Overcome Stubborns

Employers, You Need Your Gig Workers. Here's How to Treat Them Better

Corporate America, the gig workers that keep your businesses operating have some feedback. As the popularity of independent work increases, so does business dependence on contractors, freelancers, and gig workers. In a McKinsey survey in 2022, 36% of employed respondents, equivalent to about 58 million workers, identified as independent workers, up from 27% just six years earlier. The recruiting platform MBO Partners estimates the number is closer to 45% as of last year. Independent workers are the people who deliver your lunch, drive you to the airport, build your houses, write your blog posts, design your websites, produce your podcasts, tutor your kids, and market your products to the public. Among the changes to our working lives brought about by the pandemic is the preference–and often the need–for non-standard work arrangements. In fields where employment is precarious, gig work can cover the gaps in a pinch or when the bottom falls out. The popularity of flexible, autonomous, asynchronous, and project-based work remains with us long after Covid has subsided.Many who work as contractors are attracted to the autonomy and flexibility this working style affords; and especially for family caretakers, who are disproportionately female, freelance and contract work allows them to earn an income while meeting caregiving obligations. Plenty are drawn to the work out of necessity, bringing in extra money to fill the gaps or to maintain an income when a full-time job can’t be found.Even so, gig work has been associated with higher rates of anxiety because of its unpredictability and instability, and because gig workers shoulder the burden of benefits typically provided by the employer, like health insurance and paid leave.C. Crockford is a Philadelphia-based freelance writer and editor who has experienced both the promise and peril of gig work over the last decade. When editorial work doesn’t cover expenses, he uses apps like Amazon Flex, TaskRabbit, and Fiverr to pick up moving gigs, cleaning gigs, the odd retail shift, and courier work. It pays quickly, and he can squeeze it into his schedule where it fits. “The upsides of that are it is easy to find work if you’re just hustling, but it does depend on who’s posting and what’s available,” he told From Day One.Another point of stress: Gig workers seldom get employee-benefits support from the apps they use unless they meet a specific number of hours, thresholds that Crockford feels are unrealistic. “They offer benefits, but only if you work a certain amount of hours a month, and they know that you’re not going to make those hours,” he said. The relationship between worker and platform is often mercenary and transactional.Freelancers, contractors, and gig workers are left vulnerable. Not only are they susceptible to the whims of the business cycle, they’re not undergirded by the same rights full-time permanent employees enjoy. Some are paid sub-minimum wages and treated like permanent employees without the requisite benefits and support, a practice known as misclassification. Crockford pointed out that the benefit of quick payment is sometimes undercut by how low the compensation can be. He’s gone out for some jobs that pay just above the local minimum wage.Misclassification is one of the most common abuses: expecting full-time commitment from contingent workers without providing the protections and benefits required by law for full-time employees. It’s estimated that between 10% and 30% of U.S. workers are misclassified as contractors. Misclassification isn’t just ethically dubious, it has legal implications as well, depriving workers of labor rights and fair wages, according to the Economic Policy Institute. Misclassification of employees has invoked a number of lawsuits in recent months. In January, the Department of Labor issued stricter guidance over how workers must be classified, which prompted lawsuits from employers that want more freedom to categorize workers as they choose. In June, 15,000 delivery drivers sued Amazon for misclassifying them as contractors rather than full-time employees. The platform pays workers for three-hour blocks of time, regardless of whether their deliveries take longer. As a result, the suit alleges unpaid wages and overtime. “Companies either willfully or knowingly misclassify their workers as independent contractors to avoid having to pay employee taxes and benefits that can be costly for a company in the long run,” said Rafael Espinal, executive director at the nonprofit advocacy group Freelancers Union. “Companies hire freelancers on a long-term basis and put the same requirements on that freelancer that they put on their traditional employee. When in reality, the relationship between the company and the freelancer should strictly be a business relationship where the freelancer has full control and autonomy of how they’re using their time and how they’re producing the work.”The Effects of Misclassifying Contact WorkersFreelancers, gig workers, and contractors have largely been excluded by the benefits blitz of the last few years. Not only do they not qualify for basics like health insurance, 401(k)s, and paid leave, they also don’t get smaller perks–like transportation subsidies or career development training–nor are they included in many of the changes brought about by employers prioritizing diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging.Rachel Marcuse, chief operating officer and managing partner at DEI consulting firm ReadySet, believes that contractors and freelancers are the forgotten demographic. This set seldom has access to employee resource groups, learning and development opportunities, and company culture.“Not only are they left out of programming when it comes to DEIB work–being able to attend training and that sort of thing–but they’re also left out of having a voice around their experience,” she told From Day One.But, said Marcuse, the free agents working with your organization represent a wealth of knowledge about your company and how your employer value proposition compares to the competition. These workers are exposed to different workplaces, cultures, and organizational norms and policies.  “Contractors are frequently left out of engagement surveys that organizations do on an annual basis, which I think is a really big miss, not only because we want to make sure that all members of the team, regardless of their employment status, are having a good experience, but also because often these workers have particularly unique perspectives given their vantage point,” she said.The experience of working as a freelancer can be completely different than that of a full-time employee at the same company simply because they’re not factored into the employee experience. In 2021, workforce consultancy Mercer argued that employers should start providing contractor benefits. “Gig workers are here to stay, it’s time to give them benefits,” reads one Mercer blog headline. Some organizations are trying to close the gap. Independent workers can buy health, disability, and life insurance plans through Freelancers Union, and Mercer has even developed a platform for non-full-time worker benefits, called Mercer Indigo.How to Be Better to Your Contractors and FreelancersContract workers and their advocates want two things: Respect for their boundaries and on-time payment. Leslie Lejano, a Los Angeles–based freelance PR and communications consultant, asserts that a good client is one that treats her as a collaborator, not an order-taker. “They’re hiring me because they trust me. They value my services. They understand the value that I provide,” she told From Day One. “It’s very much like a partnership. I really value a client that gives me enough to work with, but also trusts that I have a vision.”And be aware of “scope creep,” which is when a client demands tasks outside of the agreed-to scope of work, often incrementally. It’s a violation of the contract, and it’s a harbinger of a relationship with poor boundaries, contractors say.  The most common problem that Freelancers Union hears from its members is late payment, or even non-payment. In fact, the union “polled freelancers and found that 76% every year go either unpaid or not paid on time by a client,” according to Espinal.There are bad actors who pay late or simply don’t pay, he said, but there are also well-meaning employers who don’t set themselves up to easily pay contract workers. Many HR payroll systems aren’t orchestrated to pay contractors, who aren’t integrated into full-time employee payroll systems. Therefore they aren’t paid at regular intervals, but in an ad hoc manner, often through a clunky system.What companies may not realize is that any given invoice can jeopardize a freelancer’s ability to pay their rent, eat dinner, or afford their basic living expenses. Though the arrangement with a contractor is typically a business-to-business relationship, “freelancers are not able to absorb tardy payments the way large companies are able to,” Espinal pointed out.Where companies that hire contractors on an ad-hoc basis often fail to pay out on time, Crockford has found that platforms designed specifically for gig work often succeed at super-fast payment. Some apps send fees within a few hours, and many are good at resolving payment hiccups quickly, he said.PR consultant Lejano wants employers to understand that her work, and the work of every other contractor, comprises much more than her clients ever see. “Freelancers juggle so many things beyond the actual work that they’re doing,” she said. “They’re also handling their accounting, their marketing, their client acquisition. There are all these other things that come with being self-employed.”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 Economist, the BBC, The Washington Post, Quartz, Fast Company, and Digiday’s Worklife.[Featured photo by South_agency/iStock by Getty Images)

BY Emily McCrary-Ruiz-Esparza | July 17, 2024
Overcome Stubborns
By Lisa Jaffe | July 18, 2024

What a Five-Generation Workforce Means for You: The Myths and Realities

Nick, a senior manager in a global tech company based in Seattle, has worked with people of many different ages, both older and younger than him. His experience is increasingly typical in a workforce that spans five generations, a growing diversity of experience that provides the benefit of workers sharing wisdom across the ages, but also gives rise to problems like ageism–the bias against others based merely on their calendar age. Nick recently learned that one of his direct reports is notably older than Nick assumed. “At that moment, I realized that I had been thinking of him as less serious and more in need of guidance. I knew I had to examine my prejudices about age.”This is the first time in history that such a rich mixture of people from their teens to their 80s are at work. But the implications for business are still being sorted out. In 2020, a Deloitte white paper reported that 70% of executives surveyed believed a multigenerational workforce was important for their organizations, but only 10% felt ready to lead one and understood how it might affect operations.The widespread assumption has been that the generations are distinct enough in their affinities that they should be treated differently. In the Deloitte survey, more than half the respondents said they consider differences between the generations in designing operations and benefits But are these differences more perceived than real? Deloitte’s report cites the new concept of a “perennial” employee, or someone who transcends generational stereotypes.As the Deloitte survey explains: “Why is generation becoming less relevant as a way to understand the workforce? The starting point is that careers have become more dynamic and complex, loosening the historic correlation between age and career progression. Rapid technological and organizational change means that workers must now reinvent themselves multiple times throughout their working lives; at the same time, the broader business culture has shifted to make it acceptable, sometimes even desirable, to promote younger individuals into leadership positions. The upshot is that 65-year-old interns can today be found working side by side with 25-year-old managers, calling into question the assumption that age is a reasonable proxy for understanding people’s workplace challenges and needs.”A 2012 analysis of more than 20 studies supports this view, finding few generational differences in work-related variables like attitudes towards work or technology. Where they do exist, the differences can likely be attributed to variables other than age, like education level.Yet ageism persists. In this story, the first in a three-part series, we'll be looking at how employers can confront this challenge by adopting more age-inclusive practices. There’s good reason to do so, since lack of trust between generations can create unnecessary competition and resentment, to the detriment of working relationships. One experiment found that negative beliefs about older people and how they adapt to new technology led to poorer training of those people. Another survey found that hiring managers view younger workers as having more relevant education and experience and being a better cultural fit with organizations. On the other side is a view that goes as far back as Socrates: young people are flighty, have a poor work ethic, or require constant praise from above. Stephane P. Francioli, Ph.D., a postdoctoral researcher at the Wharton School of Management, has made a study of “youngism” and found that when asked about age-related abuse or discrimination, younger workers report higher rates than bias related to sexual orientation, race, religion, or gender, he says. Could this be because they see the workplace as wholly unfair? No, he says. If that were true, younger workers would also complain about issues of racism, sexism, or anti-LGBTQIA+ actions at higher levels than other age groups. They don’t. Heather Tinsley-Fix is a Senior Advisor at AARP where she helps employers support a multigenerational workforce (company photo)Pigeon-holing different groups can impair how teams work together, says Heather Tinsley-Fix, a senior advisor at AARP, whether it’s saying that older people are not flexible with new tech or younger people have no loyalty. “If someone was young and not tech savvy, they wouldn’t mention it, but if they are older, it gets attributed to age,” she said. “It's often just a knee-jerk reaction.”Abuse and discrimination can take many forms. Younger workers may be asked to run personal errands outside of their job description, or handle on-call hours at night because they don’t have children to take care of. They may be denied flexible work arrangements that parents of young children are given because a manager doesn’t think young, childless employees will work as hard at home without supervision, says Francioli.The problems that affect younger workers are often not addressed because they are not recognized legally, at least at the federal level. In the U.S., the Age Discrimination in Employment Act covers age discrimination in workers over 40, but can disregard other workers. Employers need to be careful not to encourage and reemphasize generational differences by organizing training according to age groups, like courses on how to manage millennials, helping older workers navigate technology, or how your Gen Z staff is different. “There is no scientific basis for any of this, it creates an us vs. them atmosphere, and encourages an in-group/out-group mentality,” Francioli said.One other consideration is how people can project age-related perceptions onto others. An older worker, for example, may believe coworkers think he is slow to adapt to new work methodologies, when they may not feel that way at all. In fact, one study found that what people believed about other generations was usually positive. The outlier was what people thought of younger generations, though young people believed others’ perceptions of them were far more negative than the reality.While putting stereotypes aside, there are still some age-related realities that employers should take into account. For example, companies can consider ergonomic factors when it comes to older workers, as well as developing support programs for staff members going through menopause. But assuming attitudinal characteristics of specific age groups and training workers based on those assumptions is often counterproductive.At the same time, the world is changing fast, so generations are experiencing factors like media and economic conditions in different ways, which shouldn’t be overlooked, says Corey Seemiller, Ph.D., a professor at Ohio’s Wright State University, and author of several books about Gen Z. Understanding those differences can be key to engaging with team members and the future success of your organization. She points to Gen Z, the social media generation, and their comfort with video as a form of communication. “Do you offer the opportunity for them to provide a video resume? Not all of them will, but some might prefer it,” she said.Many in Gen Z are uninterested in public accolades for their work; some actively dislike it, Seemiller says. Similarly, those from Gen X, often called the Latch-Key Generation, experienced a lot of freedom during their childhood and are often averse to micromanagement.Knowing what might discourage different generations and meeting them where they are doesn’t make you ageist. But if, for example, you note that older people who worked in an analog culture for most of their careers are having trouble adapting to a new tech platform and subsequently require special training for all people over 50, Seemiller says, that is when it becomes discriminatory. The best way to support the different needs of employees is to talk to them and treat them as individuals, advises Seemiller. Employers should find out what they want, what they need, and where there is room for improvement. Regular surveys are a good way to do this.  All of this can be highly nuanced, but for employers, it will be worth the effort. We are experiencing a great age shift in the workforce. The UN estimates more than a third of the population will be over 65 by 2050. In the U.S., one-fifth of the population will be over 65 by 2030. Better health, and better healthcare, as well as economic circumstances, have led to people working longer. At the same time, the birth rate is declining.Is your organization prepared for fewer younger workers and more older workers? How can you create a culture where ageism and prejudice against anyone, young or old, doesn’t gain a foothold? How can you harness the power of a multigenerational workforce? In part two of this series, we’ll provide actionable ideas and examples of programs that have helped other organizations successfully navigate changing demographics.Editor’s note: From Day One thanks our partner, AARP, for sponsoring this story, the first in a series on how employers can foster age inclusion in the workplace. Interested in assessing how you are doing with age inclusion–and learning more? Try AARP’s new tool, Age Inclusion 101. Just send an email to employerpledge@aarp.org, with the subject line betatest.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. 
Overcome Stubborns
By Abigail Abrams | July 17, 2024

In Women’s Health, a New Coalition Aims to Keep Up the Progress

Women’s health care, long neglected by medical researchers and tech innovators in the U.S., is starting to get its due. A new coalition of digital health companies aims to harness the energy around women’s health to boost the accessibility and affordability of their care by working with employers to improve corporate benefits and workplace support.The group, called the Women’s Health Coalition for Digital Solutions, combines the mental-health platform Talkspace and the family-health company Ovia Health with other startups aimed at everything from fertility to menopause to nutrition and fitness.In its first year, the collective is focused on awareness and de-stigmatization efforts as well as using its members’ influence to advocate for workplace health equity. In future years, the coalition’s founders say they would like to encourage more investment in women’s health technology and enhance the patient experience by exploring integration among their many services.The idea for the group came about when Talkspace, which has expanded its business-to-business offerings in the last few years, was looking for partners, and executives saw a growing customer need in the realm of women’s health.“Women are busy. We manage our homes, we manage our work life, we’re managing our own personal happiness,” said Natalie Cummins, chief business officer at Talkspace. “What we’re hearing from our customers is that three barriers that still exist are stigma, access, and affordability.” She and other coalition partners are quick to note stats that show while women live longer than men, they spend 25% more time in “poor health” and they pay $15 billion more per-year in out-of-pocket health care costs than employed men. So Talkspace sought out other virtual health providers who shared their goal of helping people access care remotely, and intentionally put together a group that serves each point in a woman’s life cycle. In addition to Talkspace and Ovia Health the founding members include Conceive, which offers fertility and pregnancy support; Evernow, which offers menopause care; Nurx, a telehealth company that prescribes birth control, acne treatment, and other medications; FitOn, a fitness app; and Nutrium, which provides nutrition counseling. The coalition is part of a growing trend of employers prioritizing fertility and other family-building benefits in the last few years. The percentage of U.S. organizations offering such benefits increased from 30% in 2020 to 40% in 2022, according to the International Foundation of Employee Benefits Plans. The focus has expanded to include menopause, which has been poorly understood and little-discussed in the workplace. About 15% of companies surveyed by Mercer in 2023 provided menopause-specific benefits—up from just 4% in 2022. “We are seeing people respond to us in a way that is really taking menopause seriously as they should,” says Donna Klassen, a clinical social worker and co-founder of advocacy group Let’s Talk Menopause. She is particularly eager to see efforts aimed at changing the culture and policies around menopause in the workplace, as research has shown that menopause symptoms–and the stigma around them–can negatively impact both women and employers. Researchers at Mayo Clinic found that menopause symptoms cost the U.S. $1.8 billion in lost work time per year, for example. “When people have support at work, they are less likely to feel that they want to leave,” Klassen said. She emphasized the importance of trusted information as more women and their employers address menopause publicly. “People want their questions answered, and doctors don’t always have the time,” she said. “So let’s make sure you’re getting your information from credible sources.” Let’s Talk Menopause offers workshops and other educational programs to individuals and companies seeking to learn about menopause.That kind of education is key to the new coalition’s goals too. It’s “really an opportunity to drive some of the thought leadership with people who have been in this industry for a while and who are invested in improving the lives of women,” said Corrinne Hobbs, general manager and VP of enterprise and strategic partnerships at Ovia Health.Corrinne Hobbs, general manager and VP of enterprise and strategic partnerships at Ovia Health (Photo courtesy of Ovia Health)As the group develops, Hobbs says she sees the coalition companies being in a good position to provide services, advice, and research for companies that want to improve their benefits or policies in ways that support women’s health. Their effort comes as the U.S. continues to see the consequences of the Supreme Court’s decision overturning the federal right to abortion, which has led to other restrictions on reproductive health around the country. Cummins, Hobbs, and other coalition partners say they are not wading into national politics, but are focused on enhancing access to women’s health care for as many people as possible. They were pleased to see President Joe Biden’s executive order expanding research on women’s health earlier this year, for example, and are hoping this is a sign of progress. “For many years, women were thought of as tiny men and weren’t really required to be in clinical research,” said Lauren Berson, CEO and founder of Conceive, the fertility-support app that’s one of the coalition’s founding members. As part of the effort from the federal government, the National Institutes of Health will focus new research on menopause and an array of other health issues that affect women, including Alzheimer’s and conditions like endometriosis and fibroids.Conceive is especially focused on equipping its users with the science and information they need to navigate the experience of getting pregnant. “There’s just so much more we can do together when we think about the lack of research and the lack of infrastructure,” Berson said.The members of the new coalition say they have already heard from companies who want to join the group, but they know there is still a long way to go. Some first steps for employers looking to support women’s health, they say, are to design benefits plans that reduce the out-of-pocket costs for women, remove barriers to seeking care, and ensure benefits cover the full spectrum of employees’ experiences. “Ensuring that your workplace supports women is crucial,” says Hobbs of Ovia Health. “So what does that look like? Improving the parental leave policy, flexible work initiatives, ERGs to really understand the needs of employees and then also minimizing the caregiver burden at home.” Abigail Abrams is a health writer and editor. Currently she is the senior manager of content operations for Atria. Previously, she was a staff writer on health and politics for TIME magazine. Her freelance work has appeared in the Washington Post, the Guardian, and other publications.(Featured photo by SDI Productions/iStock by Getty Images)

STAY CONNECTED

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 Mary Pieper | July 25, 2024

Caring for Caregivers: Strategies to Support a Healthy Workforce

When Julia Cohen Sebastien had a loved one become ill, that was all she could think about at work.“It definitely lowered my productivity,” she said during a thought leadership spotlight at From Day One’s July virtual conference. “I hit burnout a lot faster in my job, and ultimately I had to take medical leave and started racking up new costs for my own treatment.”The HR department wasn’t fully supportive, says Cohen Sebastien. Even her mentor told to get over it and put on a smile.Cohen Sebastien left that job and went on to co-found Grayce, where she is the CEO. Grayce is a family care navigation platform that partners with employers to support personalized care journeys for their employees’ diverse needs.“At Grayce, we really take a holistic care approach to supporting an employee and their family,” Cohen Sebastien said. “And that’s about giving them tools, resources, and hands on support, to take things off their plate, so that they can navigate both the short-term and the long-term care responsibilities, including taking care of themselves.”More Employees Are Caregivers Than Employers ThinkCohen Sebastien noted that around 73% of all employees have some type of outside caregiving responsibilities for a loved one, whether that be for children, aging parents or grandparents, spouses or partners, siblings, or even themselves.Julia Cohen Sebastien led the thought leadership spotlight titled, "Caring for the Caregivers: Innovative Benefit Strategies to Support a Healthy Workforce and Families" (company photo)“Up to 50% of employees say that they’re afraid to reveal their caregiving responsibilities to their employers because they are afraid of what that will cost them at work,” she said. In addition, the amount of time people are spending on caregiving duties for their loved ones is skyrocketing because fewer professional caregivers are available, which drives up prices for those services, says Cohen Sebastien.When employees take on caregiving duties, it can become the equivalent of a part-time or even full-time job. Sometimes, they take multiple days off each month due to those responsibilities.Those who are in the sandwich generation find themselves caring for their young children as well as their aging parents. These employees tend to have a lot of seniority in the company and are difficult to replace, so their support needs to be comprehensive. Organizations need to consider the ROI of supporting employers who are caregivers. “It’s a pretty important topic to make people’s lives easier just at that moment when they need it,” she said. How to Support CaregiversCaregivers want a variety of support from employers. “Beyond time away and flexibility, employees want help to lighten the load,” she said. “In many cases, they need help accessing things, removing barriers to care and navigating the complexity.”For example, one of Grayce’s licensed clinical social workers helped an employee who was concerned about his aging father’s physical and financial safety. The employee was taking leave to travel and wanted help transferring his dad’s guardianship to his sibling.The clinical social worker expedited the guardianship transfer and helped transition the father into a safe senior living community of the siblings’ choice. The employee “was able to come back to work in 10 days with confidence and peace of mind,” Cohen Sebastien said. With the help of Grayce, many employees have been able to stay in their jobs and not have to take leave, or at least shorten the time they are on leave, says Cohen Sebastien. Although mental health days and general wellness solutions are excellent support for employees, they aren’t enough to give caregivers the help they need. It’s all about “going after some of those key life challenges that prevent them from being able to be present and happy.”Editor’s note: From Day One thanks our partner, Grayce, for sponsoring this thought leadership spotlight. Mary Pieper is a freelance writer based in Mason City, Iowa.
Overcome Stubborns
By Mary Pieper | July 24, 2024

How to Navigate Different Learning Styles to Include Everyone in a Large Organization

“How do we engage 1,500 learners at a single time, and how do we have content that meets the needs of all who may be attending a particular learning event?” This is a question Dr. Sherri Brooks, chief learning officer at Baptist Memorial Health Care works on each day.The organization employs more than 21,000 people, including 1,500 in leadership roles. With such a large team, learning and development efforts can be complicated. Some people are kinesthetic learners, meaning they need to engage physically during the learning process. In contrast, others are auditory or visual learners.Brooks was interviewed by Nicole Smith, editorial audience director for Harvard Business Review during a fireside chat at From Day One’s July virtual conference on upskilling and career mobility.“I’ve stopped passing judgment on what I think people should know and how I think they should behave, because what I also recognize is that not everyone is a lifelong learner,” she said. “Not everyone loves learning, engaging, and developing,” said Brooks.People come from different backgrounds and have different motivation levels. That’s why she takes ownership of “all that I can do to impact someone else’s life, particularly as it relates to professional development and growth, and learning and development.”What Makes a Good Learning Environment?Brooks says the key ingredient for an effective learning environment is leaders who “take advantage of teachable moments when there’s an opportunity to impart knowledge or insight into what a particular team member may be doing.”In particular, middle managers have an essential role because of their direct impact on frontline workers, says Brooks. “They set the tone for the organization because they are responsible for facilitating changes that may come up for explaining what’s the new learning topic of the month, or what’s needed for the organization,” she said.Nicole Smith of Harvard Business Review interviewed Dr. Sherri Brooks of Baptist Memorial Health Care during the fireside chat (photo by From Day One)Baptist Memorial Health Care holds quarterly leadership development intensives to address specific desired outcomes. “For example, if our goal is to improve overall patient experience ratings, we can do that by demonstrating compassionate connected care, which is the framework for how we really work alongside each other,” Brooks said.The organization’s leaders are trained to model specific behaviors, such as empathy. “When you have a team that's empathetic towards one another, then that translates into empathetic patient care, which then increases patient experience, which increases our patient experience ratings,” Brooks said.Ensuring Learning is Creative and EffectiveAs a large organization spread across three states, Baptist Memorial Health Care embraces technology as part of the employee learning process. They offer virtual and hybrid training methods and have invested in audience interaction tools to make presentations more engaging, Brooks says.Brooks also recommends varying learning methods. “We’re not going to call all 21,000 team members into a classroom to teach and train them on something. We have to offer content and micro learning bursts in 10 to 20 minute chunks.”Many workers don’t always have access to a computer since they don’t work from a desk, so the company makes learnings available on an app or provides desktop computer kiosks where employees can go when they have downtime.Another way to avoid learning fatigue is to avoid a fire drill approach where employees have a lot of material thrown at them at once. For example, Baptist Memorial Health Care decided to spread its orientation for new nurses over a 14-week period, where they would take a 90-minute course one day a week and then practice what they learned on their floor. “That tremendously decreased our turnover,” Brooks said.Mary Pieper is a freelance writer based in Mason City, Iowa. 
Overcome Stubborns
By Katie Chambers | July 23, 2024

How “America’s Diner” Creates a Culture for Workers to Grow and Thrive

Fasika Melaku, SVP of HR and chief learning officer at Denny’s, is a big believer in career mobility. After all, she attended Emerson College to become a speech pathologist and ended up on an entirely different path. She credits the restaurant industry’s innate ability to provide a clear pathway for promotion as part of the reason she is where she is today.Melaku started as a restaurant hostess when she was in high school, working her way up the ranks. Now, she is committed to raising up employees at all levels. “I help engage our teams at Denny's from the hostess to the CEO, and discuss how we can create brilliance for our teams and for our guests when they walk in,” she said in a fireside chat at From Day One’s July virtual conference.Denny’s offers an ambitious career-development program for all of its 70,000 employees at more than 1,600 locations. Melaku provided an inside look at how the company’s ‘gain’ program provides support for workers in four key areas, including life skills and career pathways.Moderator Lydia Dishman, senior editor, growth and engagement at Fast Company notes that Denny’s provides “a support ecosystem that enables you to grow and learn.” In order to lay that foundation, Melaku says HR leaders need to start at the source. “I think one of the number one people in your ecosystem to support is you,” Melaku said, noting the importance of simply wanting to get up and go to work every day. “How we nurture that is creating a purpose that people can engage with, that you can find your place in. [For Denny’s], it’s our love for feeding people, body, mind and soul.”Part of that is ensuring all employees have a shared language around corporate values. “At Denny's, we have this culture that we wrap around called the Denny's Way. Using consistent language [ensures that] everybody gets it. It’s not hidden,” Melaku said. “It is a beautiful thing that’s given from the CEO, all the way down to the server and the cooks. That's a huge part of how we create mobility and how we start life at Denny’s.”Most Denny’s restaurants are franchise-owned, with 210 owners spread across the country. It can be a challenge to teach everyone in all of these locations, which is why that consistency in language is key.“The culture was already there,” Melaku said, but language needed to be shared. So, Denny’s brought everyone to the table, with all departments and franchises meeting in person over the course of three days. She says people left feeling more like a part of something bigger and could envision their place in the Denny’s ecosystem.Providing a Platform for MobilityIn a modern job environment that prioritizes skills-based hiring, “the restaurant industry is at an inflection point, teaching people this set of skills that they can take anywhere, or stay here with.” We often don't think about mobility in the service industry as staying within the service industry, but Denny’s wants to prepare its employees for long-term growth and career longevity.Lydia Dishman of Fast Company interviewed Fasika Melaku of Denny's in the virtual fireside chat (photo by From Day One)“You learn stuff when you’re working in the service industry day in and day out. How do we flip the script in the world to make sure they know what you learn here, leading a restaurant that is a $3 million business, is just as worthy as what you learn in a classroom?” Melaku said.The gain program harnesses the energy and passion of its employees who run a 24-hour business. It gives employees who need it the opportunity to get their GED while working for Denny’s, and ensures that the management training provided onsite could be seen by colleges as equivalent to higher education courses. Today, Melaku says, their program is equivalent to 30 college credits with three universities – and they’re going after more.The gain program also provides life skills training, including financial planning courses to help employees better understand how to manage the money they earn while working at Denny’s. This is more training than many college graduates may receive, says Dishman.Often, Melaku says, Denny’s is where employees learn the skills that will help them improve the situation for themselves and their families, whether that’s through the Star Management training program or simply learning basic skills on the job.Melaku shares the story of Michael Best, who started working at Denny’s at age 16 and now leads new restaurant openings at the organization. “He said Denny’s managers helped teach him about accountability,” Melaku said. He became the first person in his family to purchase their own home. “That’s the beauty of a supportive ecosystem.” Denny’s prides itself on being a bedrock for people and often providing them with their first job.Paying to train an employee only to have them walk out the door, then having to pay to train their replacement, is a particular challenge in the restaurant industry, where competition is fierce. “It is crucial that we think about our people. If you don’t figure out how to make people feel like they belong, if they don’t feel like it’s OK to take some time off, if they don’t learn – that’s tough.” Melaku has been in consistent conversation with the 200 owners to show them the data backing up how the gain program impacts retention.In terms of getting through to the employees themselves, Denny’s is transparent with its employees, showing how the pathway from server to general manager can lead to personal financial success. “In every onboarding you have, we tell them about the growth,” Melaku said. “It pays to help them see the value you bring to them as an individual, [how you] help them with their families, and teach them life skills. When you open that door to create success, your business will succeed.”Katie Chambers is a freelance writer and award-winning communications executive with a lifelong commitment to supporting artists and advocating for inclusion. Her work has been seen in HuffPost and several printed essay collections, among others, and she has appeared on Cheddar News, iWomanTV, and CBS New York.
Overcome Stubborns
By Emily McCrary-Ruiz-Esparza | July 23, 2024

Transforming Your Organization into a Skills-Based Powerhouse

“Skills-based hiring allows us to focus on making better hiring decisions based on actual skills rather than subjective factors,” said Kristen Baller, head of talent acquisition at satellite provider DISH Network. “Traditional hiring practices often favor candidates who have specific educational backgrounds or tenure with [brand-name] companies. Moving to this model helps mitigate that bias. It allows employees to showcase their capabilities that could directly impact the roles and the requirements of a job.”Baller is part of a growing number of employers making skills-based hiring and promotion a priority. According to LinkedIn’s Future of Recruiting 2024 report, 73% of hiring professionals say skills-based hiring is a priority. Further, between 2019 and 2022, the number of companies that omit degree requirements from job postings increased 36%.There are many advantages to adopting a skills-based mentality: It grows the applicant talent pool based on relevant rather than arbitrary factors, it can improve the quality of hire, and it can promote internal mobility, giving workers a reason to invest in their own skill development and to stick with a company longer.“The importance of having consistency and scalability is important to any recruiting process,” said Kristen Cooper, head of North America solutions consulting at recruiting tech platform SHL. For skills-based hiring, “it comes down to the requirements of the job on day one versus what an organization can train its new hires on. A huge part of this is branding and marketing. It’s so important when a candidate reads a job description that it actually reflects what they’re going to be doing.”Cooper and Baller were part of an expert panel at From Day One’s webinar on how to transform an organization into a skills-based powerhouse. The group spoke about changing the hearts, minds, and processes that undergird this progressive new attitude toward workforce development.How to Break Old Habits and Adopt a Skills-Based ModelShifting to a skills-based hiring approach is easier said than done. Job descriptions, processes, evaluations, interviews, scoring, and even tech platforms have to be reimagined. It helps to involve hiring managers in the planning, and in doing so, begin challenging biases and breaking old habits.Journalist Emily McCrary-Ruiz-Esparza moderated the webinar about "Transforming Your Organization Into a Skills-Based Powerhouse" (photo by From Day One)“We’re really focusing on internal mobility and standing up practices like workshops and lunch-and-learns across the organization,” Baller said. “We invite our executive leadership to talk about the organization and the work they’re doing, but really, we ask them to focus on the skills and competencies that individuals need. That triggers the individuals attending these lunch-and-learns to think about what skills they possess that could transition into another job.” People leave the sessions energized and able to envision career opportunities they had never considered, she says.Redesigning Candidate Assessment ToolsFor many, retooling hiring practices will include new modes of screening candidates’ capabilities. The New York Times is one employer building its own assessment tools. Monica Parodi, the Times’ VP of talent acquisition, described how constructive it’s been to have those already in the organization assist with skills-based methodology and assessments.“We just finished building an iOS and an Android assessment. In recruiting, we don’t have that technical knowledge. There are great vendors and tools out there, but it’s also great when you can take your in-house talent and allow them to be a part of building that interview plan. We had them build in the ability to test their iOS-building skills and their Android skills and their coding abilities. They’re the ones who know what skills are needed to complement their team.”Not everyone will have the funds or in-house capabilities to invest in proprietary tech, but everyone can get the teams involved in identifying new capabilities that need to be added.Parodi is clear that making the change, and even implementing skills-based hiring, is an arduous undertaking. It requires forming new habits, conducting deeper and more critical research on roles, and writing requisitions differently. The process is a tough one, but a lucrative one. “That’s one thing about skills-based hiring in general: It’s a lot more work on the front end, but the rewards are worth that return on investment.”Powering Skills-Based MobilityAssisted by technology, employers are also reaping the benefits of skills-based hiring for upskilling, reskilling, and internal mobility. “Companies tend to be pretty excited about the ability to bring some science and precision to that whole process,” said Cooper of SHL.“We realized a couple of years ago that there are some pretty big gaps in the market for the talent that we need,” said Angie Lombardo, the VP of talent acquisition at engineering consultancy Arcadis. “So, we started researching different technologies that could assist us in the process. We decided to invest in a skills-powered AI tool.”Employees create a profile, and the platform helps them identify career paths and options within the company based on their skills and interests. “It helps people kind of see, ‘Oh, I could probably do this job; I never thought about it before.”Lombardo recognized that the company’s internal mobility rates were low, largely due to lack of communication, which is a challenge in a large organization with so many business units. “The right hand is often not talking to the left hand,” she described. “You have someone who has this specific experience in water or wastewater, for example, and they really want to do something in a different business area, but the divisions don’t talk to each other. They have transferable skills, but the visibility isn’t there.”Skills-Based Hiring as a Tool for Business Growth and Employee RetentionPrioritizing skills has significant implications for internal growth and mobility too. “It’s much more cost-effective to move an internal employee into a role than to have to [resort] to external hiring practices,” said Baller. “When we move to focusing on skills-based hiring over traditional qualifications, it enhances internal mobility opportunities across the organization. It promotes a more dynamic and flexible workforce where individuals are not limited by their job title or their background.”Mapping career paths and connecting the nodes with skills can help workers envision an enriching future with the company. At business consulting firm Slalom, senior director of talent acquisition Laura Sullivan is using a talent module to support internal moves.“It does a really lovely job of showing the jungle gym that your career could be at Slalom. Each level has skills and roles that are associated with it, and it helps people to see, ‘I have this skill right now, and these other roles also include these skills, so I could take my career in this direction by earning these certifications, or by potentially working on certain types of projects.’”Sullivan pointed out that skills-based career movement is especially valuable in the consulting industry, where employees are already placed on projects based on their skills and capabilities. “When people roll off a project, they’re on our bench, and the bench is a great time for people to upskill. We invest in certifications, training, and workshops to help people take on bench projects. They can learn how to help with RFPs, for instance, if that’s a skill that they don’t have yet. It’s a great way for us to give people new opportunities, and help them fill any gaps that they might have in their experience.”Editor’s note: From Day One thanks our partner, SHL, 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 Economist, the BBC, The Washington Post, Quartz, Fast Company, and Digiday’s Worklife.
Overcome Stubborns
By Katie Chambers | July 19, 2024

Measuring What's Really Happening in the Workplace in 2024

In today’s increasingly digital and often remote working environment, software can help organizations get a better handle on how their teams are tackling challenges and discover ways to fill in the gaps. The highest performing teams are 2.6 times more likely to be investing in performance management software, according to Lattice’s State of People Strategy Report. But of those not using such software, 27% are unsure of how to begin and 22% are even concerned about the cultural implications of doing so.But what does an average day of digital work look like? Does worker behavior vary during a typical workweek–or throughout the year? Workforce analytics company ActivTrak drew on three years of data, from more than 135,000 employees across 1,000 companies to provide an examination of workplace behaviors in its annual State of the Workplace Report.Among the findings: workdays are shorter and productivity remains steady. But at the same time, disengagement is growing, which may lead to problems of underutilization but also presents opportunities to make better use of untapped workforce capacity.In a From Day One webinar webinar, leaders from ActivTrak spoke about their critical findings related to productivity, burnout, technology, and AI usage trends. They discussed industry-specific best practices and benchmarks so you can take action and boost productivity across your organization.The State of the Workplace The goal of the report was “to reveal the current state of work and how organizations can better anticipate and plan for the future,” said Sarah Altemus, manager at ActivTrak’s Productivity Lab. “Notably, we found that workdays are shorter and productivity remains steady. Burnout is in decline, which should boost positive engagement and utilization. However, we did see that disengagement is growing, possibly due to previously burned-out employees who are increasingly checking out,” said Altemus.The study, which covered 2021 through 2023, found that employees were about eight minutes per day more productive in the first half of 2023 vs. the second half. This means that if an organization with 1,000 employees was able to maintain those earlier productivity levels throughout the whole year, it would gain an additional workload capacity of 18 full-time employees, worth approximately $1.1 million, assuming each employee has a $60,000 salary.Employees are also finishing their tasks in less time. The workday got a full 15% shorter from Q1 2021 to Q4 2023, dropping from nine hours and 52 minutes to nine hours and five minutes. Time spent on collaborative activities such as chat and messaging increased slightly. Meanwhile, total digital activity, productive time, and focus time stayed consistent.Sarah Altemus, ActivTrak’s Productivity Lab Manager, led the webinar (company photo)Efficiency, measured in productive time in relation to total time, remained steady. This, Altemus says, is a good thing. “We were creeping into almost 10 hours of ‘on’ connected time a day in 2021. I think a lot of that was really performative productivity, people wanting to be constantly online. And so it's encouraging to see that shift to a more sustainable period of time.”How can employers make the most of this trend? The ActivTrak Productivity Lab suggests utilizing workplace analytics software to boost performance management, enhance employee productivity, and maximize workforce investments. Leaders should continuously analyze current and long-term data to pinpoint gaps and obstacles, and identify employees who may benefit from additional training.A disengaged employee is defined as one who spends greater than 75% of their year in an underutilized state. Distressingly, they found that 20% of employees were disengaged due to underutilization, up 67% since 2021. Meanwhile, 7% of employees risked burnout due to overutilization. 4% of employees in 2023 worked on weekends, down one percentage point from 2022. Often, a small, overworked group of employees is taking on too much.Megan Moller, productivity enthusiast at ActivTrak, says multi-tasking and context-switching is often the culprit. “That can be exhausting,” Moller said. “And so when you are doing that every single day for a period of time, you can get burned out.” Leaders need to assess and track employee utilization to help right the balance.If you don’t find the right balance, the results can be costly. 27% of employees risk attrition due to burnout or disengagement.  Employees who are burned out are more likely to leave. And ActivTrak calculated that for an organization with 1,000 employees, a workload imbalance that leads to attrition equals a potential loss of 70 employees, valued at $2.1 million, based on 20% annual voluntary turnover and replacement costs equal to half of a $60,000 annual salary.To combat this, Altemus suggests gathering context through team meetings and one-on-one discussions to identify issues and offer targeted support to employees who are overburdened or underutilized. And leaders should encourage employee development by demonstrating how their daily work contributes to the organizations’ broader strategic goals.AI AdoptionArtificial intelligence is being adopted in the workplace – and fast. 22% of employees used AI tools in 2023, an increase of 50% from Q1 to Q4. While AI usage increased, however, ActivTrak found there was no apparent impact on productivity when comparing employees who used AI tools to those who did not. So that freed up time was not necessarily put to good use.Factors such as industry, company size, and workplace environment influenced AI tool adoption, but generally about one in 10 employees used AI tools. Remote workers were 5% more likely to use AI. 115 unique tools were used, with the free-to-use ChatGPT being the most popular.While the true role of AI in the workplace is not necessarily crystal clear, it’s obvious that AI is not going away. Altemus suggests striking a balance: train employees on effective AI use without solely relying on it. Promote a culture of experimentation and learning by encouraging employees to try new approaches and share what they learn. Offer guidance to ensure AI usage aligns with your organizational goals, and always be mindful of protecting sensitive or proprietary information.A Productive FutureIn terms of productivity, Altemus advises transferring best practices from earlier months to boost output and yield significant gains in the latter half of the year, when productivity tends to decline. To combat burnout and disengagement among employees feeling an unbalance in workload, try redirecting resources to support targeted training and growth opportunities. And with AI use on the rise, there is a need for clearly defined policies around appropriate use to maximize the benefits.Leaders can better understand the current state of their specific workforce using analytics tools, and add context with employee sentiment data gained through pulse surveys. They should always communicate their findings and take action when it’s relevant.Editor's note: From Day One thanks our partner, ActivTrak, for sponsoring this webinar. Katie Chambers is a freelance writer and award-winning communications executive with a lifelong commitment to supporting artists and advocating for inclusion. Her work has been seen in HuffPost and several printed essay collections, among others, and she has appeared on Cheddar News, iWomanTV, and CBS New York.
Overcome Stubborns
By Stephanie Reed | July 17, 2024

How to Attract, Screen, and Manage Your Talent in Today’s Hiring Landscape

Companies are more focused on retention and internal mobility than ever. From this focus, hiring talent externally has become more convoluted. The technical complexity of job boards generates a large pool of applicants who are not necessarily matched with the right jobs. So how can businesses optimize their search for qualified external talent within these talent pools? Heidi Barnett, the CEO of ApplicantPro, shared critical methods of optimizing the recruiting process during From Day One a thought leadership spotlight at From Day One’s June virtual conference.Knowing who you are as a business provides valuable information for sourcing. It’s imperative to clearly define who you are as a business, including your values, unique attributes, and what customers and employees love about it, says Barnett.ApplicantPro empowers businesses to streamline their hiring processes by posting jobs across multiple job boards, conducting thorough applicant screening, and offering guidance to hiring managers. One of ApplicantPro's key insights draws a parallel between job boards and search engines.Heidi Barnett, the CEO of ApplicantPro, led the thought leadership spotlight (company photo)By understanding that job boards prioritize higher visibility based on relevancy, businesses can develop more effective recruiting strategies, says Barnett. For example, job boards such as Indeed are optimized for the search of job seekers – not companies. To give job seekers the most results catered to their needs, Indeed provides visibility to newer jobs, jobs with more reviews, and higher click-through rates. “So their core focus is on candidates and candidate flow, not on companies that are posting jobs," she said.Reaching more applicants isn’t necessarily a disadvantage either. “What we’re going to want to do is cast the widest net: allow more people to see the jobs so they have interest. And then on the back end, we’re going to search for quality. And we're going to make sure that, not that we don’t have this huge influx coming in, but we’re focused on quality.”Barnett provided several job ad optimization strategies tailored to draw in the ideal talent from vast talent pools. First, include your salary. Otherwise Indeed creates an estimation that may not accurately represent your business. Next, close the job position if it hasn’t been filled within 21-30 days. Instead of reposting it, which will make Indeed block your traffic, rewrite its contents so that it will be recognized as a new job.Finally, prioritize the disposition of your candidates: by reviewing and engaging with your candidates, Indeed offers you more visibility and you get to screen candidates more efficiently. Barnett also advised businesses on what not to do, such as using redirect URLs in your ad that will take applicants away from your job post.Screening Tools to Identify Key TalentEffective screening tools can help identify top talent. Barnett recommends open-ended screening questions with multiple response options to gather comprehensive information from candidates. This approach allows a more thorough evaluation of applicants' skills, qualifications, and potential match for the organization.Candidate matching has also emerged as a valuable tool for businesses to identify and interview top talent quicker than before. AI-powered candidate matching tools assist in analyzing job screening questions, resumes, and years of experience. This newer technology streamlines recruiting, allowing businesses to make informed hiring decisions more quickly and efficiently.Pre-employment assessments also serve as a valuable tool for identifying candidates, says Barnett. These assessments provide additional insights into a candidate's alignment with the desired qualifications, offering a more comprehensive understanding of their suitability for the position. This allows organizations to make informed hiring decisions, increasing the likelihood of selecting qualified talent.Lastly, video interviews are a transparent method to gain insights into applicants' personalities and assess their potential suitability for your organization's culture and values.Using these strategies, businesses can effectively “make sure that you’re not only getting these positions filled, but navigating all of the different quality challenges,” she said.Editor’s note: From Day One thanks our partner, ApplicantPro, 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.
See More Stories

Advanced Story Search