harvard Business Review, which celebrated its 100th anniversary last year, have been at this awhile. But recent years have turned this philosophical question into a competitive news beat for business reporters and thinkers like Anne Helen Petersen, who has spoken to From Day One’s audience about both of her recent work-focused books. She was early in raising the prospect that a flexible approach to work arrangements “could actually help us decenter work, just slightly, from its place of prominence in our world.”To offer such a vigorous schedule of events to talk about these issues, From Day One now has a team of 18 full- and part-time employees who’ve developed diverse areas of expertise in finding inspiring speakers, developing an engaged audience, staging well-run events, and helping sponsors grow their businesses.What’s next? From Day One is planning a rich assortment of live and virtual events for the rest of 2023 and all through 2024, including a conference next week in our neighbor borough of Manhattan. We hope you’ll join us for the next chapters of our story.Steve Koepp is From Day One’s chief content officer. 

Stephen Koepp | September 20, 2023
Are You an HR Leader Who Can’t Say No? Then Maybe This Book Is for You

If setting boundaries is the right thing for your mental health, then why is it so hard to do? With all the demands on HR professionals in recent years, burnout has become a major problem. With good timing, author and playwright Kara Cutruzzula has come along with Do It (Or Don’t): A Boundary-Creating Journal, the third in her series on personal motivation. The book is rich with insights about why we hestitate to say no, how to do it gracefully, and when to know when it’s probably the best answer. In an email interview, From Day One asked her about the key lessons in her new book: Q. Why are we afraid of saying no? Is it mostly about being superstitious about missing an opportunity, or FOMO, or just not wanting to hurt people's feelings?We don’t say no to certain opportunities or people because it’s either uncomfortable, we don’t want to disappoint someone, or we think our future selves are magically less busy than our present-day selves, and a new obligation will somehow be manageable. These are valid reasons! Yet I would argue, in nearly all cases, the few minutes of feeling itchy and anxious before saying “no” are vastly preferable to giving a reluctant “yes” and then feeling resentful. It's almost always kinder to give a quick “no” than a half-hearted “yes.”Q: What are the hardest invitations to say no to?A person with a full calendar says “no” faster than a person who can fit almost anything into their schedule. Sometimes we accept invitations or opportunities because that specific time slot might be open at the moment, but we shouldn’t consider our time as “free” simply because an offer is extended. Getting clear on where you prefer to spend your time before the invitation comes your way makes it easier to deliberate what’s worth that time–or isn’t.Q. Many people in the HR profession have been suffering burnout after all they’ve endured while leading people through crisis after crisis since 2020. Do you have any advice for them about not trying to solve everyone’s problems–or how to set limits?Can you look at what is actually being asked of you, and then at what you have decided to give? We all want to achieve and, often, overachieve, and can forget that going above and beyond is not sustainable. Giving exactly what you are able to give in the moment can be the answer, even if that changes day to day or week to week. It’s kinder to yourself and the people you are trying to serve.Q. Being a good team player is highly valued in business these days, but how can workers set limits and still be regarded as a collaborative colleague?Communication is the holy grail. If you’re not going to be available one afternoon, tell someone. If your colleague’s non-urgent 8 a.m. Slack messages cast a pall over your morning, tell them–or don’t look at the messages until you’re ready to respond. Respect your own boundaries and remember that you have a choice over what you let into your day. And when you are working with a colleague, give them your full attention–the goal is to continue giving an unequivocal “yes” to wherever you are and whatever you’re working on at the moment, so that we can all do our best work together.Q. It’s easy to say yes quickly, but harder to craft a suitable no. What’s your advice about not procrastinating with an answer?Faster is kinder. Consider all the times you’ve reached out to someone with a favor or request. Getting a quick “no” might sting for a moment–then you move on. Waiting to hear back, however, ratchets up anxiety and can affect your other plans. If you know it's a “no,” say so right away. And if you're debating whether it's a “no,” here’s a hint: It probably should be.Q. Could you give us an example or two of ways to say no, but in a way that doesn't close the door on a relationship?We all have many things on our plates, and sometimes it’s fine to simply say that: I'm sorry that it’s a busy time right now so I won’t be able to join you / take advantage of this opportunity / work together on this project, but I hope you’ll keep me in mind of the future. That’s it.I also love to recommend other people, friends, and colleagues for opportunities. While you're politely declining, take one minute to think, “Do I know anyone who would love to say ‘yes’ to this?,” and then pass along their name. Share the wealth.Q. A lot of times we might say yes to an opportunity, then have regrets as the obligation approaches, but then it turns out we’re glad we did it for reasons we didn’t expect. Does this familiar sequence of emotions tell us anything about how to figure out how to make decisions?This happens so often! We dread going to an event yet meet a new and interesting person or make a business contact. Though I’d say this happens rarely. There are events and opportunities that pull us in, and those that push us away. If you have to force yourself to do something, and it goes well–fantastic! But was it really worth the days of “Should I cancel? Can I rope in someone else to go with me?” Why settle for that feeling, when we have the option to actually look forward to what’s on our calendars, instead of hoping a few items will magically disappear?Q. You describe in the book how to set boundaries by establishing the priorities you want to fence off from interference. What’s a good way to get started thinking about that?In recent months, I found myself blaming a few culprits as reasons why I wasn’t “doing what I wanted to do.” But when I looked at the boundaries I had created–or rather hadn't–around certain projects, I noticed there were zero fences or borders. My day would get chopped up into slivers by others, and it was entirely my fault. I was boundary-less. So you must start by answering the question: Where do I actually want to spend my time? Chunk off a section of your day, whether that’s 15 minutes or four hours, and actually make it a priority. Your boundaries will become a lot easier to maintain.Q. Does it help to make some commitments for yourself that you just won’t allow to be interfered with, like an appointment with a friend, therapist, or physical trainer? How does that pay dividends larger than the appointment itself?Author and playwright Kara Cutruzzula (Photo courtesy of the author)When we go to the dentist, we’re at the mercy of the dentist. Your time becomes your dentist’s time. But you can and should treat commitments to yourself with similar diligence. This isn’t about being harder on yourself. It’s the opposite: you are giving yourself the same focus and concentration as you would someone else. They’re worth it, but you’re worth it too. Q. People flake out on other people all the time, but you offer guidelines on how to “flake with grace.” Why is this OK to do, and an example of how to do it?Flaking is sometimes unavoidable, but there are ways to make it hurt less. Do it quickly, and do it with kindness. The most uncomfortable part of flaking isn’t saying, “Sorry I can’t do this after all,” but rather the billowing silence that preambles the flaking. When you know you can’t follow through, just be honest and tell the other person right away. Q. To be good at boundary-tending, one needs to respect other people’s boundaries as well. Your book offers some good advice about making the now-notorious request to “pick someone’s brain.” What should we keep in mind when asking someone for that kind of favor?Imagine a person texts you and asks if you'd like to go to a concert somewhere in a nearby state at some point in the future. They don’t explain the type of music or when or where; it's a vague, open-ended question. You wouldn’t know how to respond because you don’t have details. The same thing happens when you ask to “pick someone’s brain.” The other person doesn't have enough information to respond with a “yes” or “no,” which is why so many brain-picking requests are met with silence or long-delayed responses. So get specific! Do the work for them. What do you actually want to know? Why might they have the answer to your questions? Layer in these details in your request upfront and the person on the other end will be able to evaluate their own boundaries–and give you their own definitive yes or no.Q. How does this new book fit into your trilogy of books?Do It For Yourself is designed to help you work through a big project with reflective prompts and strategies on getting started and overcoming obstacles. Do It Today has more intensive activities like embracing percolation rather than productivity, and sharing the gifts that only you have to share. Do It (or Don't) is pinpointing a major issue: the feeling in our lives that there is too much to do and not enough time in which to do all of it. It encourages you to draw new lines around your time and energy to, ultimately, make it easier to do your most meaningful work.Q. And finally, we all need to rest. But sometimes, it’s complicated. What’s your advice about being more deliberate about this?Honestly, I’m bad at resting! I just worked for most of the weekend. But giving yourself an end date is always helpful. Maybe this is a busy period of your life and you have to accept that. Yet there is always some time on the horizon that you can look forward to–maybe it’s next quarter, or next year or, miraculously, next weekend. Build that into your schedule as downtime and be as strict with that boundary as you are with your other boundaries.Steve Koepp is From Day One’s chief content officer.(Featured image by MicrovOne/iStock by Getty Images)

Stephen Koepp | September 19, 2023
How HR Leaders Can Use Data and Insights to Influence the C-Suite

When it comes to people analytics, HR leaders know they need to get up to speed. According to an Oracle survey from 2021, less than 30% of HR professionals say they’re good or very good at making positive changes using people data. Yet HR is now a part of the C-suite in many organizations, and in most, the department officially has the attention of the executives and the boardroom.“I think CEOs intuitively know that you need to have somebody in the room who is focused on people,” said Courtney White, an HR leader at chemical company BASF. “At the same time, there has to be an appreciation for that intelligence in the room.”During From Day One’s August virtual conference on the changing profile of HR leaders, I moderated a discussion among four panelists titled “How HR Leaders Can Use Data and Insights to Influence the C-Suite.” The group agreed on this: HR has to learn to speak the C-suite’s language. That’s things like P&Ls, forecasts, budgets, skills, and efficiency. HR must learn the lingua franca of business.Given its newly expanded role in enterprise, HR is in a better position to do this now than in recent memory. Isobel Lincoln, the SVP of HR for the luxury retail and office developer Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield, likes to invest time in learning other team’s goals. For example, the sales targets of the business development team. “HR can take a step back and look at things holistically and connect across different functions,” she said. White warned of HR’s tendency to focus on people to the neglect of business strategy. “We’ve got to balance some of the emotional intelligence with business intelligence too, because for most HR organizations, they’re non-revenue-generating.” But, he said, HR can learn to pitch the department as an investment, because it does generate a return.How? Rebecca Warren, the director of success for HR tech platform Eightfold, said do the math. If you don’t have the right numbers people on staff in the HR department—people analytics is still an emerging field—ask finance to help. “We can’t just show up at the table and say ‘I want to spend $500,000 on this tool because it’s going to do X.’ We don’t have anything to show, we don’t have a story. We’re not solving a problem,” she explained. The speakers, clockwise from upper left: moderator Emily McCrary-Ruiz-Esparza, Josh Merrill of Confirm, Rebecca Warren of Eightfold, Isobel LIncoln of URW, and Courtney White of BASF (Image by From Day One)For tools, processes, or programs you want to introduce, present them in terms of things like money or time saved, people hired, or even headaches removed. If hiring managers complain that candidates don’t move through the interview process quickly enough, pitch a new scheduling tool along with numbers predicting the results. Warren’s example was this: “Let’s just say we can shave off five days from that interview process, or even three. The cost will be 20 cents per candidate if we hire X number by the end of the year.”Executives also want to know the company is ready for tomorrow and the next day with the right skills in the workplace. This is another way HR is bound to make itself invaluable to the business, said Josh Merrill, the CEO of Confirm, which makes performance management software. Give business leaders a detailed picture of what their workforce is capable of, as Merrill recommended, by way of “organizational network analysis.” Rather than relying on self-reported skills analysis or manager-reported analysis—which, Merrill believes, can be too biased or too unreliable—ask workers whom they go to for help on specific tasks or topics. “If we were to ask the question, ‘Who do you go to for help and advice?’ We could very quickly see, for example, that 12 people go to [one employee] for help with copywriting.” This is how you identify skills the C-suite wants in the workforce now and in the future.HR’s Changing ReputationHR is now a much bigger part of business than it was just a few years ago. That’s an advantage, said Lincoln. “We’re not business owners, but I feel like we’re business brokers. We’re the one department that interacts with everybody, no matter what industry, company size, or location. That influence is really powerful.”But human resources hasn’t always had this reputation, and it still has some old ways it needs to shake off, said Warren. “[The department has] a responsibility to be visible inside the organization, not just as the ‘The Terminator,’ or ‘Oh, no, HR is coming,’ or ‘I’m going to tell HR.’ We need to become a trusted advisor. When we show up, we want people to say ‘They’re here because they’re going to listen, and they’re a partner with me.’”HR Is the Link Between the C-suite and the Company CultureAnother duty of the HR team is to liaise between the C-suite and the people. The C-suite may not be able to see the culture anymore, said White. “You’re the CEO of the organization, and you think you know what's going on, but do you really know? Are you still as relevant as you were when you were working on the shop floor, or when you were in the field? People tell you what they want you to hear versus what may be reality.”Merrill put it like this: “I think that the gap between HR and the C-suite is the story that we tell is not the experience that they’re living.”Warren encouraged HR leaders to become experts on what it’s like to be an employee in the business. “We can get really insulated and spend a lot of time inside our bubble, but we have to get uncomfortable, and we have to learn about things that maybe we don’t want to learn about, and we’ve got to pay attention to things that are happening—then bring those insights, data, and information back inside.”Emily McCrary-Ruiz-Esparza is a freelance journalist and From Day One contributing editor who writes about work, the job market, and women’s experiences in the workplace. Her work has appeared in The Washington Post, Quartz at Work, Fast Company, and Digiday’s Worklife, among others.

Emily McCrary-Ruiz-Esparza | September 19, 2023
The Power Gap Among Labor Unions: Why Some Have New Strength–and Others Don’t

As the United Auto Workers set up picket lines last week outside of plants for General Motors, Ford and Stellantis (maker of Chrysler, Jeep and Dodge), there was a sense of familiarity, of economic history repeating itself. In times past, the UAW would roll up to a contract negotiation with all eight cylinders of its union engine roaring. There were work stoppages, but when the Big Three controlled 80% of the market, the car companies had a lot of sales to lose in enduring a long strike, so they had some willingness to compromise.Since the 1980s, though, the UAW–not to mention the United Steelworkers and other large industrial unions–have been squeezed by the global labor arbitrage that shifted work to Asia. They’ve become fewer in number, less powerful politically and forced into waves of givebacks to keep their jobs. Most galling, for the UAW, was the adoption of a two-tiered wage system—a lower rate for new hires, vs. legacy workers. The scoresheet has not been kind to labor; its share of national income has been in a long decline, one that has accelerated in this century.This year, the wealth and power pendulum has started moving the other way. The post-pandemic reordering of the global supply chain that enriched some U.S. industries–think greedflation–has given the UAW, and a few other unions the chance to muscle up again. They’re seizing the moment to demand a share of that new wealth. This is a workforce that has done everything asked of it during the pandemic to meet the needs of corporations and their customers.Which is making labor more militant, more willing to hit the bricks for better pay and benefits. We're going to see this soon in Las Vegas, where the Culinary Workers Union, 50,000 of them, may strike the major hotels and casinos if there’s no new contract. Las Vegas has been recording record month after record month of revenues since the end of the pandemic, and the unions quite reasonably expect to get a piece of those winnings. Some corporations have acknowledged as much, with the Teamsters winning a big contract with UPS. Likewise, American Airlines just settled with its pilots on a new contract in August, providing a 46% increase in compensation, as “revenge travel” hasn’t slowed. Why wouldn’t you settle with workers if your airline is filling every seat, and facing a pilot shortage over the next decade? Pilots are United and Delta have also settled. That’s the benefit of a healthy economy,  when labor and management each have more to gain than lose.The economy can’t solve every labor issue. In Hollywood, both the Writers Guild of America and the Screen Actors Guild have been on strike for months against the movie studios and the streaming companies. And in warehouses and coffeeshops nationwide, Amazon and Starbucks are fighting bitterly against determined unionization efforts.  Every labor negotiation rests on the extent of the common interests among the two parties. In the UPS negotiation, each side had too much to lose to take a strike. Shippers had already been moving their UPS business to other carriers as talks dragged on. And with drivers now earning more than $100,000 annually in some places, the urge to walk rather than deliver wasn’t strong. So UPS and the Teamsters settled and each can claim victory. This is the same Teamsters union that refused yet more givebacks with foundering Yellow Freight, and allowed the company to go under. Yellow had been in the red for years and the union could not see a way forward. With demand for truckers still high, and Yellow’s assets going on the block, there will still options for its drivers.For the auto companies, business is great but business is also changing rapidly–and that’s where the mutual interests are parting. Detroit has been able to sell every pickup truck it can build, for instance. These are the industry’s most profitable vehicles. How much of that business is worth risking? But the switch from internal combustion engines to EVs has introduced a host of new technologies that is reordering the workplace, and the unions are wary. Transmission plants get replaced by battery plants, for example, and the automakers are placing some of those plant in less union-friendly geographies in the South. The UAW has seen this movie before, when robotics came on the scene and eventually displaced a wide swath of jobs.Yet neither side is playing hardball, it seems. The unions are picketing at three selected plants–one from each automaker, a switch from the days when it would focus attention on one company.  That includes a Stellantis factory in Ohio, for instance, that makes the ever-popular Jeep. The union calls it a “standup strike.” The idea is to get the message across without crippling the entire industry. GM CEO Mary Barra, a lifelong GMer and the daughter of a GM engineer, has tried to keep the temperature low: “If you’re asking for more than the company made, I think that’s not a good position,” Barra said, but added, “I think we’re in a good position to get this done.” The gap remains wide, but that was also the case with UPS and the Teamsters.Technology is also a feature in the Hollywood strike by creatives against the studios and streamers. The actors and writers see AI technology being used to deprive them of earnings and intellectual property. Talks stalled, but there is still talk. Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav tried to spread optimism, telling analysts: “We are just hopeful as a company, and I am very hopeful, that we can get that resolved. If we can get it resolved soon, then the long-term impact will be minimized.” But that optimism sounded a bit scripted, given that Warner has been willing to take a $500 million hit to earnings during the strike, and Zazlov’s lavish pay packet, $285 million over the last two years, has further impassioned workers over lavish media CEO pay.The dissonance could not be any greater in the case of Starbucks and Amazon, whose founders still exert a powerful influence on labor relations, leading to conflict. For Starbucks former CEO and chairman Howard Schultz, the battle with unions has been particularly difficult. Schultz, who grew up working class in Brooklyn, is a progressive. Starbucks pays well and has good benefits. He cares about the workforce, so he can’t understand why workers would want a union. He believes that he’s in the right position to know what they need, moreso than a union. But his view is from the top down. From that vantage point, understanding the workers’ point is view is difficult–very few business owners can do it. Henry Ford had the same stance–and his hired goons’ violent confrontation with union organizers was a turning point in UAW history.At Amazon, founder Jeff Bezos built a company by being a control freak over costs and operations and trained his senior managers that way. Unions represent a threat to that control mantra. And threatens to bring higher costs. Workers, for their part, see themselves as dehumanized labor inputs within Amazon’s system, not people. So the fight goes on, in both companies.The capital vs. labor issues this year are unique to their time–an economic situation unlike we’ve ever experienced and rapid technological developments that are rearranging traditional conflicts. The path to labor peace in the auto industry, then, may require these two old adversaries to bring more imagination and innovation to the negotiating table.  Bill Saporito is an editor at large at Inc. magazine. Previously, worked as an assistant managing editor at Time magazine and as a senior editor at Fortune.(Featured photo: United Auto Workers members walk the picket line at the Ford Michigan Assembly Plant in Wayne, Mich., on Sept. 18, 2023. AP Photo/Paul Sancya) 

Bill Saporito | September 19, 2023
Boosting Employee Mental Health By Building A Stronger Financial Future

In the U.S. today, inflation and high interest rates have exacerbated many people’s financial woes. Many Americans are dipping into their savings to pay their current expenses, rather than saving for the future.Financial stress can directly impact an employee’s mental and physical health as well as interpersonal relationships. The implications of such stress can be dire.In response, companies and leaders need to show their support in easing these concerns. During a From Day One webinar titled “Mind over Money: Boosting Employee Mental Health by Reducing Their Financial Stress,” From Day One contributing editor and journalist Emily McCrary-Ruiz-Esparza hosted leaders in a discussion on financial well-being and how companies can help build financially secure futures for their employees.How Financial Stress Appears in the WorkplaceIn the workplace, internal struggles with money can come up in various ways. In a study by Morgan Stanley, researchers found employees burdened by financial concerns are nine times more likely to have troubled relationships with coworkers and are twice as likely to be searching for a new job.In the U.S., nearly a third of employees stated their financial concerns have directly impacted their work productivity. “These employees are struggling with presenteeism,” Kerry Symon, director of clinical partnerships at mental health solution company Spring Health said. “If they’re dealing with stress on debt, or staying out of debt, they’re not focused on work or on the culture.”Emily McCrary-Ruiz-Esparza moderated the conversation between Stephanie Denton of Northstar and Kerry Symon of Spring Health (photo by From Day One)For employees with financial concerns, poor health can often follow. PwC’s financial wellness survey found 56% of employees said their financial concerns negatively impact their sleep, with 44% stating it had also impacted their physical health as well. “When employees are trying to cope with financial stress, they are more likely to have digestive issues, headaches, depression, heart disease, high blood pressure, anxiety, and are more susceptible to getting sick,” Symon added.These health issues not only increase absences but can cause employees to further lose opportunities to connect with their coworkers. “When they’re not at work, they’re not connecting with their co-workers,” Symon said. “If they’re not going out to lunch with them because of their fear of spending money, this makes them feel more isolated and can exacerbate the levels of depression.”Supporting Employees Financially Through BenefitsTo help employees alleviate their financial stress, leaders can lean on their benefits. In addition to common benefits like mental health benefits and paid leave, companies can offer targeted financial benefits that are more tailored to their employee needs.“Transportation benefits, tuition reimbursement, child care assistance are all great benefits to add,” Stephanie Denton, director of people and talent at financial wellness program Northstar, said. “If you have an office in New York, which can be expensive to get to and from places, you can pay for transportation perks. You really want to make sure that the benefits that you do offer reflect what your employee population needs.”Along with traditional retirement matching and company stock options, employees are seeking more benefits that support them directly financially. A study on employees’ well-being discovered that nearly 75% of employees state they aren’t satisfied with their company’s financial benefits and aren’t utilizing them. For companies and leaders, this not only means wasted resources but an immediate need to upgrade and reevaluate their offerings.“You want to meet employees where they are in their financial journey because everyone has a different level of financial knowledge. You want to make sure that whatever solution you’re providing meets all of those needs,” Denton said. “If [the information] is too much or too little for what they need or if it's not going to help them, employees will disengage immediately.”For cases like this, Denton recommends companies work with a financial wellness partner like Northstar that provides one-on-one advisor services to employees to help them make smart, financial decisions.“Most people don't have financial advisors that they can talk to. If you are not understanding the impact of the decisions that you’re making financially, you could have potentially bigger issues to navigate further down the line,” Denton said. “Having the professional come in to talk can help navigate that because they're getting to know you personally. These [advisors] can help them guide you to make decisions that make the most sense for you for your specific situation.”Editor’s note: From Day One thanks our partners, Northstar and Spring Health, for sponsoring this webinar. Wanly Chen is a writer and poet based in New York City.

Wanly Chen | September 18, 2023
Quantifying Care: How E4E Relief Is Making a Difference in Emergency Financial Relief

“This grant was a ray of light,” declared a worker who received emergency financial relief after a recent natural disaster. “The stress that comes with this is terrible, and this is the first time in my life that I’ve felt like somebody cares.” The worker, quoted by E4E Relief, a nonprofit that helps employers support workers in times of crisis, spoke for many of his colleagues as well. “Every time there is a hurricane and a business has to close down for a couple of days, employees, who are often living paycheck-to-paycheck, lose their scheduled hours and income.”Testimonials like this are abundant among recipients of emergency financial relief, yet companies who partner with programs like E4E Relief’s want to quantify the impact of their investment. With that in mind, E4E has launched a new program, ImpactStack, to conduct industry-leading research to quantify the incidental business outcomes of the financial relief work that their team has carried out for more than 20 years. The impact stretches across a range of social and business metrics that matter regardless of industry, geography, demographic, or crisis. The insights are then integrated into business intelligence that provides companies with insights about the outcomes that key stakeholders achieve through financial relief.Holly Welch Stubbing, E4E Relief’s president and CEO, says the new research confirms the significant impact of their program: “81% of grant recipients regained financial stability. 54% experienced improved mental well-being. 70% said that it helped them return to or maintain productivity at work. 52% said that they had increased engagement [at work], and 76% had a more positive perception of their employer.”From Day One recently interviewed Welch Stubbing to get an inside look at how ImpactStack collects and analyzes information about relief recipients at a time when employees need additional support for a multiplicity of reasons, including climate disasters, geopolitical disruptions, and economic conditions. Excerpts:Q: What is ImpactStack, and how did E4E Relief get started with it? How does it work?A: ImpactStack is our proprietary framework, insights, and business intelligence associated with providing the social and business outcomes of grants to individuals. Holly Welch Stubbing of E4E Relief shared insights from their recently launched program, ImpactStack (company photo)During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, when our volume went up as companies really started grasping employee relief, we started doing outcomes-based research. While it was arguably a crazy time to launch, it also was a great time to launch from the standpoint of trying to assess need. We needed to know if the money being sent was really making a difference. I suspected it was, since we already had a lot of qualitative information from our grantees. We had stories and hundreds of notes, handwritten or sent via email, where people would articulate what happened to them and thank our team. However, I wanted that to be something quantitative and something we could make available to the companies we’re working with to show the outcomes of their philanthropic investment.I have been in the foundation world for 27 years, and the conversation is constantly, are our grants making a difference? How are we investing in these institutions to drive out a set of outcomes? Trying to ensure those institutions have the capacity, resources, and technology is extremely complicated and difficult. In our work, we have a real chance of getting real information from people who are receiving these grants. And so I thought, could we design something that meets the quantitative expectations of companies? And could we make that available in the form of insights as part of our solution? So in June, that’s what we did, and we expanded on the surveys we created, which had a focus on financial well-being, to map outcomes based on criteria that Fortune 500 clients would recognize. We wanted them to immediately see the relevance and understand the significance of the impact.Q: Were there any surprises in the data about impact?A: I was surprised at how high some of these scores were, particularly in our productivity results. 70% of our grant recipients were able to maintain productivity at work. And 54% ─ more than half the people we are granting to ─ have an improved mental state. That’s something. I expected engagement to be higher. The deeper you go into the social outcomes data ─ the housing, food, demographic data ─ that’s where there will be additional insights. And while that data isn’t available to our corporate partners yet, we’re working on it because it’s important and it shows a lot.Q: How does ImpactStack support E4E Relief’s goals and company philosophy?A: It’s central to who we are. Employee relief programs continue to gain importance, and organizations are trying to decide if it’s something they want to stack into their mix of workforce offerings. It’s hard to justify those investments without really understanding, ‘What is this doing?’ My hope is that, as our organization evolves and as we get more information, we can then provide a set of insights about what it looks like to be a financial first responder. There are all kinds of studies going on around meaningful support for the low to moderate income worker. And in the midst of natural disasters and the severity of all of these climate events now, companies feel like they need to do something. We’re providing support for personal hardships from these experiences, but also providing the C-Suite a readiness plan and a solution for when disaster strikes the next time so they don’t have to adjudicate this in the middle of the crisis. Support is already there.Q: How do you ensure insights found through ImpactStack are effectively communicated, and how do you use the information to refine the program?A: ImpactStack is now a part of our product, so every new company coming in is going to have access to it. For existing customers, we’ve launched it several different ways, including customer meetings and webinars.But the latter part of that question is what we’re really interested in. How do we evolve our processes and decisions based on what we’re seeing? We’re very new to that. And this will be part of our journey for the rest of time. But for the moment, we have new information and new insights unique to our market, and we will hold onto that and then expand on it. But for now, I think our outcome data offers enough to give people a sense of what they need to start having strategic conversations. We recently met with a very large Fortune 15 organization, and after meeting, they left with the information needed to justify a significant investment in the program. That’s as good a response as you can get from a company of that scale. We have our central purpose as a social enterprise and continue to think about additional layers. But there’s enough information here right now, even today, just from insights alone to get these conversations rolling.Q: ​​Do you have a quantifiable sense that we are facing more disasters today than ever before, and at the same time, socioeconomic situations where people are disproportionately affected?A: We’ve pulled together the drivers in the framework of climate change, geopolitics, and economic conditions. Imagine placing this concept on a chart: In the center, we have the conditions, while on the outer layer, we examine their individual impact and their implications for both businesses and the broader sustainable development goals, especially for those companies invested in ESG (environmental, social, and governance) principles. We also built the research and the platform to meet the reporting requirements for ESG and corporate citizenship standards. So for big companies who really care about ESG considerations, the hope is that our data is accessible. Outcomes data of this kind can be hard to procure. Some believe we have made it much easier for companies to track “S”-related outcomes.We have data on disasters and the activity around them, and also the economic conditions in the U.S., with a focus on the utilization of credit, which is being used at the highest rate ever seen. We have all these connecting points and trends that we’re seeing to bring to thought leaders and continue having these conversations.Q: Your website offers many testimonials from grant recipients. Are there any specific stories or situations you’d like to shed light on? One that was particularly impactful?A: A relevant and impactful one is from the wildfires happening in Hawaii. It’s devastating, with the loss of life and homes. We’ve heard that one company has lost an employee, and 65 employees are now without homes. That’s a lot to process. There’s a group here that’s trying to work through it with them. Here’s a quote from them:“Our peaceful community was swept by the wildfire unleashed by Hurricane Dora. Our home, a sanctuary to my family for the past three years, turned to ashes in the blink of an eye. With evacuation orders, we fled, leaving behind everything. The fire took everything from us, but not our hope. Our family of four is now staying with friends searching for a new beginning. Basic necessities like food, water, and clothing have become urgent priorities. We are resilient. With your support, we can rebuild our lives in our community.”That’s powerful.Another example that comes to mind is the war in Ukraine. For most people and companies, it was a surprise that left no time to figure out a path for relief. And when you have banking systems that have shut down, and you have people fleeing, literally fleeing for their lives, we had to figure out how to get payments securely to individuals. It was difficult to get relief there, but we figured it out. As you can imagine, not every disaster affects every company, and it doesn’t hit every company the same way. I’m proud to work with the talented team at E4E Relief. They are committed to stepping up and navigating each client situation with compassion so that we can deliver emergency financial relief to individuals around the world.Editor’s note: From Day One thanks our partner, E4E Relief, for sponsoring this sponsor spotlight.Erin Behrens is a member of the editorial staff of From Day One.Featured photo: Volunteers make food and supply deliveries to elderly residents impacted by the devastating wildfire in last month in Lahaina, Hawaii. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

Erin Behrens | September 15, 2023
The Four Vital Ways for Managers to Be More Effective

Would you enthusiastically recommend your boss to another worker? Would you say they’re an effective manager? Most people wouldn’t. In a survey, only 28% of employees said they would strongly recommend their managers to others, while 14% would not recommend them at all. This is a chronic problem for employers, since workers with effective managers measurably thrive on the job, while those with ineffective ones languish. The impact to the bottom line can be substantial. The good news is that managers aspire to be more skilled in their jobs. But companies will have to step up: Only 29% of managers say their company gives them the training and support to be a better people leader. The solution is for companies to invest more in understanding what makes good managers and investing in their development, according to Caitlin Nobes, the author of a new report, “The Foundations of Manager Effectiveness,” published by Achievers, an employee recognition and engagement platform. The report illuminates how manager effectiveness drives business results, identifies four factors of management effectiveness that provide the most beneficial effects, and suggests concrete ways to give managers the leadership development they need to do a better job.Why isn’t this all part of corporate culture already? “I think there’s a gap between what organizations are able to do to support their managers and what managers actually want and need, as well as a gap between what HR thinks they are giving, and what managers feel they are getting,” said Nobes, lead analyst for Achievers, in an interview with From Day One. “I think this report is really crucial for saying to HR and business leaders: We’re missing the boat.”Why Is This Problem So Pressing Right Now? “I think that being a manager has always been challenging. And I think that it has been underestimated because it has always been seen as just part of most career paths. When you get far enough in your career, you start managing people. That was the pattern,” Nobes said.Caitlin Nobes, lead analyst and senior content marketing manager for Achievers (Company photo)Insufficient training for managers was almost a tradition, but only recently did the effects become so glaring, thanks to the pandemic, the racial-justice movement, and other social factors. A study from Workday and Red Thread Research found that manager effectiveness has declined since 2020. “In the last four years, we have seen the world of work get a lot more complicated,” Nobes said. “Many managers suddenly had this remote-work piece added on, with your team in their own homes–and you have to manage them effectively from your own home,” Nobes said. “All of these are complicating factors for managers who are still under a lot of pressure to meet performance objectives. I think we have managers who are potentially more aware of some of those other factors affecting their teams, but aren’t always clear on how to help address them.”How Manager Effectiveness Can Be Measured   The concept of a net promoter score (NPS), which measures the willingness of a customer to recommend a product or business, can be applied to managers as well. An mNPS survey asks workers whether they’d recommend their boss, with their sentiment ranked on a scale of promoter to neutral to detractor. That sentiment is a powerful indicator. “The performance gap between those that would recommend their managers and those who would not is huge,” the Achievers report said. The promoters, it turns out, are many times more likely to be engaged in their work, to have a strong sense of belonging, to feel committed to their job, and to say they’re productive at work. What Makes a Manager EffectiveManager effectiveness is the degree to which people leaders engage and motivate their team, as Achievers defines it. Four elements stand out in the survey data as being impressive drivers of manager effectiveness, the report says:     •Contact: My manager supports my success through regular 1:1 meetings.     •Recognition: My manager regularly provides me with recognition that makes me feel valued.     •Coaching: My manager provides me with guidance that helps me to be more effective in my role.     •Professional development: My manager supports my personal and professional development goals.When employees say their manager is good at one of these, it doubles the likelihood that they would recommend their manager. When all four are present, mNPS scores almost triple, the report says.Of those four elements, most managers can put the first three into action on their own initiative. But the fourth, professional development, “is probably the only of the four factors that a manager cannot do on their own,” Nobes said. “A great manager in an OK company–that great manager can give recognition, can be a coach, can have great one-to-one meetings, but they can’t provide career growth and professional development without buy-in from their own manager or from HR. So, I think that is really a key area of support.”The Training That Managers Need from Their EmployersTo become more effective, managers need a mandate to take the time to train themselves, as well as to pass along that value to their workers. The Achievers report recommends structuring manager training on a quarterly basis to provide a long-term framework. And companies should provide managers “with frequent touch points to remind them that part of their job is to upskill in this area,” Nobes said. “I think it’s very easy to get focused on metrics and to say, ‘Are we producing enough widgets?’ Or, ‘I really need to write that report this week, so I'm not going to do that LinkedIn Learning course that I bookmarked because I’m just too busy.’ We prioritize the short term, because that’s what feels urgent. So you need to have regular reminders to managers that a medium- to long-term view is also important–that you need to block out an hour a week, or two hours a week, to train yourself.”Middle Managers: Where the Impact Can Be Immediate“The idea of building a culture of recognition with managers first, I think is very powerful,” Nobes said. Achievers data shows that recognition can create a virtuous cycle: managers who recognize their workers frequently inspires their employees to do likewise, creating peer recognition as well. Robes describes this as a “middle-out” approach, rather than top-down. “Starting with your middle managers, they’re the frontline, the people who really can have an immediate impact on somebody’s day to day.”By contrast, “your CEO, your C-suite can make a decision, but it will probably take months for that to be felt at the frontline. But if you can get your manager to just think, ‘If I recognize every employee once a month, and start paying attention to that, I can have a pretty immediate impact,” Nobes said.No manager-effectiveness program is going to make every boss a dynamo of leadership, but just bringing the weak or average managers up to the next level can have a major impact on a workforce, Nobes said. “That’s huge internally. Those are more engaged employees. You’re getting discretionary effort, they’re not job-hunting as much. The ripple effect of investing in manager empowerment is so impactful.”Why a Sense of Belonging Is So ImportantAmong the four elements of manager effectiveness, “employees’ sense of belonging at work is the ultimate driver of individual and business performance,” says the report. Research by the Achievers Workforce Institute (AWI), the company’s research arm, has identified five measurable and actionable pillars of belonging: being welcomed, known, included, supported and connected. “Each of these pillars individually doubles the likelihood that an employee feels a strong sense of belonging and in combination, all five together triple an employee’s overall sense of belonging in the workforce,” the report said.“When people feel like they belong, it’s so powerful,” Nobes said. “It’s this feeling of acceptance and comfort and security. If you can create that experience for your employees, then you will have better business results on every metric that matters. When we think about how to drive belonging, we have these five pillars. The idea is that ‘belonging’ can sound very tenuous and eyebrow-raising, like, what does it even mean? So when you break it down to these five pillars that are pretty actionable, then HR and managers feel empowered.”The questions that managers should ask themselves about their workers include, Do they feel known? Are they sharing parts of themselves? And do people remember things about them? Nobes offered a personal example. “You know, I'm a big reader. And I have talked to a few people about books. Somebody on my team said, ‘I need a new summer read. What would you recommend?’ I felt so known. Like, ‘Oh yeah, I can help you, I would love to recommend a book for you.’”Glass Ceilings All the Way UpWhile the Achievers report diagnosed inadequate manager training across the board, it identified a particular support gap: gender discrepancies in manager empowerment. According to AWI research, men are 26% more likely than women to say they manage people in their role and men are 22% more likely than women to say they have a professional-development plan. Once women make it to an initial management position, they are less likely to be promoted beyond middle management, partly because of a lack of support that Nobes calls “glass ceilings all the way up.”“You break the glass ceiling, and you’re so happy and proud to have reached this level. And then you’re like, Okay, well, what’s next for me? And you look up, and there’s another glass ceiling.” Overall in corporate America, the result is that middle management has become more diverse, but the progress stalls in the higher ranks of leadership. Said the report: “If your pipeline to senior leadership is leaky, it’s time to step back and assess the overall process. How are succession plans developed and who gets shoulder-tapped for stretch assignments or fast-tracked promotion? … Remember, women in management are more likely than men to leave, whether for greener pastures or due to life pressures. Retaining managers from marginalized groups needs to be a top priority for companies focused on diversity, equity, and inclusion at every level of the organization.”Editor’s note: From Day One thanks our partner, Achievers, who sponsored this story. (Featured photo by FatCamera/iStock by Getty Images)Steve Koepp is From Day One’s co-founder and chief content officer. 

Stephen Koepp | September 14, 2023
The Growing Need for Family-Care Support and Its Impact on Employees

Angelina Shamborska had no clue where to start. Her mother, living in Ukraine, had just been diagnosed with challenging health issues and needed her help. “Imagine dealing with that amount of stress and the unknown,” Shamborska said.Ironically, Shamborska is the senior director of global benefits at San Francisco-based IT company Okta, but providing family-care support to its employees was new to them. And she was about to experience the benefits firsthand.In a fireside chat at From Day One’s webinar, “The Economic Impact of Family-Care Support: A Case Study,” Shamborska discussed what it’s been like working with Grayce, a company providing family-care support for Okta and many other companies. Julia Cohen Sebastien, CEO and co-founder of Grayce, joined the discussion, speaking to the value of family-care support and its impact on employees.Trending: Caregiving BenefitsWhen trying to attract and retain top talent, competitive salary and benefits including medical and retirement options are crucial. But there is a growing segment of benefit options that employees are asking for: caregiving benefits.With the sandwich generation balancing both childcare and aging parent care, caregiving can feel like a full time job, often leaving people with no choice but to leave their job. Employees need support, and employers need innovative solutions.Part of Shamborska’s role at Okta is to analyze health care and employee well-being trends, and she quickly picked up on the trending topic of caregiving. “The landscape, especially in the U.S., is highly evolving,” she said. “By 2030, about one in five people in the US will be older than 65.”That’s significant in terms of impact on healthcare, and companies need to consider those aging needs when updating medical plans. But companies should also think about this: their employees will likely be caring for aging loved ones. The truth is, it’s already trending.“Caregiving support was a top-three ask from my employees,” Shamborska explained, sourcing surveys, focus groups, and employee resource groups. Third only to 401k matching and employee recognition. From her own research and employee feedback, it was obvious that Okta needed to offer family-care support to its 6,000 global employees. But how and what exactly?That’s where Grayce came in. Founded right before Covid hit, its expert consultants are dedicated to helping people navigate their unique caregiving situations. Consultants have master’s level training in social work or similar fields, and they’ve worked a number of years with relevant populations, many of them around the globe. Grayce offers a combination of services in terms of care planning, concierge support, technology solutions, community connection, tools, and trackers.“Among all of Grayce’s new clients, about a third of the care scenarios we’re supporting are people caring for other types of adults or loved ones,” Cohen Sebastien said. Some of the highest claimants are cancer, kidney disease, cardiovascular, complex mental health, and more. Each one of those requires caregiving, but people aren’t sure of their options.Journalist Kelly Bourdet, bottom right, moderated the discussion among Cohen Sebastien and Shamborska (photo by From Day One)Shamborska found herself in that situation when her mom was diagnosed. “The consultant at Grayce has been just an absolute lifesaver. It was a complicated, international case,” she explained. “I felt absolutely confident with the information that was provided. They were able to find a place for my mother and hospice care. It was a very hard journey, so having that support was immeasurable.”Impact on EmployeesCaregiving can be a lonely venture, and it can cause a lot of stress. As Cohen Sebastien explained, caregivers have an 8-10% higher medical cost than non-caregivers, and many caregivers end up in poor health as a result of burnout.What do you do if you think your mother might have dementia? Or your sibling needs surgery and requires your help during recovery, but you don’t know how long that will last or what you’ll need to do for them? This has a direct impact on the caregiver’s emotions and their work life. The idea behind offering family-support benefits is to provide the best possible information and resources so that not only the loved one is cared for, but also the employee.Even though Shamborska went through a tough situation with her mom, because of Grayce the transition was much smoother. Besides some travel time, she didn’t have to devote much time figuring out the next steps and all the intricacies of caregiving overseas. That gave her peace of mind in a time of hardship.“A huge aspect of Grayce’s value is support for the caregiver themselves,” Shamborska added. “I was eternally grateful for Grayce and their team supporting me. But I’m hearing the same story from the people that we support. And I’m very proud that at Okta, we send a very strong signal that we support our employees as they care for their loved ones. Again, we want to make sure that they’re productive, they’re present, that they’re effective. But we do also care, we want to ensure that they feel good, and we have the tools and resources we are able to offer to them.”This personal touch has had an impact. Grayce did a study with all of the eligibility data that was available for 10,000+ employees they cover. What they saw was that of those that had access to and used the Grayce program, they had 38% lower attrition than all of those who had access to Grayce who did not use the solution. That’s good news for employers who want to keep top talent, but it’s also good news for employees—who, with family-support benefits, feel supported, less stressed, and stay in their careers.“We’ve seen 98% reporting gains in productivity, typically of a week or more,” Cohen Sebastien said. “And we’ve also seen that about half 49% have said that it’s reduced their need to take leave.” Now that’s a much better trend.Editor’s note: From Day One thanks our partner, Grayce, for sponsoring this webinar. Carrie Snider is a Phoenix, Ariz.-based journalist and marketing copywriter. 

Carrie Snider | September 13, 2023