HP, the tech company, has operations in Wuhan, China, so its managers had an early warning when COVID-19 began affecting business as early as January. Something that struck the company early on was feedback from its employees around the world: caregivers, from parents to grandparents, were struggling as their care arrangements were disrupted by the virus, and it greatly impeded their ability to work.

“Early on we were thinking, What can we do to address the issue right away?, because we were hearing it was coming,” said Luciana Duarte, HP’s global head of employee experience. “Our chief HR officer hosted a webinar where we pulled together three teachers and a home-schooling parent and did a panel discussion with the whole company to just get their questions answered. It was an immediate kind of response.”

Duarte was one of five expert speakers exploring “the Future of Parenthood and Careers: How Will Corporate Culture Evolve,” a panel discussion at From Day One’s virtual conference this week on how employers can offer better support for working parents in the midst of the pandemic. Moderated by Myla Skinner, chief of staff of OneGoal, the speakers tackled issues ranging from the day-to-day challenges of working parents as both employee and caregiver, up to longer-term, transformational changes that Corporate America could make to empower caregivers.

Companies first moved swiftly to address immediate needs that had sprung up. HP listened closely during its webinars to “understand what was most concerning for parents at that time,” said Duarte. “We then created additional tactics to address those issues later on.” The company has since offered gym classes to keep kids engaged and Slack channels for employees that correspond to their children’s age group, among other creative approaches.

Marsh & McLennan, the global insurance giant, built a digital “kid’s corner” to respond to needs that emerged from an employee pulse survey, said Rochelle Rosato, the company’s talent, learning and inclusion leader for the U.S. and Canada. The Marsh Kid’s Korner offers activities and exercises categorized by age groups up to high school, plus yoga and meditation for kids and adults. “Into early May, we began to ask colleagues, What do you actually need now?,” Rosato said. “Rather than one-size-fits all, the needs were so different.” In many cases, the company worked with overwhelmed employees to create more manageable, flexible schedules.

At Ovia Health, a provider of maternity and family benefits, there has been a focus on the managerial staff, according to Gina Nebesar, the company’s co-founder and chief product officer. “We’ll bring in experts to educate the management on how to support employees and how to retain women and working families at this time,” she said. The company is addressing both client and employer needs, offering one-on-one support and distributing a “parent mental health toolkit,” Nebesar said. “It’s not just COVID safety, because there’s not a lot of information out there for new parents during COVID.”

Sarah Sheehan, co-founder and president of Bravely, an employee coaching firm, noted that “HR teams are being tasked with solving all the world’s problems.” She emphasized the importance of leadership: “Right now there’s an opportunity to no longer keep the personal and professional separate–it’s an impossible thing to do.” Leaders need to foster an honest, safe culture in which employees feel comfortable sharing what they’re going through, she said.

Lauren Lopez, head of talent and engagement for the National Basketball Association, said the company held a virtual take-your-child-to-work day “because we wanted some of that normalcy for the children and parents who enjoy that.” It also celebrated Halloween, sending candy to employee families. The NBA focused on leadership as well: “We had to equip leaders with tools to have those difficult conversations, but those difficult conversations all of a sudden became a bit more difficult when we brought in the social-justice component” in response to the Black Lives Matter movement, Lopez noted. “We held community conversations where we equipped leaders with tools.”

As working parents struggle to manage work and family, one of the issues that has emerged is the need to distribute work fairly, given the different realities of each employee. For example, corporate efforts to help parents with extra benefits created a backlash among non-parents. Duarte, at HP, said that managers are frequently checking in with their teams and then updating leadership in regular check-ins. “They talk very openly about the need for flexibility, making sure that people are safe and well cared for, and also their mental health and ability to stay productive,” she said.

Duarte added the company has distributed resources to meet different employee needs in an engaging, thematic way, with each day of the week designated to resources including training, wellness, volunteering and family fun.

There’s no easy way to track whether work is truly being distributed equally in the midst of the pandemic, said Rosato. “When we look to the future, what are going to be the learnings in all of this?” she asked. “To me, this is going to be the future of work–what are the learnings where we can pivot and sustain the momentum into the future, so we can lean into the future to work and build this out further for working parents.”

Sheehan pointed out that the issues caregivers are facing today have long bubbled under the surface. “We know women are leaving the workplace in droves. COVID is shining a light on a problem that has already existed for women for decades,” she said. “It’s a whole new way of supporting employees, from a leadership perspective.”

Panelists were candid about the challenges they face as working parents and caregivers, struggling with feelings of guilt, anxiety and even shame as they navigate the day-to-day challenges of the pandemic. The panelists also spoke about the struggle of caring for their employees and balancing their own needs. In facing such challenges, Skinner emphasized the importance of a community support system. And the speakers all agreed it’s okay to lower one’s expectations, given the situation.

“You are doing the best you can,” Lopez said at the panel’s conclusion. “There is no striving for perfection at this point, it’s just not there. As long as you’re making sure you can get up each day, still feel like you’re keeping some semblance of sanity, you’ve done your job for the day.”

Emily Nonko is a Brooklyn, NY-based reporter who writes about real estate, architecture, urbanism and design. Her work has appeared in the Wall Street Journal, New York magazine, Curbed and other publications.

Technology and Humans: How to Reinvent the Working Relationship

A lot of conversation around generative AI in the workforce feels dire, and many are speculating that when the dust of the AI revolution clears, humans, in many professional roles, will no longer be relevant. The counterpoint, however, is that AI will change how work is done but not necessarily as a replacement for humanity, but as an enhancement. “My team wakes up every morning thinking about, How do we discover and understand the new patterns of work, and where is work going?” said Matthew Loys Duncan, the head of Future of Work Thought Leadership at Microsoft.“I think people are scared about change, right? But in general, I think it's the concept of change, and how willing are we to really know that with change comes growth and new opportunities. And we’ve never seen that more so than recently with AI." Duncan spoke with Nicole Smith, the editorial audience director for Harvard Business Review, in a fireside chat at From Day One’s December virtual conference. They discussed the emerging patterns between technology and humans, and how AI will enhance humanity in the workplace. Distinguishing Fad From the Actual Future“First and foremost, let’s put the facts on the table. AI has been around for 40 years. It’s helped us correct our sentences [for years]. So it's been in our world; it’s just been behind the scenes.” Duncan believes AI’s potential impact on the workforce is going to be as big as the industrial revolution or the emergence of the internet. “I remember a day when there wasn’t a .com and we didn't have all this massive information. We can’t imagine a world where we don’t click and shop and it’s at my front door in a matter of hours. It’s going to have that profound of an effect.”Matthew Loys Duncan, the head of Future of Work Thought Leadership at Microsoft (Company photo)However, the profound impact and change is not going to come from one direction, and people will have to experiment with it. Duncan points out that people already are, indeed, experimenting with AI. “We’ve never seen such a massive experimentation—millions of people basically, overnight, started using it.”“The challenge is always, with anything new like this, you have to experiment. [U]nderstand how it’s applicable. And what’s unique at this moment with generative AI is its usefulness. It’s only a breakthrough when it’s useful." From planning a vacation to a big event at your kid’s school to freelance writers experimenting with it to condense information and produce workable outlines to generating ideas—everyone is still experimenting with AI. “I think it starts with individuals, but what we’ve seen in the last almost two years is leaders that believe this is a new way of how you’re going to create greater efficiency and productivity. Or a new opportunity to innovate and create like we've never done before. I’m sure everyone’s seen the meme: It’s not that you're going to lose your job to AI, you're going to lose your place in the market to those that are applying AI,” Duncan said.One of the ways Duncan points out AI’s inventiveness is in how it’s able to take the overload of information, all the historical data of, say, one organization and make good predictions from that data. “If you apply AI to that, you can actually, for the first time, layer over all that data and information and start to understand your business very explicitly.”AI is transforming how businesses approach customer retention and sales as well, Duncan observed. In customer service, AI can analyze subscription data to predict churn by identifying patterns, such as reduced usage or complaints, or signaling when a customer may cancel. This allows businesses to intervene with personalized outreach—both digital and human—to retain customers. In sales, AI acts as a copilot, helping sales representatives sift through leads to pinpoint those with the highest conversion potential. It also provides real-time coaching, offering suggestions and strategies to close deals effectively. As Duncan put it, AI enhances decision-making “at the right time and right place.”AI Could Potentially Make Us More HumanAnother fear of AI, and indeed a problem with automated customer service already, is that it’s taking the humanity out of our interactions. This raises the question, as Smith pointed out: Will there be room for human emotional intelligence in the workplace of the future? Duncan seems to think so. “I have a premise that AI will make us more human.” He cited research Microsoft has done on human performance that points to 68% of people saying “they struggle with the pace and volume of work.” After surveying 31,000 people in 31 countries about where they focus most of their time, 60% of that time goes to emails, chats, and meetings. For every email someone sends, they have to read four. “There’s not enough time in the day, not enough energy to get it done. That’s where, oddly enough, AI and generative AI, in this more useful natural-language reasoning world, become[s] our assistant and really help[s] us break through.” Duncan says that if AI can take over mundane tasks, then it can give us back about 10 hours per month, which he says can help “unlock” what makes us and allow us to focus more on “communication, connection, empathy and relationship with other humans.”Expanding on with that theme of lost time regained with AI, Smith pointed out a ubiquitous sentiment out there in the world: Technology hasn’t freed us from overwhelming work obligations. In fact, it has made us feel that we always have to be on. “Do you think AI is going to intensify that pressure to stay connected? Or do you think it can help us break free from our digital addiction?” Smith asked.“When was the last time, or where were you, when you had your last great idea?” Duncan said. “I usually hear in the shower, on a run, walking my dog. What’s common there is, we’re at a place with our own mind, where we have space to think and be creative and focus, and we need to bring that back.”Duncan touched back on the research they’ve done at Microsoft showing how AI, when utilized effectively both at work and at home, can recoup many hours of time a month lost to drudgery. “And what do you want to use with those 10 hours? And my answer is, whatever is going to make that human do better. The reality is, it’s meant to refuel and re-energize and give people the space to actually innovate and create like we’ve not been able to do for a while.”Matthew Koehler is a freelance journalist and licensed real-estate agent based in Washington, DC. His work has appeared in the Washington Post, Greater Greater Washington, The Southwester, and Walking Cinema, among others.(Illustration by Moor Studio/iStock by Getty Images)

Enhancing Global HR Tech: Balancing Data, Automation, and Human Touch

Ankit Saxena, now the global head of people insights and HR technology at PPG Industries, has had a long career in data analytics. He has seen it all, from fraud to operational to financial to people analytics. In his experience, there are four critical takeaways: a clear business case, good storytelling, solutions, and action plans.“Whether you work in any kind of an analytics or technology environment, you have to have a clear business case. The second thing is the storytelling. Unless you connect the dots, your story is not impactful. The third thing is the solution. So you told me the problem. How do you fix it? [Finally], the action plan you're going to have. And those principles, whether you work in X analytics, y analytics or HR analytics, remain the same across the board.”Saxena spoke to the editorial audience director for Harvard Business Review, Nicole Smith during From Day One’s November virtual conference. They discussed the importance of maintaining a human touch in a rapidly evolving AI world and retrofitting existing technology with the new.When making a big move in any organization, especially one centered around people, you have to have your finger on the pulse of a lot of analytics. Saxena says it’s typical to pay attention to internal movements—how the company is performing, how the market is shifting, what major internal events are taking place, and more.There’s also people insight, which is all about gathering and analyzing employee data to understand their motivations and engagement.“If you’re looking to make a very broad kind of a decision, if you’re looking to understand what needs to be the future way of the organization from the people perspective, you have to have a pretty clear line of sight of what is happening externally as well,” said Saxena.Saxena points to how external events like Covid and inflation created ripple effects within organizations by influencing talent supply, attrition, compensation, and career dynamics. “As a professional in the analytics space, you keep a tab on all those things, not just your internal but also externally. During my career of 15 to 17 years, I have realized that if you are myopically focused internally, you will lose sight of the external environment, and if you focus too much on the external, you will lose sight of the internal.”To not get overwhelmed on managing all the external and internal metrics, Saxena says all organizations are focused on how they are [using] automation and AI.To narrow down the aperture of information and really focus on what is needed, Saxena says it’s imperative to look at the internal use case for technology. “What exactly is the benefit that you’re going to generate for your end stakeholders? Is there any kind of a buy-in that you see? Because AI is a prime example where everyone wants to jump in, but they don’t know exactly what the outcome is.”To answer that essential question above, Saxena developed a framework based on five ‘whats’:What’s the use case? What benefits do the different technologies generate? What’s the cost of implementation and maintenance? What are the future growth opportunities for any specific technology? And, what does change management look like?“Every organization struggles with their technology implementation if they don’t have robust change management,” Saxena added.Nicole Smith of the Harvard Business Review interviewed Ankit Saxena of PPG Industries “There are a lot of traditional technologies that do exist and will continue to exist. And I think that is important for us to understand that a lot of companies invest into technologies, but they are not able to make them work.”Saxena believes there’s an opportunity here with companies making their existing technology work. At previous companies, he said they would buy a technology but not fully implement it. “I think making your existing technology or tech stack work appropriately and providing you the full benefit” is a theme he's seeing in the market.Another piece of advice he offers is that before you look at the next big AI product being offered, look internally. “Rather than buying an AI technology, you should kind of look upon your current tech stack and how it kind of aligns with your AI capabilities.”“Make sure that you are using [traditional technology] to the fullest capability. Second, before you go outside [to buy] any AI capability, you should explore what tools you have and if they offer any AI capability. And can you leverage it for certain use cases to show some success and have an investment for the future?”Saxena emphasizes the importance of evaluating technology investments carefully to ensure they align with a company's vision and strategy. He notes that technology companies frequently introduce new capabilities to stay competitive in the AI space, which can create a challenge for businesses locked into long-term contracts.“Companies are not going to invest into anything new unless you have made the existing ones work, so this is a kind of a catch 22. Once you invest into long term contracts, you have to make them work,” Saxena said.Matthew Koehler 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.

Using AI to Revolutionize Hiring for Top Talent

With the help of artificial intelligence, a task that would take hours, days, or even weeks to complete can now be done in five minutes, says Mike Aronson, senior director of talent acquisition at Johnson Controls.In talent acquisition, AI has been a useful tool in generating job descriptions, screening applicants, and sourcing candidates. During a panel at From Day One’s November virtual conference, executives touched on how AI has revolutionized hiring the best candidates and streamlined productivity.Balancing AI and Human OperationsLesli Stasiek, senior director of human resources at Cencora says that they maintain the “human touch” through the hiring process by still interacting through recruiters and hiring managers, while also using Phenom AI as a way to drive efficiency in filtering through applications on a daily basis. “We don’t have enough recruiters to go through everything, so we’re leveraging the AI at the top of the funnel,” said Stasiek.Cencora is still at the start of its journey with utilizing AI but Stasiek shares that she hopes it can be leveraged “internally to empower employees and give them the resources to build their careers and drive better discussions.”AI is being implemented into talent acquisition to quickly check off tedious tasks that may be taking up time that can be investing towards more productivity. When it comes to creating job postings, AI is also used to source the best candidates through algorithms within job boards. During the hiring process, AI minimizes the time recruiters spend on summarizing interview notes and conversations to provide to managers.“It’s not replacing the person. It’s making the job a bit easier so that they can have a conversation around why [they] think this person’s good,” said Aronson.Companies who use skills-based hiring processes also benefit from the efficiencies of using AI to filter through applications that match the best skill sets. Angie Lombardo, global director of operations for talent acquisition at Arcadis, says the company’s applicant tracking system has an AI that will help rank the talent pool based on skills.This tool is helpful in regions like India and the Middle East where they receive thousands of applications within a week of posting a job opportunity, says Lombardo.Mitigating Bias in AIAI functions through system memory and if human bias has already been incorporated, machines will learn to replicate the same bias. Jenny Cotie Kangas, director of talent-centered transformation at Eightfold, says that it’s important to understand how you’re using the AI, how it’s coded, and the necessary guardrails to prevent wrong decision making.“When we’re talking about job descriptions and leveraging [generative] AI for job descriptions, it’s always important to run that through some sort of anti-bias tool,” said Kangas. “We want to kind of reset and recalibrate and make sure that we’re creating job descriptions that are truly inclusive.”AI is useful in eliminating the natural human bias such as what Kangas describes as the decisions she’ll make when she’s really hungry and when she’s not. Generative AI tends to be more male leaning, she added. The system may also be seeking “charged words” to identify patterns from the past in order to predict next steps. Kangas adds that even when companies use tools like AI, it’s always important to layer other tools on top to make sure all pieces are being covered.Utilizing AI for Internal GrowthAI’s efficiency not only helps with sourcing applicants but it can also help identify current employees who are ready for development and growth as future leaders. Especially in organizations with thousands of employees, it’s almost impossible for managers to know every employee well enough to identify possible candidates.Lydia Dishman of Fast Company moderated the discussion among industry experts (photo by From Day One)“Tools like this allow us to look at not just career pathing within a function, but across multiple functions or business units,” said Stasiek. “You drive that connectivity and you drive that networking and then you can grow your pipeline and your succession planning exponentially.” Investing in the career development of current employees also increases engagement and retention.Tracking the Applicant ExperienceThe digital platform of AI, allows everything to be tracked and digitized for future data analysis. For example, hiring managers can see what questions candidates are asking a website’s embedded chatbot and understand what they are looking for and what problems need to be solved, says Aronson.The reason why websites like Amazon are visited so regularly is because it’s easy to use. Company pages should be emulating this simplicity to improve the candidate experience during application processes, he added.Especially with the culture of recruiters “ghosting,” improving the candidate experience is also a key aspect to attracting the best candidates, said Kristen Baller, head of talent acquisition at DISH Network. By using AI to cut down tedious tasks, recruiters have more time to focus on “engaging and partnering with the candidate throughout their journey,” she said.The Challenges of AIAI is a powerful tool within the corporate space and it’s now being used by more companies, but what challenges can rise with increased use?“I think education is what we’re going to have to really think about,” said Baller. “We’re giving all these teams a Ferrari but nobody’s taught them how to drive it.” Stasiek emphasized that education is important to create awareness, but change management is where leaders can really see the impact of implementing a new system.As we remember that AI is a machine, Lombardo points out that “the more that we use AI, we do have to be careful that we’re not just using AI to do our work, but we are putting that human touch on it before we put anything out to be viewed.”Jennifer Yoshikoshi is a local news and education reporter based in the San Francisco Bay Area.

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