When Sony Music Entertainment decided to change how it manages and motivates its workers, it was more than a renaming of “HR” to “People Experience.” The record label transformed how it approaches the entire employment continuum. In this fireside chat at From Day One’s conference in Miami, Andrew Davis, the record company’s executive vice president and global chief people officer, talked about the work in progress to “change HR.” Serona Elton, professor and associate dean at the Frost School of Music, University of Miami, asked Davis about what precipitated the change and how it was received. Edited excerpts of their conversation:

Why was the transformation necessary?

We had an image problem. We were known as the policy police, when there’s bad news, the negative side of people. Also, I’ve always struggled with the term “human resources,” even when I got into HR 20-plus years ago. When you break it down–human resources–people interpret that as, “I’m a human and you use me as a resource.” To me it has to be at least a 50-50 proposition between employees and employer. Those two forces came together to say we have to find a way to reinvent ourselves so we can show up differently for our employees. So the function itself had to change its image.

Dive a little deeper into the contrast between the human resources and the people experience. What looks different?

It’s not just rebranding the name. It’s more about a mindset shift. I wanted to make sure people understood why we existed. You don’t just come in, do your work and then get out. We know that the world has changed. There’s behaviors as well. We have to show up, act and behave differently. So we have to have the mindset of thinking about people first. What I love about putting that out there is you’re kind of putting a mirror to yourself and saying “we’re a people-first organization.” So we really modeled this name change into everything that we did, especially how we showed up, how we were structured, what we needed to do.

If you think about what’s going on right now with the employee base and management, there’s tension, especially around returning to the office and how the workforce is choosing themselves and their families first. That’s been long overdue. We’re trying to embrace where people are and meet them there with a people experience that will make their lives easier and better and ultimately add to their happiness. I want to find a way to infuse happiness into their work.

If you were talking to a student getting ready to graduate, how would you explain that people-first perspective?

All of us know what’s happened in the last 2½ years. Employee sentiment has changed and employees’ needs have also changed. If we’re not meeting when and where they are, we’re already missing out on what is now here. In HR, we’ve been talking about this for 20 years. Finally, it’s real. You’re feeling that Great Resignation, some of the things about “why we are quitting.” We have to think about the right solution, which we think is the people experience. If I’m speaking to one of your students about what’s different now, employers have woken up. They’re saying we’ve got to find a way to make sure we’re not only attractive, but we’re retaining great talent in our workforce. How do we do that? We have to make sure their experience is positive.

So we try to look at every aspect of the employee journey, from the time they are recruited to the time they [leave the company and] become ambassadors. We want to make sure when you’re coming into the company, you know what it’s like working here, what’s the value proposition of being here at Sony Music Entertainment, what we want to get from you. It should be a 50-50 proposition. It should not be a war with your workforce. We should be able to work together in this new era in the workplace and really embrace that for what it is.

As you look back over this initiative, what are you most excited about?

The early work we’ve done around the hybrid flex programming that we instituted. The music industry itself is a creative industry and that requires a lot of collaboration and connections to make the magic sauce of great music and telling these stories. We learned to do it right. We found a way to do it virtually. Now you could ask, What have we left on the table? Would we have more acts and top artists out there? But I would say we did a pretty good job. Not every single role needs to be “flex types,” which is what we call our hybrid. It took a ton of change management, a lot of influence and a ton of data to share with our leaders. We’re still in the early days. But I’m pretty proud that we’ve embraced it.

One size is not going to fit all…

It shouldn’t. When you rebrand it as a people experience, a lot of things get exposed. I’m good with that. I’d say we weren’t really ready for this. I’d say we didn’t know what we didn’t know. We thought we did. But when you actually flip the switch and are now saying “people experience,” it really forces you to make sure that you are walking the talk every day in what you do, how you show up, how you deliver results. If anyone is thinking about this, it’s not about the name, it’s about behaviors. I encourage you to think about the needs of your employees. These shifts are going to continue to happen. The world is in a volatile state of change. Put on some kind of people-first, people-experience hat. Because if you don’t, you’re going to miss out on some great talent. Especially the people you don’t want to lose will start to question if this is the place for them.

South Florida native Jeff Zbar has enjoyed a three-decade career as a freelance journalist and marketing copywriter, including 25 years exploring home officing and telework as the Chief Home Officer. His portfolio of print and digital work appears in media outlets and for corporate clients across all areas of business and industry.