Overcome Stubborns

Enhancing Manager Effectiveness With Transparency, Technology, and Leadership Development

Creating transparency and trust within a company allows for employees to feel trust with managers, but how can companies measure management success and continue to improve their impact on employees? In an executive panel discussion, leaders at From Day One’s Austin conference spoke about “Manager Effectiveness: Defining It, Measuring It, and Improving It.”“You have to really be able to be transparent. You have to be able to be authentic and be willing to not know all the answers and rely and trust your team to help you get things done,” said Patrick Felder, senior vice president of employee success at Salesforce.Using AI as a Tool“2024 is all about AI,” said Arun Serikar, vice president of digital human resources at Schneider Electric, who uses tools like Microsoft Copilot and ChatGPT in his role as a manager. Serikar says AI allows for more efficiency for meeting notes, scheduling and synthesizing information from meetings.AI however functions off of available data which means that in order for the system to function effectively, you need to ensure that the system has the knowledge, articles and information before deploying it.Ricardo Galan, vice president of diversity, inclusion and talent experience at QBE, says his company uses AI to train managers on skills such as how to facilitate difficult conversations. “Our HR department cannot go to every single leader and teach them how to have a difficult convocation, but AI can actually help you practice in a safe environment,” Galan said.For companies with thousands of employees, it can be difficult to reach each person and give each of them the necessary training and workshops but implementing AI tools can help streamline these processes.Companies like Salesforce overlook over 30,000 team members, many of which are based in India. Salesforce created its own AI virtual agent called Agentforce, a competitor to Microsoft Copilot. Within the company however, leaders use a separate tool called the manager 360 dashboard which allows them to access all of their team’s data, offers suggestions and provides summaries.Panelists spoke about "Manager Effectiveness: Defining It, Measuring It, and Improving It," in a session moderated by Tom Miller, morning anchor at KXAN“The idea is, to continue to build better leaders you have to give them all of the relevant information, make sure they understand all the component pieces and then bring that to them at their fingertips within the flow of work,” said Felder.Growing and Developing LeadersLeaders within a company don’t come out of thin air. Leaders like Jennifer Newbill, director of emerging talent at Dell Technologies, have to be able to spot future employees with potential in management and leadership.At Dell, the company has implemented programs around the world where students can rotate throughout the company and learn about different aspects of departments. Throughout these programs, a student’s potential is being measured through observations on whether they exhibit the skills that match existing company values and leadership principles.Haeli Harris, director of clinical operations at Nivati says empathy is also an important skill for leaders to have. “Empathy is a key piece in building trust,” she said.Leaders are natural problem solvers but it’s also an important skill to be good at connecting with employees on a personal level and be able to see when behaviors change and notice when there might be something wrong, says Harris. “We want managers to be able to recognize when people are struggling, and the tools of ‘how do I help them, and how can I be a better manager,’” she said.Training on emotional intelligence can improve relationships between managers and employees. One skill that managers can build is as simple as listening. “Sometimes people don’t want to sit and get advice. They want to be heard,” said Newbill.Learning to become a leader comes with experience and development and hosting workshops can be helpful in boosting the growth of current and potential managers. Salesforce uses a manager training program called Lead India, which aims for the growth of leadership in employees based in India.Over the last few years, Salesforce has expanded their leadership team in India to now over 900 leaders this year, says Felder. With this expansion, Lead India also had to adapt. The training program this year embedded wellness conversations, Indian luminaries to spark inspiration and focused conversations led by leaders.Felder adds that when hiring for a company, leaders should be hiring those who are better than themselves to build a strong team that will carry the company forward. “You really have to be open and make sure that you’re holding folks accountable to hiring better than who they are, because the talent that you need is out there, but leaders sometimes want to hire like themselves, and you've got to push people a little bit harder to think differently about that,” said Felder.Keeping Teams Connected RemotelyAs many companies are now allowing employees to work remotely or hybrid, it can be difficult to maintain the connection between your team compared to an everyday in-person setting. Serikar emphasizes that open communication platforms like Slack or Yammer, now Viva Engage, can be helpful in connecting with employees remotely.Felder, who uses Slack, said he will take videos with recaps of conferences and events to share to his team working offsite. Salesforce also utilizes multiple Slack channels where different teams and groups can connect with each other and maintain communication. Managers can build trust with their employees by opening themselves up to feedback and following up with what is shared.Jennifer Yoshikoshi is a local news and education reporter based in the San Francisco Bay Area.

BY Jennifer Yoshikoshi | November 27, 2024

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The From Day One Newsletter is a monthly roundup of articles, features, and editorials on innovative ways for companies to forge stronger relationships with their employees, customers, and communities.

Overcome Stubborns
By Katie Chambers | November 26, 2024

Evolving a Strong Set of Cultural Values for a Remote Workforce

Pop quiz: What U.S. city currently has the most remote workers? That would be Austin, Texas, with a whopping 24.9% of its workers operating outside of a traditional office environment. Carmen Amara, chief people officer at Yelp, is one of them.While many companies have ordered their employees back to the workplace, others have remained committed to flexibility. During a fireside chat at From Day One’s Austin conference, Amara showed how Yelp develops its remote culture with three elements in mind: What are employees saying about it? What are the business results? And what is the pace of innovation? Plus: How to keep career development at the forefront in a distributed workplace.Responding to the Desire for Remote WorkEven among growing public discourse about the need to return to the office, many workplaces are still noticing a strong desire among employees to stay home post-pandemic. “We are a remote work culture now,” said moderator Ross McCammon, deputy editor at Texas Monthly. “17.9% of workers are remote, a full three times as much remote work as there was before the pandemic.” And Yelp is no exception.“In 2021 we said we were going to be ‘remote first.’ We opened up our office doors and employees voted with their feet. On any given day, we had less than 1% of our employees showing up in an office,” Amara said. Recognizing that remote work was, in fact, working, Yelp went fully remote in 2022.The job market today is different than it was in 2022, when there was heavy competition to attract the top talent and the Great Resignation was in full swing. Now, Amara says, “companies are hiring more selectively” and tenure is lengthening, which means productivity is up, but organizations must work harder to keep longer term employees engaged. We’ve gone from the Great Resignation to what McCammon calls “The Big Stay.”An Intentional Approach to Culture-buildingOne of the biggest concerns facing employers today: Can you create culture in a remote environment? “Yes, you can, but you have to do so with intention,” Amara said. “And it’s not the same playbook, you can’t translate what you were doing in an office environment and just do that at home.” Yelp does it by relying on its longstanding core set of values. “Culture is about the stories that we tell and the values we hold high. That has to be foundational. You have to live by your values. You have to show your values in action. You have to address breaches in your values. And leaders have to walk the talk,” she said.Yelp creates experiences for employees that allow them to feel the organization’s values in their daily work. It’s taken its formerly San Francisco-based employee resource groups global, so all employees can join in the conversations from wherever they are. It also holds awards opportunities tied to the values and select in-person and virtual community service events in cities where there happen to be a lot of what Amara affectionately calls “Yelpers.”Carmen Amara, chief people officer of Yelp, was interviewed during the fireside chatYelp has developed both structured and unstructured storytelling sessions tied to its corporate values and professional development initiatives. Amara herself recently recorded one about authenticity. Leaders and employees at all levels are invited to take part. Sessions are presented live, recorded, and then sent out for later viewing.Re-envisioning the Employee ExperienceAmara says Yelp has relied on employee listening to inform a lot of its actions during and after the pandemic. “We did more specific and targeted surveys and interactions with employees to learn from them, so that we could quickly create the new playbook,” she said, noting that the organization was even more willing to move quickly and learn on the fly while refining the employee experience, rather than waiting for it to be “fully baked” before launch.What came out of the listening sessions was a strong desire for flexibility and the benefits that can help support it–caregiver benefits, mental health benefits, and flexible health and wellness benefits, including a stipend that can be put toward gym memberships, acupuncture, fitness gear, or the like. “It’s about creating a person-first experience,” Amara said.Amara acknowledges that as an HR professional, it can be hard to capture employees’ attention when rolling out cultural changes and benefits opportunities. She suggests “trying to meet people where they are.” Yelp introduced a new framework called Connected by Conversation, which offers six templates of the most impactful conversations leaders can have with employees, such as goal-setting discussions and one-on-ones. “It’s not a script,” Amara said. “We want people to be authentic, but it gives them a menu of options in a two-page outline to enable them to amp up their coaching capabilities.”Addressing “The Big Stay” in a Virtual WorldKnowing that employees are now staying longer in their roles, organizations need to prepare to play the long game. When Yelp went fully remote, it revamped its employee value proposition. “The former proposition talked about what it felt like to walk into a Yelp office,” Amara said. Now, it focuses on “work-life fit,” and hires with an eye toward what sorts of people thrive in a remote working environment. “We look for people who are going to be self-sufficient, who are self-starters, but can also collaborate across geographies,” Amara said. “We tend to include other folks from the team in that interview panel, so that our candidates get a full understanding of what it’s going to feel like to work here.”Without the natural visual and emotional cues of in-office interaction, it can be harder to see if employees are fulfilled and thriving. Yelp uses tools to assist, sending automated reminders to managers to complete regular check-in protocols with employees. “And we're very intentional about creating robust onboarding experiences,” Amara said.Katie Chambers is a freelance writer and award-winning communications executive with a lifelong commitment to supporting artists and advocating for inclusion. Her work has been seen in HuffPost and several printed essay collections, among others, and she has appeared on Cheddar News, iWomanTV, On New Jersey, and CBS New York.

Overcome Stubborns
By Stephanie Reed | November 26, 2024

HR’s Influence on Revenue: Navigating the New Employer-Employee Relationship

Successful organizations that consistently exceed revenue goals thrive by aligning with employee expectations .A thriving company nurtures the employee journey, focusing on various aspects of well-being and engagement to support personal and professional growth.This puts HR leaders at the forefront of helping employers and employees form an evolved relationship where their respective professional goals are more compassionately and collaboratively achieved.During a thought leadership spotlight at From Day One’s Austin conference R.W. Holleman, head of enterprise sales at Rain, a company offering earned wage access programs to employers, spoke on how a holistically symbiotic relationship between employee and employer is crucial to achieving higher revenue goals.Cultivating Authentic Value“We all know the cost of turnover. The impact of disengaged employees and the ripple effect that has on the bottom line, right?” Holleman asked the audience. He elaborated on how companies failing to address the root of modern-day disengagement see a cultural decline that further leads to a decline in revenue.Employees are no longer satisfied with just a paycheck and guaranteed work hours. They seek meaningful support, recognition of their value, and a sense of purpose in their work. Consequently, HR executives confront the limits of traditional talent management. The conventional view that employees are satisfied with consistent financial compensation and set work hours alone is outdated.“You’re not just managing people. You’re shaping your HR and you’re shaping the future of the business,” Holleman said. “If you don’t help with that, the business might not survive, right?”What can employers provide of authentic value? Holleman cited security, flexibility, and belonging as vital to maintaining employee engagement, productivity, and satisfaction. Data from McKinsey & Company confirms this. Companies resolving significant drivers of disengagement, including an unsafe environment and a lack of career advancement and workplace flexibility, can annually save up to $56 million.R.W. Holleman, head of enterprise sales at Rain, led the thought leadership spotlightResolving several major drivers of disengagement supports retention, reduces absenteeism, and boosts productivity. Companies then experience an increase in revenue.A Positive and Supportive CultureThe same study by McKinsey & Company showed that employee disengagement exhibited by workers with lower well-being can cost a median-size company between $228-355 million a year in lost productivity. In 5 years, that adds up to about $1.1 billion in lost value.It underscores how HR executives now occupy a unique position. They can be more influential to companies achieving sustainable financial success through leveraging comprehensive benefits and programs that support employee well-being. Going beyond the scope of traditional HR work is to pioneer the cultivation of positive and supportive modern-day workplace environments conducive to success for employers and employees.One way to foster a positive culture is to consider more inclusive benefits that better support employees’ overall well-being. Inclusive benefits empower workers, contribute significant value to their lives inside and outside the workplace, and help them thrive.For example, Rain gives employees instant access to 50% of their earned wages, providing financial flexibility. This benefit eases the stress of immediate financial burden, helping employees focus more on their careers. The program is also a win for employers because of its simple process: companies who access Rain’s program complete an EWA adjustment file and withhold the accessed wages from employees’ checks.“What makes that powerful? What I’m talking about is not technology or automation, right? It’s about meeting the human need for stability and security,” he said. By authentically addressing employees’ concerns and providing relevant solutions, employees feel more valued, optimistic, engaged, and committed to performing at their best.Other benefits like inclusive healthcare coverage, care benefits, wellness programs, skill development, work projects, and continuing education improve employee well-being and strengthen positive connections between employers and employees. “By recognizing the importance of the human element and giving employees the support they need, you’re not only driving engagement, you’re driving revenue,” he said.Editor’s note: From Day One thanks our partner, Rain, for sponsoring this thought leadership spotlight.Stephanie Reed is a freelance news, marketing, and content writer. Much of her work features small business owners throughout diverse industries. She is passionate about promoting small, ethical, and eco-conscious businesses



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