What Business Leaders Can Do to Improve DEI Efforts in the Face of Backlash
BY Michael Stahl November 30, 2023Can corporate America restore its momentum on diversity, equity, and inclusion? DEI initiatives became a must-have for business organizations in 2020, after the killing of George Floyd in May of that year sparked a new wave of civil-rights protest and discourse. That cultural conversation focused partly on workplace discrimination against Blacks and other marginalized people, and it led to countless leaders—some from the biggest groups in corporate America—stepping up with DEI plans to help close disparities in opportunities. For a time, it seemed like those executives were delivering. According to Glassdoor data, DEI job openings grew 55% within a few weeks after the Floyd tragedy. Spending in the category surged, too. A November 2021 report from a top market research company said DEI funding was projected to reach $15.4 billion, more than double the amount it was in May 2020, by the year 2026.While many leaders maintained the DEI programs they enacted within the past few years, a backlash against DEI quickly arrived. A survey of more than 800 HR professionals in various industries, conducted around six months after George Floyd’s death, found that about 80% of companies are “going through the motions” with DEI programming and not holding themselves accountable. Glassdoor research later revealed DEI programming growth stalled in 2022, and CNBC reported last January that, to some in underserved groups, many efforts geared toward tangible change have felt inauthentic. One source for the piece said the DEI programs they’ve interacted with feel more like “branding strategies.” The turning tide against DEI picked up speed in June when the Supreme Court struck down affirmative action in higher education, a decision that many speculate will have an adverse effect on DEI efforts across industry. The New York Times reported that experts believe “the ruling will discourage corporations from putting in place ambitious diversity policies in hiring and promotion—or prompt them to rein in existing policies—by encouraging lawsuits under the existing legal standard.”The same issues in place before 2020 persist for Black workers at the office. Gallup polling indicates that employees of color still report discrimination—and those who do also have a burnout rate that’s twice as high as workers who are not discriminated against. DEI strategist Amri B. Johnson (author photo)However, the high court decision and the failings of some organizations does not have to inspire total pessimism for those who are committed to furthering DEI’s progress. DEI strategist Amri B. Johnson, author of Reconstructing Inclusion: Making DEI Accessible, Actionable, and Sustainable, says this is an opportunity for the true advocates in the space to stand up. “We focus a lot on symptoms and we don’t focus enough on systems,” Johnson told From Day One. “Now we need to start building the systems” that will lead to improved, tangible DEI outcomes. He adds that the Supreme Court decision and the pressures that it may put on companies to forego DEI investments could very well be used as an “excuse” to do just that. Eventually, though, “if a company uses that as an excuse not to be mindful, to cast [their] net wide and find people from different backgrounds to bring that insight, and create attention to [their] organization because people see things differently [due to] their embodied experiences, then they should stop” their DEI programs. “If they want to miss out on talent, let them do it,” he says. For those truly well-intentioned corporate leaders and people managers who want to carry on their DEI initiatives—not only because it’s the right thing to do, but also because it gives their businesses a well-chronicled leg up on the competition—here are some tips on how to ensure such programming can thrive, even in the face of DEI fatigue, and not come off like PR campaigns.Add a “B” to “DEI,” for “Belonging”Throwing money at the situation and writing declarative press releases is not going to solve problems like the ones that DEI programs are designed to address. Real people are affected by the culture that historically exclusionary business institutions have wrought, so it’s going to take person-to-person care and attention to disrupt the presence of outdated workplace management approaches.Johnson says leaders must do “the little things” around the office—real or virtual—to ensure that workers feel a sense of belonging. “Thoughtful gestures can show someone that they are seen and welcomed in the group,” says Johnson. “Instead of sharing a funny story with just your closest coworker, invite the person within earshot into the conversation. When religious or cultural holidays roll around, don’t hesitate to say, ‘Ramadan Mubarak,’ ‘Happy Easter’ or ‘Happy Hanukkah’ to those who observe. The only kind of inclusion system that truly perpetuates belonging is one that centers on humanity, creating conditions for all people to thrive across their differences and similarities.”Creating such a culture where behaviors like that are the norm may take a change in approach and mindset on the part of the leaders tasked with cultivating one. Julie Fink, VP of HR at the University of Phoenix, suggests that organizations think of “DEI” as “DEIB,” where the “B” represents “Belonging.”“Belonging is how employees feel about their company, their boss, their leadership, their peers, whether their organization cares for them as individuals,” says Fink. “If employees feel they belong, they feel safe and more connected to the work and the organization.”To help inspire this sense of security and connection, Fink says leaders should talk and listen to employees with a focus on “not only what they say, but what they don’t say in this area.” Ask: “Do they feel comfortable and safe to speak up in areas that can be improved, or bring forth suggestions or recommendations?”When employees feel a sense of belonging at a job, as Harvard Business Review reported in 2019, they perform better, at a rate of 56%. They also take 75% fewer sick days and are 50% more likely to stay at their job, research showed.Take a Skills-Based Approach to HiringLimiting recruitment hunts to individuals with gobs of experience and college degrees from top-level colleges is exactly how companies have stayed in a rut in which the same types of people are granted opportunities to achieve and advance. But considering skills required for a given position and just the general type of person who might be a great fit for your organization will render such histories of privilege irrelevant.Amanda Hahn, chief marketing officer at HireVue, a talent recruitment and hiring platform, says a growing number of employers are “exploring alternatives to their traditional hiring habits,” with a mind toward better DEI outcomes. HireVue recently published a report covering global trends in hiring, which included surveys of more than 4,000 talent leaders and found that nearly half (48%) are adopting a skills-first approach to talent acquisition, “forgoing educational and past work experience unless they’re actually relevant to the job at hand,” Hahn said. “In doing so, they’re widening their overall talent pool, increasing the number of qualified candidates they attract and charting advancement paths for employees based on less-biased or fairer, objective data.”And once interviews start—or maybe even earlier than that—prioritize the character of the candidates. Hiring teams should think about the culture of their organization and what kind of personality traits they’d like to find in the people they bring on board.“When you hire someone, you hire the entire person, not just their output,” said Fink. “You cannot think that a person is just an employee, and worse yet, a commodity producing widgets. Every person is an individual and made up of a variety of elements and you need to ensure your policies, and more importantly your actual practices, speak to this.”Amanda Hahn, chief marketing officer at HireVue Advises Johnson, the author and DEI strategist: “Make sure you have designed your talent attraction and candidate experience to attract talent from and across a broad spectrum of identities and lived experiences. And, don’t stop there. Once you attract a diverse group of committed people, create paths for growth, development, and thriving to keep them. If you are unsure of how to do so, ask them.”Hahn notes that greater integrations of technology can also help organizations expand the candidate pools each of them are accessing, while also providing hiring teams with greater insights into the types of individuals they might soon hire.“There’s a misconception that technology is replacing human roles. Instead, it’s fulfilling mindless work, boosting employee productivity and allowing talent teams to focus on the most impactful parts of their job,” says Hahn. “Our report found that in the past year alone, two in three talent teams have implemented video or virtual interviews to boost hiring productivity. When asked what benefits talent teams saw from these changes in interviewing, respondents reported time savings, greater flexibility and a bigger pool of diverse talent.”Don’t Base DEI Success Strictly on NumbersThe true impact of DEI can’t ever be completely quantified on a spreadsheet or in a PowerPoint. Sure, there’s the aforementioned impact a greater sense of belonging can have on the bottom line and other data on DEI return on investment, but measuring a culture—an atmosphere about the workplace—and levels of individual contentment is impossible. DEI should ultimately be done because it’s good for people and their copmanies. “There are several areas where employers can make mistakes when beefing up their DEI programming,” says Fink. “The first is to think that DEI is just about the numbers and the typical race/ethnicity categories. Second is to tie bonuses or incentives to DEI metrics. This can drive compliance rather than commitment and possibly not the best decision for the business. We need to make the expected behavior clear, then reward or showcase that behavior. Set the example and shout it from the rooftops.”Johnson says that limiting DEI focus to “single identities” is actually counterproductive to its mission. “Yes, it is very important to make the workplace welcoming for groups that historically have been pushed to the fringes—people of color, LGBTQIA+, the disabled, older employees, women,” said Johnson. “But true inclusion includes everyone, even those with longstanding power and privilege.”Which is why people leaders should…Avoid Playing the Blame GameWhile changes to workplace culture and people management to enhance DEI of underserved people are needed, don’s create new discrimination in the process. Furthermore, excluding members of an employee base that may have benefitted from now-outdated systems does not align with the values associated with DEI initiatives in the first place.“Be sure you are not making your DEI efforts feel divisive or punitive,” said Johnson. “Everyone in the organization needs to feel welcome to join in the discussion, but no one should feel singled out. Pointing fingers only perpetuates division. We need collective accountability without attempts to determine who is right.”Accept Realities and Normalize Social TensionsPracticing mindfulness and acknowledging grounded truths about the state of things might be the most crucial step of all if people leaders want their DEI programs to achieve desired outcomes while fostering a real sense of belonging for all members of an employee base. Thinking any initiative will be rolled out perfectly and solve all a company’s ills is a sure route to failure, DEI experts assert.Johnson says DEI work will not remove social tensions—nor should it. Conversations that are open and honest will need to continue, and if they do, people will be bound to disagree or not reside on the same page with their colleagues. He adds that “tension is necessary” and not a bad thing in and of itself. “The danger comes when you don’t know how to navigate the tensions and complexities that come from those differences,” he said. One way organizations can ameliorate tension around the subject of DEI is to actually calm expectations around the adoption of what Johnson calls “complicated jargon” that is inaccessible for many. Terms like “heteronormative,” “transphobia,” “BIPOC” and “unearned privilege” can be difficult for workers to understand and “may even raise employees’ defenses,” Johnson said.“If you are speaking about DEI-related concepts and a term is introduced, explain the term, and make sense of it with the person or people you are engaged with,” he advised. “If you read a word that you are unfamiliar with, look it up, ask someone more familiar, and learn to explain it in a manner that is clear for you.”Allowing people to be themselves, which includes displays of not only their strengths but also their blind spots, is the ultimate goal of DEI. Accept where voids in understanding lie, fill them up and move on—one step closer to greater harmony.Michael Stahl is a New York City-based freelance journalist, writer, and editor. You can read more of his work at MichaelStahlWrites.com, follow him on Twitter @MichaelRStahl, and order his first book, the autobiography of Major League Baseball pitcher Bartolo Colón, at Abrams Books.(Feature photo-illustration by Vadym Pastukh/iStock by Getty Images)
How to Lead With Positive Thinking, Even in Times Like These
BY Michael Stahl October 19, 2023At a time when it can seem like everything’s going wrong at once in the world, it can be challenging or even dysfunctional to search for reasons to be cheerful. Pressuring yourself and others to remain upbeat in the face of what would reasonably upset anyone has even earned its own buzzword: toxic positivity. During the pandemic, studies, articles and books emerged denigrating it. Indeed, suppressing unpleasant feelings of sadness, anger or fear with a cloak of conjured-up happy thoughts can only make things worse.On the other hand, negativity can be exhausting. In the workplace, the show must go on despite disruptions in the business and the world. This is when people leaders need to tap their EQ. Reframing a daunting situation in an authentic, mindful way will not only improve a leader’s personal state of being, it will also help them improve well-being and productivity in the people they manage. How to do it? Turns out there’s abundant science for that. Michael E. Frisina, Ph.D., founder and CEO of the Frisina Group, a coaching consortium specializing in performance enhancement as well as organizational development, asserts that a state of healthy positivity can be achieved by thinking with our “upper brain,” or the prefrontal cortex, which sits behind the forehead. “This is where your innovation is, this is where stress management is,” said Frisina, who co-authored Leading With Your Upper Brain: How to Create the Behaviors That Unlock Performance Excellence.A 2021 study published by the National Library of Medicine, inspired by the impact the pandemic was having on global enterprise, found that positive leadership promotes employee engagement. “The more difficult the situation is, the more leaders need to demonstrate positivity,” the study’s authors wrote. They suggested managers be trained in positive leadership approaches, which “can provide additional return on investment by improving employees’ positive emotional experience.” These training programs, the authors wrote, should guide managers in implementing positive leadership, including “such aspects as creating a positive-emotion-oriented team atmosphere, promoting positive relationships among employees, [and] developing positive communication among employees.”Upstairs, Downstairs in Your Brain In everyone’s brain, said Frisina in an interview with From Day One, “resides the capacity to choose one direction over the other.” Upper-brain thinking is characterized by planning, expression, and moderating social behavior. Lower-brain thinking, characterized by fear, loss and doubt, is experienced in the brain’s limbic system, residing beyond the prefrontal cortex.“This part of the brain–the lower brain–is built for survival,” Frisina writes in his book, which he co-authored with his brother Robert. The lower brain helps human beings manage fear in response to external threats, producing reactions of various kinds, including mental (e.g., confusion), emotional (anger) and physical (fight, flight or freeze). “When your team members spend their productive efforts surviving at work rather than thriving at work, performance suffers.” While lower brain thinking serves a function that is useful in particular times and places, Frisina says actively engaging in upper-brain thinking on a longer-term basis is better for mental and emotional fitness, which will in turn improve performance. Leaders can do this and set a good example for workers, but they can also intentionally train their employees in upper-brain thinking as well, making it “contagious,” as an article in Harvard Business Review suggested last year.How Managers Can Inspire Productive Thinking on a TeamTo retain upper-brain thinking while acting as a manager, Frisina suggests that leaders start and end every meeting with what’s going well, set clear expectations and reasonable deadlines, and communicate priorities. They can also “reframe a stressful project” by asking workers to identify the pain points. Once that has been established, the leaders should ask: “Is what you are thinking about in your control or out of your control?” The effect of the follow-up question is a shift away from “skeptical, confusing, fear-provoking ‘what if’ thinking,” Frisina said, and into “productive, energized thinking.” Instead of focusing on “the negative outcome they want to avoid,” team members can focus on the “positive outcome they will create.”Frisina also suggests that, when employees ask questions, leaders should lead them to answers by describing the desired outcome and asking questions of their own that facilitate discovery. When people are successful, that needs to be celebrated, too, he says. “Get into a flow of recognizing wins and success stories, in conversations, at every meeting, as a part of every process improvement initiative,” said Frisina. “The more we emphasize what’s going well, the more likely people are to stay in their upper brain–and the more likely success is to be repeated.”A Case Study of Positivity in PracticeAndrew Wade, CEO of OrthoSC, an orthopedic clinic with six locations in South Carolina, says he became a devotee to Frisina’s approach after hiring him as a coach in 2020. “Upper-brain thinking” has spurred transformative change in his organization, he told From Day One.“The environment that we create really does have a physical, a very real physiological effect on people,” Wade said, referring to leaders in general. In a negative environment, “people will literally have higher blood pressure, they will experience more stress-related illness, [and they will have] a harder time in their marriage and their parenting relationships [and] in their community.”Andrew Wade, CEO of an orthopedic clinic with six locations in South CarolinaDuring the first few months of the pandemic, an unprecedentedly stressful time for healthcare workers, Wade began to prioritize positive thinking and bring it to the workplace. He recognized that, in his organization, leadership requires what he calls an “influential, relationship-driven” approach. If he was going to expect good customer service out of his employees, which requires that they be consistently pleasant, he had to set an example.“I do not have the authoritative leadership, if you will, to just be that CEO who issues a memo from on high and expects everything to just happen the way I set it,” said Wade. “Sometimes that lends itself to it being harder to get things done because you’re building consensus [and] you’re motivating [employees] to move–you’re not kicking them or shoving them forward.”Reshaping the company culture into one with more positivity had to begin with his own outlook and disposition. “If something sucks, it starts with the mirror,” he said. “If I’m not showing up at my best, then I’m not going to be able to help my team show up at their best and we’re not going to be able to collectively function in unison to deliver our best for the people who are entrusting their care to us.”The Role of Empathy and ListeningIf leaders can stay in upper-brain mode, which Frisina further describes as “a state of positivity, openness, engagement and creativity,” he said, they’re less likely to frighten, stress out or even shut down employees. Whether you’re a worker or a manager, you might feel yourself dipping into lower-brain thinking, but there are ways to pull yourself out of it. When engaging with a coworker or client and things just aren’t clicking, Frisina suggests taking a walk in the other person’s shoes. Think: What is driving their behavior? What pressures do they face? What do they need to get from this partnership? How might they be perceiving you? It’s often OK to verbalize those types of questions.“Being inquisitive is powerful,” said Frisina. “Too often we go into situations thinking we already know the answer. But this kind of self-righteousness makes us rigid, which sets us up for conflict and failure. We should really approach conversations with a what-can-I-learn-from-you attitude. But also, asking questions opens minds, hearts, and doors. It shows people you care about them. They are far more likely to settle down, open up, and be more willing to cooperate and collaborate.”All of this starts with mindfulness, which Frisina writes in his book helps a person “regulate your own thoughts, function as the guardian of your team’s collective thinking, and increase your leadership effectiveness.” Foundationally, mindfulness is a strict focus on the present moment, or in the case of work, what you are thinking right now. “It is a technique of calming your mind, reducing stress, increasing focus, reducing distraction, avoiding multitasking, eliminating disruptive behaviors, and being mentally and physically present with people,” Frisina writes. Bringing oneself into a state of mindfulness can be accomplished by periodically taking brief pauses throughout the day “to slow your thinking,” Frisina suggests in his book. Mindful breathing exercises can help too. All of this, he writes, “will bring your thoughts under your direct and conscious control.”Making People Feel ValuedMindfulness, in fact, is what powers the positive-thinking approaches to people management that leadership coach April Sabral teaches in her book The Positive Effect: A Retail Leader’s Guide to Changing the World. “You have to become very self-aware as a leader,” said Sabral, who has worked for such brands as Starbucks, Apple, and the Gap. “You have the lever to ignite those positive emotions in people.”Sabral says a key to being positive with people is through the radical acceptance of who they are, which helps bring a better understanding of how to manage them and insight into the entire kaleidoscope of their capabilities. “People will work with you, but they won’t work for you,” she said. “When I managed people, those who felt supported did the best job, they got the best results. It’s really about how you make people feel valued.”Achieving radical acceptance of others requires more listening than talking, which could be out of a manager’s comfort zone. “It sounds really basic, but do you know how many people don’t know how to listen?” Sabral said. “A top skill that leaders need to learn is how to ask questions.”These skills will be valuable when a leader or a worker enters into what Sabral calls “a negative spiral” of thinking, which will affect everyone around them. But there are ways out of it. She observes that it’s not possible to “stay positive, you have to be positive.” So one way to climb back into a positive state is to have a list of things that make you feel good, Sabral suggests. “It could be anything, something big or small. It could be walking around the block or listening to your favorite song,” Sabral said. “When you’re in a negative spiral and you’re recognizing that, do something that makes you feel good so you can get back to neutral and then recognize your negative thinking and start working on it.”Sabral has trained leaders in positive thinking at L’Oréal, Victoria’s Secret, Jimmy Choo, and other companies. Those she has coached have reported back to her saying their personal adoption of positive thinking has had a lasting impact, she said.“The No. 1 thing that happens to all those team leaders is they recognize that they take ownership of igniting positive emotions in their team,” Sabral said. “They’ve become way more aware of walking into situations with that assumption that people aren’t always going to be honest with them, so their job is to remove the friction, remove the title, and start to build that positive relationship with their team.”The Benefits for WorkersSouth Carolina entrepreneur Wade says Michael Frisina’s counseling of upper-brain thinking and the power of positivity has helped him get his workers–and himself–to perform like they’re “in their prime.” They’re in a better place mentally and emotionally, he says, which precisely aligns with the business’s mission of providing health care.“If we’re going be an organization that takes care of people, that means not just the customer, but the people who are working here in the organization that are just as important,” he said. “If I’m constantly sucking the life out of people by creating an environment that’s harsh and nasty and unkind, and people are constantly worried and scared and afraid to pick their heads up, they’re not going to be able to do their best work.”There’s nothing toxic about that, and after learning about positive thinking and seeing its benefits play out across the six locations of his company, Wade adds, reflectively: “It’s just one of those foundational things that seems like it should be so obvious, but it’s not.”Michael Stahl is a New York City-based freelance journalist, writer, and editor. You can read more of his work at MichaelStahlWrites.com, follow him on Twitter @MichaelRStahl, and order his first book, the autobiography of Major League Baseball pitcher Bartolo Colón, at Abrams Books.
Embracing the Strengths of Multigenerational Teams
BY Michael Stahl June 28, 2023Thanks in part to the gifts of modern medicine, as many as five different generations might currently be employed in a given organization. With the average life expectancy of Americans on the rise, and a greater understanding that age diversity within teams is a strength, companies today are taking steps to ensure they are age-inclusive. A From Day One thought leadership spotlight, “Age Inclusion 101: Beyond Generational Stereotypes,” part of From Day One’s virtual conference on new approaches to diversity and inclusion, provided insight and advice on how leaders can go about building age-inclusive cultures. Heather Tinsley-Fix, senior advisor of financial resilience at AARP, revealed some research-supported tips in an engaging presentation. Here are the key takeaways:Don’t Put People Into “Generational Buckets”Some leaders might have an inclination to assign expectations to employees based on the generation they were born into. While such thinking might appear to serve as a means of better understanding workers, there’s risk in adopting this approach.“That’s when the stereotypes come in,” said Tinsley-Fix. To illustrate her point, Tinsley-Fix shared her screen with her audience and Googled different generations, including “Boomers,” “Generation X,” and “Generation Z.” The results pages spit out stereotype-laden information about why Boomers are “entitled” and “bad with technology,” why Gen X is “so annoying,” and why Gen Z is “so sensitive.”Not only are such stereotypes “kind of ridiculous,” Tinsley-Fix said, they’re also nonsensical, because there is inscrutable crossover. (Boomers and Gen Z, as well as Millennials, somehow all have a reputation for being “entitled,” for example.) Tinsley-Fix noted that our current concept of what constitutes a generation is fairly new, having been presented only 70 years ago by Karl Mannheim, who said events that take place during the youth of age groups give rise to commonalities in character.AARP's senior advisor for financial resilience, Heather Tinsley-Fix, presented the thought leadership spotlight (AARP photo)“And of course, as Millennials became a huge presence in the workforce, employers were really interested in attracting them,” Tinsley-Fix continued. “So a whole cottage industry sprang up around assigning these traits and characteristics to specific generations, and it kind of went a bit into overdrive, which is where we get this notion that Millennials want beanbags, candy, and pool tables at work.”But research shows there is not a meaningful relationship between work-related outcomes and generational membership. Tinsley-Fix said she’s reviewed many surveys through the years, which indicate that people, “regardless of their age, their gender, their ethnicity, all have about the same core set of wants or needs from their employer.” Such values include flexibility, respect, ethical leadership, and opportunities to advance and do meaningful work. How these values may materialize in the workplace can differ by age group; however, it’s clear that generally placing expectations on a worker based on their generation is not only unproductive, it’s grounded in unproven perceptions and “corrosive to the inclusion work you’re trying to bring about in your company,” Tinsley-Fix said.The Negative Impact of Ageist StereotypesTinsley-Fix cited a Harvard Business Review article, which described an experiment that saw a group of undergraduate students train others on how to conduct a computer-based operation using only Google Chat. Unbeknownst to those conducting the training, the trainees were also undergraduate students, but were utilizing fake Google bios with profile pictures of people of various ages.“And, distressingly, they found that when the trainers believed that they were teaching an older person how to do the computer task, they had lower expectations and provided worse training,” Tinsley-Fix said. “So the ‘older people’ on the other end of that Google Chat did not get the same level of training that younger people did.”There are other negative effects from ageism in the workforce, but obviously the inability to properly train employees because of age stereotypes means they won’t be put in a position to succeed. Their organization will suffer and they themselves will be at greater risk of being pushed out of the workforce altogether. How To Make Your Organization More Age-InclusiveOne way to build an age-inclusive culture is to publicly commit to it, something AARP can help with. On the organization’s website, leaders will find a pledge to commit to “experienced workers” that they can sign and subsequently promote, helping to brand the company in such a way, perhaps alongside website imaging that includes photos of people in older generations. “Other aspects of committing to an age inclusive culture include things like adding age explicitly as an element in your DEI strategy in your materials,” Tinsley-Fix said, “whether that be statements on your online diversity pages, or building the business case for leaders to embrace age as an element of diversity.”She also suggested that companies add age metrics to their ESG statements, an emerging trend in organizations eager to discuss their workforce’s demographics openly. Another tip is to review job descriptions listed in want ads.“It may not seem like something that would cause people to be put off, but if you include phrases like ‘high energy,’ ‘digital native,’ ‘recent college grad,’ and things like that, you can really send a subtle message that you’re not interested in older candidates,” Tinsley-Fix said. Do not include age markers–such as the candidate’s date of birth or college graduation year–if your company is using AI-based hiring algorithms to weed out unsuitable candidates, Tinsley-Fix warned. Also, instead of requiring a candidate to have X years of experience, say that they should have “at least X years of experience.”“That way, if an older candidate is deciding to make a pivot, and they want to move into a different field, they can say that they do have at least two years of experience, and it’s not capping the experience that you’re asking for,” Tinsley-Fix said. Be sure your company is upskilling everyone, she added, which cuts down on hiring costs while also promoting age inclusion. “It’s so important to adopt a growth mindset, it’s so important to set that from the top down as a core belief about people and about your workforce that anyone can learn,” Tinsley-Fix said in closing. “And that growth is always on the table. No matter your age, no matter how young or old you are.”Editor’s note: AARP, who presented this thought leadership spotlight, has partnered with MindEdge Learning to create a skills-building platform for employers to upskill their employees regardless of age. The course catalog includes a range of high-demand skills as well as durable soft skills to enhance productivity and contribute to the growth of your workforce and company. If you’re interested in signing up or just hearing more about these courses, add your name to the Google form here. Michael Stahl is a New York City-based freelance journalist, writer, and editor. You can read more of his work at MichaelStahlWrites.com, follow him on Twitter @MichaelRStahl, and order his first book, the autobiography of Major League Baseball pitcher Bartolo Colón, at Abrams Books.
Searching for Competency: How AI Can Make Management More Inclusive—and Effective
BY Michael Stahl June 19, 2023While much of the animated conversation about artificial intelligence has focused on the frightening ways AI could disrupt social institutions—or much worse—what’s often overlooked is how much businesses are already using it. In fact, HR is among the most popular areas where companies apply the technology. In a survey, 42% of HR professionals at companies with more than 5,000 workers said they use AI and other automation to support HR activities, according to a 2022 poll of HR leaders by the Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM). The top areas for using AI: recruiting and hiring, learning and development, and performance management. Even so, more than half of the AI-using professionals said they have run into challenges with it, including AI accidentally overlooking or excluding qualified candidates. How can companies use AI in ways that are both more inclusive and effective? They could focus much less on credentials and more on skills and aptitude. “We think competencies level the playing field,” said Katie Hall, CEO and founder of Claira, a workforce management platform powered by AI that measures workers’ competencies to improve hiring, engagement and employee retention. “Everyone everywhere has competencies. We think that the system has to change and be set up in such a way that we don’t make permanent mistakes with the AI revolution that’s coming.”Skills-focused hiring and career development is catching on across many industries. Among the reasons for this, according to recent Deloitte data: The majority of employees focus on team and project work that fall outside their job descriptions; more work is performed “across functional boundaries,” and adopting a skills-based approach gives organizations a 57% better chance at being “agile.”Claira takes this outlook a step further. Workers don’t only have everyday skills that are on conspicuous display when they carry out tasks. They have “invisible” ones as well, including, as defined by the Society for Human Resource Management, empathy and compassion, a sense of curiosity, and listening skills.“If you’re a musician or you like to cook in your free time, that means you like directions,” says Hall, offering an example of her own. “You like to do things in a specific order and you’re very rigorous about following protocols.” Katie Hall, founder and CEO of Claira (Company photo)Claira’s AI is built to identify these “invisible competencies,” as Hall calls them, that paint a more vivid picture of not only a candidate’s kaleidoscope of capabilities, but also those of employees already on a team.“If you can unlock each individual,” by considering all of their competencies, those visible and invisible, “then you have the opportunity to really maximize your whole workforce,” Hall says.Her company has accumulated data to quantify how much companies don’t do this. On average, employers are utilizing only 40% of their workforce’s potential, according to Claira research, reflecting slack of 60% that they could better maximize to cut costs—in large part because they’re unaware of their employees’ competencies. “There are a lot of opportunities to cut costs and create efficiency in HR,” said Hall. “We heard from one of our companies that they found someone internally who could do the things they had listed on a job posting, so they took the posting down and just used the person they already had on the team. What did that save? A hundred grand?”The way Claira works is it plugs into an organization’s HR software, which includes applicant-tracking systems, and creates from all the résumés and other items a “competency library that suits the business,” as Hall described it.“We have like 20,000 competencies in the back of our software,” said Hall, “things like ‘manage a team of engineers,’ ‘listen with empathy’ and many others, and we’ll tune the dataset.”Then, Claira onboards an organization’s employee base through a brief questionnaire. The AI selects competencies for the workers based on their answers. “We’re also translating the text that comes into competencies, which is part of the secret sauce,” Hall says. “We’re trying to make it really easy for customers to adopt the new way, and technology is what’s filling the gap and allowing us to meet them where they are.”With all this in place, Claira can also help an organization identify hard skills a current employee has that they just don’t utilize in their current roles. “We uncover that people may have taken a coding class,” says Hall. “So there are people working in a division of the business and their managers have no idea that they have coding skills.”If that could be realized, the employee could be positioned more advantageously, where their full suite of skills are leveraged. “And if you align people to their work better, they’re happier, right?” Hall said. “That’s a big retention metric, and we see about a 20% retention bump.”In fact, with this kind of program in place, a people manager might even realize some of their workers can become AI programmers—jobs that will be increasingly in demand going forward and will logically replace many outdated ones. “Think holistically,” advised Hall. “It’s not just people anymore. ChatGPT is part of your workforce. So is your hardware. You’re going to have to start training the models and managing your workforce in a way that includes both humans and machines together, so there will be a lot of new competencies emerging, like programming and maintaining the software, stuff like that.”She says further integration of AI is “inevitable,” no differently than any of the other tools and solutions adopted by companies through the years. But Hall also understands the skepticism and fear associated with AI’s rise in prominence. “Humans are funny. We’ve known this was coming for a long time; we’ve been talking about AI for years and it still surprised us,” Hall said. “We’re either going to do AI right or not, and that’s scary, but we have an opportunity right now to get it right.”Editor’s note: From Day One thanks our partner, Claira, for supporting this sponsor spotlight.Michael Stahl is a New York City-based freelance journalist, writer, and editor. You can read more of his work at MichaelStahlWrites.com, follow him on Twitter @MichaelRStahl, and order his first book, the autobiography of Major League Baseball pitcher Bartolo Colón, at Abrams Books.
Show Us the Outcomes: The Impact of DEI on Business Strategy and Results
BY Michael Stahl June 13, 2023Xerox has a long, storied history of trailblazing in the diversity, equity and inclusion space. The corporation required women and minorities to be part of the final pool of candidates for management positions starting in 1968. Through the years since, the company has also established a number of employee resource groups for various minority communities across its employee base and, in 2009, hired the first Black woman as CEO of any Fortune 500 company, among other highlights. But when the latest wave of civil rights discourse focused heavily on corporate responsibility for enhanced DEI outcomes as a means of truly elevating underserved people in society, Xerox was not going to rest on its laurels. It definitely was not going to make the mistake of simply having heartfelt conversations about the need for change without making it actually happen.“Even being a trailblazer, you have to think about, ‘How do you continue to progress given what is happening in the world?’” said Suzan Morno-Wade, EVP and chief human resources officer at Xerox, during a fireside chat at From Day One’s June virtual conference. “There are a number of things that we did then, in the past, that we’ve had to change today to continue to be more relevant [and] to respond to the needs of the business and the needs of our clients, our stakeholders and our employees.”Discussing these changes and tips for other organizations working to enact impactful change through DEI initiatives with Kadia Tubman, managing editor of diversity, equity and inclusion at Insider, Morno-Wade observed first that a company’s approach must be “holistic.” Planned DEI outcomes have to serve “not just your employees, but your suppliers, clients, stakeholders, your board, your community in which you sell your services and your products,” she said.“The role of the ERGs has really changed as well,” Morno-Wade continued. “In the past, the ERGs were more known to be focused on social events, or maybe just focused on philanthropic events. But actually today, many of the ERGs are very embedded in the organization and really trying to help advance the business strategy.”To maximize ERG impact on Xerox’s business strategy, Morno-Wade said the company recently engaged in a regular schedule of listening sessions with their members and developed what she called a “roadmap” toward improved DEI outcomes. She acknowledged that such an approach may not be completely revelatory, but added that its intentionality and relevance to where the company is and where it is headed was crucial in establishing its viability.Suzan Morno-Wade and Kadia Tubman kicked off the June virtual conference (photo by From Day One)Thoughtfully considering all this will help any organization build their own DEI roadmap. So will the collection of data.“I spent time ensuring that I was educated with the facts,” Morno-Wade told Tubman. “What is the impact on revenue? What's the impact on engagement when you have an inclusive, diverse environment? What does that do to innovation? There's tons of research out there.”She added that the way Xerox becomes the best for-profit version of itself is by “getting the best out of everybody.” A great way to do that is by accepting people for who they are and, she said, understanding that everyone has their own “natural biases” that they bring to any conversation.When one or more colleagues are viewed as “a problem” for DEI rollout because of past dispositions, Tubman pointed out, “that’s not really a great place to start.” Instead, at the beginning, choose empathy. DEI won’t always get every person on the same page, but open discourse prompted by such initiatives will bring them closer to a middle ground, at the very least, than they were before. Implementing DEI strategies, including compensatory incentive plans, has to start with conversations at the top of the corporate structure. The Xerox HR squad worked with its in-house analytics team, Morno-Wade said, to build a DEI rewards dashboard and other tools that supported their vision of the future. Then they brought all their data, tools and plans to the C-suite and influential managers.“We needed to get the buy-in from the top down,” Morno-Wade said. “That was our journey. Any advice I have for any company contemplating this: You could look at what other companies do, but make sure it's relevant to your own business, your own culture and where you are in the DEI journey.”She said in summation that companies have to understand their business and talent strategy, first, to build DEI initiatives that work best for them. Listening to workers and addressing their concerns and needs through DEI programming, supported by better-informed leaders, are additional keys. Finally, an organization’s DEI roadmap is important to ensure that everyone across the employee base is aligned and focused on bringing the company closer to its goals.“That's what DEI work is today,” Tubman said. “It's not just good intentions. It's not just events. It’s resources support, policy change and accountability, especially.”Michael Stahl is a New York City-based freelance journalist, writer, and editor. You can read more of his work at MichaelStahlWrites.com, follow him on Twitter @MichaelRStahl, and order his first book, the autobiography of Major League Baseball pitcher Bartolo Colón, at Abrams Books.
How to Transform Your Coaching Into Outcome Based Skills Development
BY Michael Stahl May 26, 2023Across just a six-month span, a large ed-tech company enjoyed a boost in customer retention and customer satisfaction, while worker productivity increased as well. Did the organization achieve this by magically lowering prices while innovating its product and raising employee compensation all at the same time? Nope.Instead, its learning and development leader had a clear vision of driving business KPIs with L&D by improving customer churn and engineering throughput outcomes. The executive recognized that first-level managers were in the best position to facilitate such results. So they cultivated a training program focused on that role, enlisting GrowthSpace, the coaching and mentorship platform, as its partner.Omer Glass, co-founder and CEO of GrowthSpace, told From Day One's May Virtual audience during a recent thought leadership spotlight, that results like these start with a simple formula that sports a fun acronym: POP, which stands for “population outcome program.”“This is something you can do basically tomorrow morning and start experimenting with,” said Glass. “It’s very cool. Once you do it, it becomes addictive.”First, Glass explained, figure out what “population” of the workforce you should focus on, based on their potential to drive your desired KPIs. Ask yourself: “Which population is the most important to invest in?” Is it managers or R&D leaders for example?Once you’ve limited your search to a broad group, narrow it down further to the employees within that group who have the most promise in terms of KPI outcome delivery.When it comes to “outcomes,” the goal, Glass said, is to drive performance, reduce attrition and build a promotable base.Omer Glass, the co-founder and CEO of GrowthSpace, led the thought leadership spotlight (company photo)“If you thought of a population, you can think, ‘OK, I want to drive performance for my engineering [team],’” said Glass. “The next thing, which is the most critical thing that you probably ask is, ‘How do I measure it?’ and ‘How do I know I can really attribute the change to what [I] just did?’”He explained that outcomes can be measured in three different ways, through program surveys, leveraging HR analytics and/or the attainment of defined business or organizational KPIs. Glass recommended a deeper focus on the lattermost option, as it’s the most reliable and informative.“The best way to really make sure that you’re attributing the success to your Learning and Development program is to A-B test,” he said, suggesting that the R&D population and the customer success population each be split into halves with the L&D program being the only variance between the groups.Finally, it’s time to design the “program,” with a focus on driving toward the desired KPIs.“You can do mentoring, you can do training, you can do coaching, could do team coaching, workshops, internal mentoring,” Glass said, suggesting one-on-one coaching as the most effective means of development. “But the outcome you’re trying to drive needs to be connected with what you’re doing,” he added. “You need to focus on a program that’s very focused on a very specific metric.”With that in mind, it becomes easier to execute the crucial next step of pairing employees with their coaches for five concentrated sessions across two months, which allows the process to be scaled (or altered or terminated if it does not appear to be achieving its purpose). Outcomes are then measured and Glass said, overall, GrowthSpace partners that engage in this program report a 50% reduction in employee attrition, a 10% increase in promotable base, up to a 10% increase in internal productivity metrics and up to a 7% increase in functional KPIs, such as sales or operations improvements.“We basically help companies achieve their business outcomes, by becoming more business critical, by helping them deploy human-to-human programs,” Glass said of GrowthSpace.A very tech-forward solution with a human touch? Sounds like a viable balance of old and new school approaches team members can get behind.Editor’s note: From Day One thanks our partner, GrowthSpace for sponsoring this thought leadership spotlight.Michael Stahl is a New York City-based freelance journalist, writer, and editor. You can read more of his work at MichaelStahlWrites.com, follow him on Twitter @MichaelRStahl, and order his first book, the autobiography of Major League Baseball pitcher Bartolo Colón, at Abrams Books.
How to Future-Proof Your Employee Experience Strategy
BY Michael Stahl May 19, 2023When Rob Catalano decided he wanted to spend the rest of his life with his girlfriend, he picked what he thought was the perfect spot for a proposal site, at the top of a mountain after an enjoyable hike. Just before the pair were set to go on what Catalano hoped would be a fateful excursion, authorities closed the mountain to visitors. Disappointed but determined, Catalano proposed at a later time and a different locale. His girlfriend still said yes and, wanting to hold the ceremony quickly, their wedding planning was ramped up in double time. They quickly booked a venue, established a guest list of 250 people and decided on a honeymoon destination. Then, the Covid-19 pandemic swooped in to disrupt it all. Their wedding was delayed, the venue was changed and the guest list was whittled down to 30, with a number of loved ones who would ordinarily have been thrilled to experience the celebration forced to merely send a gift and congratulatory greeting card. Eighteen hours prior to the nuptials, a problem with Catalano’s suit arose and he rushed to secure a new one. More than a year later, when Catalano and his betrothed were allowed to travel and finally embark on their honeymoon, they wound up in hospital beds abroad suffering from a flu bug. However, when people ask Catalano about his wedding experience he doesn’t delve into those details. For him, recalling that period brings nothing but joy. He tells them the proposal—which happened while on vacation in Hawaii—as well as the outdoor wedding they had with family and friends and even the honeymoon were the stuff of dreams. “All in all it was this fantastic experience, an experience I’ll remember forever as a positive one,” said Catalano, the co-founder and chief engagement officer of the employee experience platform WorkTango, during a From Day One webinar titled, “How to Future-Proof Your Employee Experience Strategy: Navigating Through Economic Uncertainty and Beyond.” The relevance of his wedding to the workplace?“If we think about our employees and our organizations, we want our employees to remember their experience at our organizations as a really, really positive one,” he said. “Perception is made up of moments. The only way we can contribute to the overall experience of our employees is thinking of that employee experience as a collection of moments that happen on a regular basis.”Workers will encounter unpleasant challenges at work no matter what—just as people do in all aspects of their lives, just as Catalano did across his entire wedding experience. But what companies can do to create an enjoyable employee experience, Catalano said, is develop favorable “moments that matter, the things that really define that overall perception, that overall experience.”Company leaders can do this, according to Catalano, by first adopting what he called the three pillars of the modern employee experience framework: working, living and growing, all of which are cultivated on a nourishing foundation of corporate culture and enablement. The first pillar, “working,” is about “designing an optimal work experience,” he said, and “aligning it towards making employees successful.” The ways in which a given organization might establish this vary from organization to organization. But a foundational principle can carry a leadership team to success: “Companies need to focus on the success of the employees, not on the success of the company,” Catalano advised. “That’s a critical mindset to be in.”In regard to the “living” pillar, Catalano said it requires “a consistent, intentional focus on the employee experience strategy that supports the living human being, not just a working employee.” The serviceable mindset for people managers here, he said, is “focusing on the whole person, the wellbeing needs of a purpose, and the equity and impact of support allowing the human being to recover and return to work.”When Catalano thinks about the “growing” pillar, to him it means the facilitation of an employee “growth experience”—their opportunities to develop as a worker over the long term, a natural inclination. “People want to grow, they want to thrive,” Catalano said. “Employees don’t want to work for business anymore, they want to work with your business. Growth goes both ways [and] if you’re just a company thinking about growth of the company, not your employees, again, it’s not going to be the experience they want [in order] to go on that journey with you.”Rob Catalano, co-founder and chief engagement officer of WorkTango, led the webinar (company photo)Optimal work productivity, comfortable well-being and professional development within an organization are powered by a company culture that has purpose, vision, values and rituals, Catalano said, as well as practical enablement tools that leverage technology, agility and good leadership. Once this framework has been established inside an organization, team leaders can start to build what Catalano called those “moments that matter,” which will help build a truly amiable employee workplace experience. His first piece of advice: Take inventory of what you do well and not so well through self-reflection—keeping in mind the three pillars of experience framework—and thinking about moments in terms of “beginnings and endings.”“When people think about experiences, they typically remember the beginning and the ends and high points,” Catalano said. “When I shared my wedding experience, it started with a proposal and the honeymoon at the end [because] that’s just the way people react and how they absorb moments.”He also said that the employees themselves need to be engaged on the matter, through conversations and surveys that cover what’s working in the office and what isn’t. Some questions to ask include: “What’s been the best moment at work?” “The worst?” “What are your past memorable experiences?”Once they’re understood, leadership should do their best to shape and define the moments that matter, Catalano said. “You can’t control all the moments,” he said. “So how do you define the ones that really matter? And the way to do that is, first, you scribe and identify all the negative experiences that you’ve learned.” From talking to employees, maybe a leader learned that employees didn’t know what to do before their first day or they felt lost in their first week. “That’s not a great experience,” Catalano continued. Find out what isn’t working and figure out “how not to repeat those items,” he said, and instead foster more of what workers respond to positively. When leaders identify moments that matter that employees appreciate, Catalano advised that the leaders “make it a big deal” when they happen. Instead of just a team welcome card, maybe a handwritten note from an executive is in order. “The idea is…how do you add excitement and fireworks to that moment?” he said. These outreach efforts should be curated so that they feel not only authentic but uniquely representative of the organization, as well as personal and intentional, too. Instead of a gift card to celebrate a work anniversary or some other achievement, the employee is perhaps sent what Catalano described as a “culture package,” items the worker will enjoy that are somehow tied to the company’s culture, mission and values.“You need to make it recognizable,” he said, adding a third tip. “How do you ensure that the intrinsic motivation and pride that goes into your employees when they accomplish something happens?”Again, the execution of this outreach should be contrived by an individual company, but Catalano said he recently learned of an organization that sent a new hire’s family a gift in a show of appreciation for their support of their job change. “These are simple [acts] that create wonderful, memorable moments and contribute to that overall [workplace] experience,” Catalano said. Ultimately, the best way to ensure the success of this approach is to make it “foundational” to the business, Catalano added. “The reality is, once you have all that, now you can start bringing these moments that matter, which influences your better employee experience overall,” Catalano said. And we all know the benefits when you have people that are enjoying their experience: less turnover, more engagement and productivity. That’s what you’ll start seeing in your organization.”Editor’s note: From Day One thanks our partner, WorkTango, for sponsoring this webinar.Michael Stahl is a New York City-based freelance journalist, writer, and editor. You can read more of his work at MichaelStahlWrites.com, follow him on Twitter @MichaelRStahl, and order his first book, the autobiography of Major League Baseball pitcher Bartolo Colón, at Abrams Books.
How Career Growth Can Be a Part of Employee Experience From the Start
BY Michael Stahl May 17, 2023For all the cultural discourse about employees today demanding greater respect and appreciation, a better work-life balance, and other intangibles like a sense of purpose, make no mistake: money still talks. “We’ve all heard that people don’t leave jobs, they leave their bad bosses,” said Lydia Dishman, senior editor for growth and engagement at Fast Company, moderating a panel for From Day One’s April virtual conference. However, Dishman was also quick to point out Pew Research data that revealed that the number-one reason workers quit is low pay. And what was tied for the top spot? A lack of opportunities for advancement, which Dishman noted is also tied to earnings. The further they move up at a job, the more money they make.Certainly, good company leaders who are dedicated to employee well-being should treat workers better and mindfully develop ways to do so–if only for the sake of productivity, higher retention rates, and a stronger bottom line. But they still need to fairly compensate team members and supply them with the promise of enhanced pay through career growth. This commitment is a win-win for the employee and the employer, but how can organizations make it a reality for their team members? That’s what Dishman’s five panel guests discussed, and here are their key insights:Establish a Learning Culture“Creating an environment that values learning and encourages employees to experiment, share their knowledge and take on new challenges is really critical,” said Angie Maizlish, senior enterprise account executive at Coursera, the online learning platform that focuses on job skills. That’s not only something Coursera advocates for, but lives by. Maizlish says the company recently launched a “Make-AI-athon,” which encouraged team members to engage with the burgeoning AI technology that’s made so many headlines of late and use it to build out email campaigns and other content. “It’s really important again to, right from the start, develop that culture of learning [by creating] learning opportunities,” Maizlish continued. “Secondly, really developing a growth mindset in: ‘How do we learn from our mistakes?’”Maizlish says that in sales, for example–the playground Maizlish operates in everyday—workers experience robust rejection. But persistence and resilience allow employees, based in sales or any other area, to grow from their “failures.”Third, Maizlish says leaders must communicate expectations to establish a foundational understanding of what an employee can do to help a company and improve their chances of advancing within it. Employers should also establish mentorship programming, while providing feedback and recognition for learning accomplishments, too.Take Learning to the “Micro” LevelOftentimes, when a worker starts a new job and is onboarded, they feel overwhelmed by the glut of information projected at them. It’s unpleasant and, really, an enthusiastic employee—like the one you believe you just hired—just wants to be productive. Elizabeth Fiting, chief learning officer at Studio 5, a creative agency that specializes in people development, says that workers are reaching out to learn things as part of their everyday jobs, but generally when it's immediately useful.So, “rather than having content firehosed at them during onboarding,” Fiting explained, where about the highest expectation is that the worker will vaguely remember something being said about a given topic, “and maybe if they’re lucky they’ll remember where to find that information when they need it,” Fiting suggested people managers set up “microlearning” opportunities. Microlearning isn’t just a small chunk of information that a worker can process and take with them. It’s “targeted” and “flexible,” Fiting said, and gives the employee the chance to utilize the information right away, as it is needed.“They solve their problem, and then they move on, which makes a ton of sense when you think about the way that most of us are solving our problems in our everyday lives,” Fiting said. “If you have a leak in your kitchen sink, you’re not going online and Googling, ‘How do I get a plumbing certification?’ You are finding a video that a plumber has created showing you how to fix that leak, you’re fixing your leak, and then you’re moving on with your life.”The panelists discussed the importance of career growth opportunities during From Day One's April virtual conference (photo by From Day One)What does microlearning look like in onboarding—which is programming that Studio 5 not only has in-house but helps other companies develop? Fiting says that, at Studio 5, there’s a practice of communicating what resources are available to employees. When employees get to a given “point of need,” they’re provided a short instructional video or easy access to a job aid that helps them complete a task. This approach, Fiting said, “honors an individual’s experience” and the knowledge they already bring to the job, “while also providing them the support that they need when they need it.”Make Learning a Daily PracticeKelly Woltornist, head of global learning at Takeda, a Japanese multinational pharmaceutical company, says that her company’s people managers use onboarding as an opportunity to teach employees about the company’s history—which actually goes back 240 years—as well as its values, to create a sense of belonging and purpose. But the learning doesn’t end there for workers. In fact, it happens everyday. “We do work in growth mindset,” Woltornist said. “We enable them to be curious, and we teach them how to learn.”Much of this approach is founded upon layers of mindfulness and intentionality. Woltornist said employees are asked to consider, “How do you think about what you’re doing that day?” and “What can you extract from it?” They also identify a skill they can practice in their day-to-day duties, “but do it from a very deliberate perspective,” Woltornist said.Takeda has also recently launched a learning experience platform that boasts high adoption rates and helps establish the company-wide culture of daily learning through a variety of content and interactive features. “When people join the workforce, they’ve put their academic career behind them; they don’t like to think of themselves as students anymore,” observed Dishman. “I know that I railed against that the first couple of years after I graduated and entered the workforce.” She says she had a sense of “I got my paper,” proving that she’d already learned everything she needed to know. Since then, Dishman’s realized the value of new knowledge and continuing on through life with “a student mindset.” For her, “Everyday is a school day.”Identify Key SkillsEmployers can make growth a little easier for workers to wrap their head around if they first identify key skills the company will need its employees to develop over time. Not only does this future-proof the operation, it keeps workers engaged through learning.Shveta Miglani, head of global learning and development at Micron Technology, a medical memory and storage solutions company, says this is a vital approach given the quick pace at which external markets evolve. To decipher the areas in which workers may need to upskill, Miglani advises people leaders and other executives to first conclude what their business goals for the next three to five years may be. “Don’t think about moving fast,” Miglani told leaders listening in. “Think about scaling and starting with your function first.”Encourage Employees to Identify Their Goals and Communicate Them to ManagersNarrowing down what employees should learn and how they can grow in ways that best serve their company and their own careers can be achieved through a “down-up” approach, too. Lauren Mendoza, director of organizational development at ABM Industries, a facilities management provider, says that, in addition to company executives figuring out business goals and targeting skills they want workers to develop, the process can also be inverted. Employees should identify their career goals, communicate them to managers and then collaborate on a potential pathway.“If you are an employee, you are trying to think: ‘Where do I want to go?’ ‘How do I want to get there?’” Mendoza said. But employees should first consider, Mendoza noted: “What are you trying to achieve?” Furthermore, employees should identify whether or not they are happy in their current role, or even if they need more time, experience, and education to determine their level of contentment. From there, they can think about vertical or lateral movements, Mendoza said. “Maybe you are in the HR department, trying to become that subject-matter expert of any field within HR, and you want exposure to recruitment benefits, L&D, talent management–so many different areas,” Mendoza said. “Reach out, find a network, create an area where you can find mentors, and know your HR business partner.”An employee’s direct people manager, Mendoza continued, is the person who can talk through available options for career paths and learning opportunities. “‘Are there certain courses that are allocated at different levels?’ ‘Certain courses that are offered to high performers?’ ‘What is the high performer here?’” Mendoza said. “I think that those are all really good questions to ask your HR business partner.”Michael Stahl is a New York City-based freelance journalist, writer, and editor. You can read more of his work at MichaelStahlWrites.com, follow him on Twitter @MichaelRStahl, and order his first book, the autobiography of Major League Baseball pitcher Bartolo Colón, at Abrams Books.
‘These Are the Plunderers’: A Dim View of Private Equity
BY Michael Stahl May 16, 2023Front-line health care workers had a grueling job in the pandemic, and shortages of protective personal equipment and medical supplies didn’t help. Some of those issues made widespread headlines, but the cause of these issues, which led to a widespread loss of human life, has been less well-explored. In their new book, These Are the Plunderers: How Private Equity Runs–and Wrecks–America, authors Gretchen Morgenson and Joshua Rosner provide insight on the root cause of these issues, exposing the ways in which private equity groups made billions in health care, while shortchanging Americans when they needed help the most.“We felt after Covid landed, and it was so devastating across the country, that it was really exposing what had gone on for the past 30 years [in private equity],” said Morgenson, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist who is now the senior financial reporter for the NBC News Investigative Unit.“We were watching as the government was trying to set up programs to protect the public [and] here these firms were, right at the government trough, with lobbyists leading the charge, trying to explain that they were systemically important and needed access to the [Federal Reserve Bank], and for the Fed to start protecting and buying their assets,” said Rosner, a New York Times bestselling author and managing partner at the independent research consultancy Graham Fisher & Co.The pair spoke at From Day One’s Brooklyn conference in a session titled “A Dim View of Private Equity: How an Insidious Financial Industry Harms Everyday Americans, Tanks the Companies It Acquires, and Puts Our Entire Economic System at Risk.” Observing these bleak scenes of hardship for working class people, Rosner said he and Morgenson thought it was a “Charles Dickens moment.” They quickly recognized, Rosner said, that “nobody was talking about the fact that those shortages were driven” by the private equity industry. “Private equity had been buying up health care businesses for years, and really eviscerating them,” said Morgenson. They went the route of “sucking the profits and the earnings of the assets right out.”Discussion moderator Robert Boynton, director of the literary reportage program at New York University’s Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute, said that to achieve this, the private equity firms made severe cuts to “ventilators, extra rooms and emergency rooms and other things like that, which in normal times perhaps you don’t need, but hospitals are supposed to be prepared for abnormal times.” However, in the minds of the new school of hospital overseers, Boynton said, “the bottom line doesn’t allow that.”Boynton asked Morgenson and Rosner why the health care industry became such a target for private equity firms.Boynton, left, holding Morgenson’s and Rosner’s new book, These Are the Plunderers: How Private Equity Runs-and Wrecks-America (Photos by Cassandra Sajna for From Day One)“Well, it’s 17% of the gross domestic product in this country,” said Morgenson. “It’s a very, very rich vein to mine for these people and you also have government programs that are standing there waiting to be milked or manipulated.”She added that it’s dangerous when profits come into play while individual care for human beings is on the line. “This should be a utility,” said Morgenson. “These hospitals should be things that serve the public, not some financial interests.”Much in the way that the pandemic helped rejigger our cultural outlook toward the workplace–with a growing number of employees prioritizing well-being as much as paychecks–it seems as though the crisis has also prompted an examination of the private equity industry, with people starting to question the sustainability of the business model, Morgenson said. It perhaps couldn’t have come at a better time. “These are extremely wealthy, extremely powerful people; Washington is very happy to see their money and very happy to either act on their behalves of do nothing on their behalves, depending on how that benefits them,” Morgenson said. “I’m very disturbed that that is continuing to be the way they do business.”But can change truly come about? Rosner said it might depend on the level of frustration readers of his book might have after consuming it. The general public still has a say in how the world operates; just look at the corporate response to the wave of worker empowerment the past two years.“Get angry out there,” said Morgenson.“Yeah, get your pitchforks out,” added Boynton.Michael Stahl is a New York City-based freelance journalist, writer, and editor. You can read more of his work at MichaelStahlWrites.com, follow him on Twitter @MichaelRStahl, and order his first book, the autobiography of Major League Baseball pitcher Bartolo Colón, at Abrams Books.
The Five Pillars of Belonging: Why They’re Significant
BY Michael Stahl May 11, 2023Right now, David Bator is the managing director of the Achievers Workforce Institute, the information wing for the employee-experience platform Achievers. But at a previous time in his life, he worked for a different company, and had a boss that did not make him feel as though he belonged in the organization—at all. Bator was injured in a bike-riding accident on his way to work one day, and though in the moments after his fall, in which he suffered a broken leg and a gash above his eye that required many stitches, his first thought was, “Let me fix the chain on my bike and get to work.” Seeing Bator’s condition, a construction worker stopped him from doing so and, eventually, Bator served a two-day stay in the hospital.Still, he worked remotely from his home as soon as he could, but his manager was so worried about a productivity drop that he ordered Bator to return to the office. Bator walked the office on crutches and paid for car services out of his own pocket for a month so he could commute to and from his job. At one point his boss stopped him in the hall and asked how he was doing. Bator opened up about his struggles managing the commute, his pain and his family, which included a couple kids, while recovering from his injuries. Then came the a-ha moment for Bator. His boss said, “No, how’s your work going? I only care about what goes on here.”“Needless to say, I no longer work at that place,” Bator told a room full of guests, who issued a round of applause. He recounted the story at From Day One’s conference in Salt Lake City, where he led a workshop titled, “The Significance of the Five Pillars of Belonging,” the title of which was initially part of an Achievers Workforce Institute report.“The definition that we came to out of that body of research was that belonging is an experience of connection, security and community,” said Bator. “And it’s really a feeling of being at home, without reservation, regardless of who you are, the job you do or where you do that job.”In order to foster a sense of belonging across a workforce, per Achievers’ five pillars, leaders must ensure that they feel “welcomed,” “known,” “included,” “supported” and “connected. “These five pillars have a particularly elastic quality, to build employee experiences that engage our people,” Bator said. “Again, regardless of who they are, the job they do, how long they’ve been doing it, their level of seniority or, fundamentally over the last number of years, where they physically do that job.”WelcomedStarting with the first of the five pillars, Bator suggested leaders distribute tangible greeting cards signed by team members that welcome new hires to the company. He urged managers of new hires to make sure they provide recognition to a new team member within their first week of work in their new organization. “Do they have the opportunity through things like onboarding surveys, to reflect on the support and the resources that they received during their first 30, 60, 90 days?” Bator said. “These are all great instruments that you can use to drive that feeling of someone feeling welcomed when they join a team or, indeed, your organization.”He added that efforts to help a worker feel “welcome” in the office should be extended to every worker, not just new ones, across their respective stays with the company—which, with this and other steps taken by managers, will hopefully be long and productive ones. “That feeling of being welcomed is about every space we share with anyone,” Bator said. “It’s about every transaction that we have at work. It’s about every room we walk into every experience. And so the challenge for all of us in creating conditions for hopefully award-winning employee experience, is thinking about what are the things we can do every single day. How do you make every day feel like a ‘day one’ for your people?”According to research from the Achievers Workshop Institute, Bator said if employees are made to feel “welcome,” they are twice as likely to feel like they “belong,” too. If a given organization’s workers are anything like Bator was when he had his unfortunate bike accident, making them feel unwelcome will lead to all the pitfalls that come with poor retention rates.KnownIn making employees feel “known,” at a baseline level, all it takes is a little bit of listening. Give workers a space to express themselves freely and when they do open up, take stock in their values and their needs and try to align with them and supply solutions when possible. This will enhance a worker’s sense of connection with their employer.“Our obligation is to create conditions so that an individual can bring their whole self to work,” said Bator. “And on a tactical, practical level, this can look like a bunch of different things.”Giving more specifics he said making workers feel “known” could be the byproduct of recognizing them for accomplishments and milestones, both personal and professional. Even something as simple as making sure managers know how to pronounce a worker’s surname could have an outsized impact because it shows care and attention to detail. “It means giving your employees the opportunity to use pronouns that express their true identity,” said Bator. “And you can only do [all this] if you begin to ask, and if you begin to create safe spaces for people to share who they are. When you do this, you build trust.”IncludedHelping an employee feel “included,” Bator continued, may have the most significant impact in terms of nurturing a worker’s sense of belonging and better ensuring their engagement and retention. “It’s, ‘Do I have a shot here, to begin with?’” said Bator. “The narrow view, ironically, is when we think about inclusion through the lens of diversity, equity, and inclusion, and the things that we can do to create table stakes for every single employee. I think the broader view, however, is about creating opportunities for our people to share in co-creating what their employee experience actually looks like.”He suggests building a safe space that gives employees a comfort level to not only make their opinions heard and acknowledged, but to also come up with “a great idea” and have it “heard by the right person in an organization.”Data from recent Achievers Workshop Institute research said organizations that for feedback from their employees at least four times a year have 50% higher levels of engagement, Bator said, while 88% of those employees are more likely to feel valued.SupportedTo make workers feel “supported,” Achievers research says, give them a sense of empowerment tied to their potential long-term success by supplying them with necessary tools, training and resources. Provide them opportunities for professional growth and to have a healthy work-life balance as well.“When I think about what this pillar really means, I think immediately of managers,” Bator said. “Whether you pick social justice, the pandemic, new modes of working, take your pick, your managers are on the frontlines with their people every single day. And what we see is that when an individual has a strong relationship with their manager, they feel individually resilient.”Thus, they are more capable of overcoming challenges, a belief that aforementioned Achievers research shows many workers don’t have.ConnectedAnd calling back to the fifth and final pillar of employee belonging, Bator said, “At a basic level, what being ‘connected’ is about is: Do your employees have the opportunity to build a diverse network, inside their work circle and outside of their work circle?’”He revealed that more Achievers Workshop Institute research shows that when organizations have connection tools, they are great at driving not only connection, but trust and support, as well as other worthwhile sensations. “But what I would argue to you is that connection is much more of a philosophy than it is a cool feature that you can share with your employees,”Bator said. “Fundamentally, it’s about: Is it easy for your [managers] to access the people and the skills that they need every single day so that they can be productive and positive from anywhere.”It’ll be much less of a challenge for employees to sever those connections, with their managers, fellow workers and their general work responsibilities, if they don’t feel a strong sense of belonging. Bator knows this first hand. He has the scars to prove it.Editor’s note: From Day One thanks its partner, Achievers, for sponsoring this workshop.Michael Stahl is a New York City-based freelance journalist, writer, and editor. You can read more of his work at MichaelStahlWrites.com, follow him on Twitter @MichaelRStahl, and order his first book, the autobiography of Major League Baseball pitcher Bartolo Colón, at Abrams Books. (Featured image: David Bator conducting the workshop in Salt Lake City.)
Looking for New Talent? Focus on Potential, Not Credentials
BY Michael Stahl May 08, 2023If a company is experiencing difficulties in acquiring talent, which many report to be the case today, a solution may reside in a simple change of approach: Broaden the search. Such a shift, particularly on the part of companies in the technology sector, where the need for talent is always on the rise, could prove a powerful elixir to the perceived talent shortage in the job market. It would also help address the lack of representation in the industry. For years, tech companies have cited “pipeline problems” as the reason why so few of their workers are women and people of color. But too-restrictive hiring processes with bloated prerequisites for candidates, such as the absolute need for a college degree, may also be to blame.“Companies who are still requiring college four-year degrees for a major set of jobs—they can still require that, [but] they’re just going to have a lot of open jobs,” said Kim Mitchell, VP of program strategy at NPower, a nonprofit that creates pathways to careers in tech for military veterans and young adults in underserved communities. “There are not enough people going to college to fill the demand for tech talent in particular, [and] as we look at the broad range of open jobs, the requirement for [a] degree is simply not going to allow someone to reach their goals.”Mitchell’s remarks were made during a recent thought leadership spotlight, “How Employers Can Get Out of Their Own Way in Measuring Talent.” Her advice, to tech companies and other organizations struggling to build a workforce, especially a diverse one, is to consider non-college graduates, young people and veterans who, in lieu of robust formal education, still boast desirable skill sets.“A degree is not always a proxy for someone’s ability and their aptitude, their competence and the skills that they’re able to demonstrate,” Mitchell said. “Just because you’re not on a path to college doesn’t mean you need to take a vow of poverty.”Kim Mitchell, VP of program strategy at NPowerDiplomas also don’t necessarily symbolize the grit a candidate might possess, or their motivation and potential commitment to a position. These are all character traits Mitchell said she’s observed in the talent that’s come through NPower over the years. She added that there are many trades and skills “in areas where individuals can obtain a set of credentials that are not necessarily a college degree.” NPower program participants, some of whom do have degrees–including veterans whom Mitchell described as “struggling with translating their transition to civilian life into a career”—get started with what Mitchell called a “behavioral-based interview.” This step helps determine the prospect’s level of interest in technology and willingness to commit to a career in the sector, as well as what experiences they’ve had that may be, according to Mitchell, “a proxy for skill similarity.”She said that 81% of NPower graduates—those who’ve earned industry-recognized certification—land a job in tech. But NPower isn’t done with them yet. The organization tracks their graduates’ progress and provides more advanced training and education, too, supplying them with the tools to achieve higher-level jobs.“And when employers open their doors and receive this talent, and they then create a culture that is receptive to individuals who may not have had the [traditional] path, but who are able to contribute as much, if not more, then you also have a greater level of commitment,” Mitchell said. “You also have someone who is willing to pay it forward and want[s] to pour [effort] into other young talent and entry-level talent.”Mitchell welcomes what she and others observe as a “skills-based movement” in labor, with a “de-credentialing of positions.” This pivot will not only open up more advancement opportunities for those already employed but also give previously ignored talent the chance to get started on a fulfilling career of productivity. And, in the face of a labor shortage, it will help companies struggling to staff get the talent they need, from sources traditionally perceived as unlikely. “Their focus is on what someone is able to do,” Mitchell said.Editor’s note: From Day One thanks our partner, NPower, who sponsored this thought leadership spotlight.Michael Stahl is a New York City-based freelance journalist, writer, and editor. You can read more of his work at MichaelStahlWrites.com, follow him on Twitter @MichaelRStahl, and order his first book, the autobiography of Major League Baseball pitcher Bartolo Colón, at Abrams Books. (Feature photo: iStock by Getty Images)
The Importance of an Outcome-Driven Approach to Employee Development
BY Michael Stahl May 04, 2023For a long time, most companies have been fixated on answering questions that begin with the word “what,” as in, “What revenue milestones have we hit this year?” or “What can we do to ensure growth and sustainability?” And maybe they’ve dabbled in a few “how” questions, such as, “How do we get our sales teams to perform better?”But it would behoove organizational leaders to consider different, deeper questions that start with “why?”“‘Why’ is our purpose, our core belief,” said Eric Bierig, learning and development strategist at GrowthSpace, a data-driven L&D management platform. “If you’re in tune with your central ‘why’ and tune all of your actions to this, you will live a more stress-free, settled, productive, self-aware life.”That peace of mind is possible for all employees, Bierig observed, as long as the people who sign their paychecks effectively communicate their company’s purpose and core beliefs.“When you start with your ‘why,’ what you’re doing is building a collective vision. It motivates, it calms, it gives a sense of belonging, it gives a sense of ownership, of safety, connection between people,” Bierig said. “If there’s anything we can all agree on, it’s that motivated, calm, confident, accountable, collaborative employees are the ones that companies need.”Bierig made these remarks in a talk at From Day One’s March virtual conference on employee purpose. He later noted that a number of studies have revealed connections between workers’ sense of purpose and their productivity.Getting those bottom-line benefits starts with answering ‘why’ the company is in the business it’s in, which leads to organizational outcomes that should also be advertised to workers. This information is often summarized in OKRs, the latest buzzy acronym in business, short for “Objectives and Key Results” reports.“OKRs serve as more ambitious goals that extend to multiple departments and team members,” the U.S. Chamber of Commerce wrote in a recent blog post. “Once you understand the main objectives of your organization, you can develop OKRs that move your company towards the goal line.”Eric Bierig of Growthspace led the thought leadership spotlight (company photo)To use another popular concept, OKRs create “alignment.”“Leadership sets direction and priorities, the ‘why’,” Bierig said. “Ideally, they are transparent about the objectives and how they will achieve said ‘why,’ and the results are clarity, empowered employees, and improved organizational performance. Once aligned on the ‘why,’ your employees and teams will be best equipped to figure out the ‘how.’ They will have a strong sense of purpose.”Of course, learning and development programming can effectively keep employees highly engaged and productive, in part by outlining why their company cares so much about whatever objectives they’ve chosen to strive for. Diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives also demonstrate a company’s commitment to outcomes beyond year-over-year growth, Bierig said.But, he continued, making these kinds of initiatives “invaluable to a company” requires mindful steps that go beyond “checking a box.” Simply putting training courses or internal mentoring programs into place is not enough. Instead, company leaders need to be sure these types of programs have “meaningful organizational impact,” Bierig said, by “digging another layer deeper.”L&D programming platforms like GrowthSpace can help, he said, by “starting with your company’s ‘why.’” From there, it’s a matter of prioritizing objectives and figuring out who to achieve them.“We’ve developed a simple yet effective methodology to ensure learning solutions are accurately mapped to business needs,” Bierig offered. “We have found that objective and outcome-driven growth and development initiatives are what drive true business impact. This has made us outcome-obsessed.”The approach GrowthSpace uses has been dubbed “POP,” for “population,” “outcome,” and “program type.”GrowthSpace first asks, “For which population is your company in most need of focused development?” Of course, they also ask “why?”Then, GrowthSpace moves on to ask, “What business outcomes are a priority?” Putting those priorities in place then leads to the development of curated programming that will “move the needle” for a given company.In addition to providing a GrowthSpace client case study, Bierig also provided survey data from companies the platform works with. By asking “why” and engaging in GrowthSpace’s “POP” process, those organizations have seen up to a 10% reduction in employee attrition, more than a 10% increase in readiness for promotions, and up to a 10% increase in worker productivity, among other highlights.“These numbers are probably jumping out at you, as they have a real tangible ROI,” Bierig told the From Day One audience early in his presentation. “And you might be asking yourself, ‘how?’”By the end of his talk, however, they were most certainly asking “why?”Editor's note: From Day One thanks our partner, GrowthSpace, for sponsoring this thought leadership spotlight.Michael Stahl is a New York City-based freelance journalist, writer, and editor. You can read more of his work at MichaelStahlWrites.com, follow him on Twitter @MichaelRStahl, and order his first book, the autobiography of Major League Baseball pitcher Bartolo Colón, at Abrams Books.
Ensuring Your Benefits Plan is Adaptable to a Changing Health Care Environment
BY Michael Stahl May 01, 2023What solutions should be included in a modern benefits plan that will solidify strong retention rates and attract top talent in the job marketplace? Is it childcare? Mental health services? Parental leave? Chemotherapy? How about fertility treatments, virtual healthcare, and even housing stipends?The answer is, across the board, “yes,” and there are additional items that should probably be included, too. So said the audience of a From Day One webinar, “Ensuring your Benefits Plan is Adaptable to a Changing Health Care Environment.” The wide range of replies reveals just a sampling of what HR and benefits leaders must consider when developing healthcare programming. Challenges abound for these people managers, especially in light of the pandemic and the recent wave of worker empowerment. First, they must strive to appease as many members of what should be a diverse workforce as possible, with programming that addresses a bevy of needs about as varied as the company’s employee demographics chart. Benefits leaders also have to anticipate rising costs in healthcare and prepare for adjustments to ensure continued affordability, while also keeping an eye on the competition. In this volatile job marketplace, hiring folk don’t want other companies in their industry and adjacent ones to gain an edge in talent acquisition. “Finding a single package that is competitive, equitable, and controls cost is a tricky tightrope to walk for some of the customers that I get to work with,” said Liz Ferega, vice president of customer solutions at Accolade, a platform connecting providers to businesses and their employees, which sponsored the talk. “Then you add in the factor that we think is out of our control, which is the healthcare system itself, and the impact that COVID has had on the industry,” said Andrew Rosa, vice president of customer care at Accolade. There have been supply chain issues borne of pandemic conditions, he said. The way care is delivered has changed for many, Rosa added, as have costs, and so the programs that have been around for a while at any given employee’s place of employment may no longer suit that worker’s needs.Steve Koepp of From Day One (top right), introducing the experts from Accolade, including Katie Blakemore, Andrew Rosa, and Liz Ferega (photo by From Day One)But the Accolade VPs offered a series of tips on how companies can future-proof their benefits packaging:Communicate Effectively with EmployeesFerega said that one goal for employers should be to provide their workers with improved “health and benefits literacy” through robust and effective communication about the programming they offer. She also said people leaders should establish a “feedback loop” between themselves and employees, so that they can better understand workers’ needs and demands and “help [companies] maintain that competitive position for talent.”Add Off-Cycle Benefit OptionsBenefits packages can be put in place for workers at any time. In fact, changing up the timing could be a terrific future-proofing hack.Ferega is currently working with a company that is officially instituting new health equity and well-being programs in the spring, after a soft launch at the beginning of the year. “That’s a great way to keep the benefits conversation going outside of open enrollment, when it’s all about, just, what one has to do and in what timeframe,” she said. “It just changes the environment, to be able to work quickly,” chimed in Rosa. “Sometimes as an employer you feel locked in to that year and it’s kind of like, ‘Well, let’s see how the rest of the year goes,’ even though it might be March and you know you’ve got to make a change.”But there’s actually no real reason to wait until January.Pay Attention to How Other Companies Are Adapting“Benefits are becoming more and more important to the workforce,” Ferega observed. Given this truth, it’s important for hiring leaders and benefits programmers to observe what other companies are offering in this area. She outlined that Accolade, in response to growing trends in healthcare programming, recently implemented fertility benefits, which “solves a big need [for employees] in terms of family forming and health equity.” She added: “We’re really excited about that.”Stay Up-To-Date on Healthcare InnovationsRecruitment efforts are helped not only by responding to the movements of competitors, but even more so by outpacing them. Gaining insight into new services that employees might be most attracted to will allow people leaders to do just that.“The pace of benefits just seems to be accelerating,” Ferega said. “Technology innovations, workforce needs change must faster, and so staying up-to-date on them is a job in and of itself.”Ferega observed the rise in telehealth during the pandemic. Employers who got in early on that benefit put themselves a cut above everyone else at a high point of worker anxiety. “Now there’s a much greater acceptance of receiving care in a virtual environment, and it’s becoming even more of a preference,” Ferega said. “What that is leading to is the emergence of solutions like virtual primary care”—something Accolade offers its partners, as a matter of fact. Ferega says that such a benefit closes equity gaps by making care that much more accessible. Ultimately, these pieces of advice, should they be followed, can all work to enhance the employee/employer relationship, which people managers and those above them on the company ladder must value greatly, says Rosa. “You want people to choose your organization,” he said. Rosa added that “a powerful value proposition” is being able to provide not just the worker but their families with the best healthcare possible. Doing so will get them “feeling better,” he said, and bring about “the best outcomes.” With all the tools at the disposal of HR personnel, including platforms like Accolade, they can feel more empowered to deliver on that value proposition than at any point in recent memory. It’s a good thing they’re in that position, too. Afterall, as Ferega put it, benefits leaders are “the change makers.”Editor's note: From Day One thanks our partner, Accolade, for sponsoring this webinar.Michael Stahl is a New York City-based freelance journalist, writer, and editor. You can read more of his work at MichaelStahlWrites.com, follow him on Twitter @MichaelRStahl, and order his first book, the autobiography of Major League Baseball pitcher Bartolo Colón, at Abrams Books.
Facing the Remaining Obstacles to Inclusion and Belonging
BY Michael Stahl April 28, 2023In the 1970s, seminal gay rights activist Harvey Milk literally stood atop a soapbox in San Francisco’s Castro District and delivered hopeful edicts for change through a bullhorn. His efforts led to groundbreaking local legislation that banned discrimination in public accommodations, housing, and employment on the basis of sexual orientation. Any empathetic, progressively minded person walking through what became Harvey Milk Plaza at that time was likely moved by his speeches. Many spun into action on behalf of the cause he outlined. Today, business leaders tasked with cultivating greater diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) among their respective staffs may feel as though they’re back in the Castro District, listening to amplified cries of inequality and instructions on how to make the world a more welcoming place for marginalized people. But there seem to be more and more soapboxes, and activists atop each of them with bullhorns of their own. And while their messages are all quite deserving of attention, sometimes the volume reaches a fever pitch. “We have not made progress in gender representation in the vast majority of organizations; we have not made progress to the point that we’d like in ethnic representation. Those are two things that we’ve been looking at for decades now, and now we’ve started adding in a number of other factors,” said Khalil Smith, VP of inclusion, diversity, and engagement at Akamai, an internet security services company. “Age and socioeconomic status and neurodiversity and disability, all of these are incredibly important, and I know some of our most progressive organizations are talking about them.” Ensuring all bases are covered—including those connected to the LGBTQ+ community, which Smith, understandably, given the already lengthy nature of the list, forgot to add—might be an overwhelming proposition for even the most steadfast of DEI leaders. But certain pivots can make the mission more achievable for everyone. “How can we make [DEI initiatives] simple and digestible and easy and approachable to the point where people aren’t afraid of them?” posed Smith. “Just create a great environment for people to recognize that there are biases built into some of the things that you do.” His remarks were made during a recent discussion, “Identifying the Remaining Obstacles to Progress in Inclusion and Belonging,” at From Day One’s February 2023 virtual conference, "Measuring and Accounting for Progress in DEI." Smith’s fellow panelists agreed that, while so many mainstream corporations have committed to DEI and are working hard to enact change, challenges still abound. “It’s become an ‘extra thing’ on top of what managers are already struggling to do, which is hard day to day; they have a lot going on,” said Teresa Hopke, CEO of the DEI-focused leadership coaching firm Talking Talent. She added that DEI is now also “a thing with high stakes,” which creates “a lot of opportunity for managers to get it wrong” and for them to be criticized over their shortcomings, perceived or actual. Many managers, she said, sometimes feel like DEI is “being forced upon them rather than it being something that is just the way of doing business.” “The more we can take it back a notch and just say, ‘This is actually a systemic change that has to happen in an organization around how we are and how we do business,’ rather than, ‘This is an extra thing that we’re going to put on people’s plates,’ the more impact we’re going to see and the more we’re going to be able to see managers succeed in their role in helping us move this forward,” said Hopke.The full panel of speakers, from top left, moderator Lydia Dishman of Fast Company, Louis Chesney of Rethink Care, Teresa Hopke of Talking Talent, Khalil Smith of Akamai, and Chevy Cleaves of MIT (photo by From Day One)Louis Chesney, neurodiversity product manager at RethinkCare, a platform that provides support to working caregivers of neurodiverse individuals, suggested that organizations do a better job of “allocating our monetary and personal resources to our employee resource groups, to our social corporate responsibility programs, and really help champions within organizations to tie the objectives they set out to do to company success.” Measuring retention and increased productivity tied to DEI initiatives is one way to achieve this, Chesney said. But, really, he said the goal should be to “embed” DEI within the organization, in part by generating “outreach to attract talent needed to reduce latency to fill a position” and “identifying areas in the interview process that are problematic.” From the perspective of neurodiversity, that means people managers look for places where they may be “marginalizing individuals who are well-suited for a position and giving that position to someone who may have a more charismatic way of communicating,” said Chesney. But before a company can even get to the point of rolling out initiatives with such great attention to detail, DEI requires buy-in from everyone, especially those at the top of the c-suite. Chesney said DEI leaders have to make sure that their organization as a whole is not solely interested in “virtue signaling.” And Chevy Cleaves, chief diversity and inclusion officer of the Lincoln Laboratory at MIT, a research and technology development center focused on national security, said leaders he’s worked with often “don’t understand the problem we’re trying to solve.” “They feel like they should, so they say they do,” Cleaves continued. “Then it becomes difficult to reposition the conversation. They don’t understand the opportunity that we’re trying to leverage. ” Panel moderator Lydia Dishman, senior editor for growth and engagement at Fast Company, argued that perhaps the best way to get company leaders to understand and truly align themselves with the spirit of DEI initiatives is to bring them “into the business goal conversation”—perhaps more important than ever, she said, considering the rocky economic grounds organizations are currently traversing. “The way that I would reposition that is to say that it’s a value proposition,” said Cleaves. “So how much value do we want to drive? How can you make your organization a critical differentiator using diversity inclusion? That’s something different than the business case.” If that should fail, perhaps appealing to the most human elements of a business leader’s character will get them on board with DEI. “The data is important, and I think we need to keep raising it, but I also think that we can’t just keep hitting people over the head with it,” said Hopke. “We have to get the hearts and the minds and the stories out there that get people to understand and feel the impact of this, so that they want to change and that they do the work to change because this is hard work. And unless people do the hard work, nothing’s going to change in organizations, and you have to motivate people to want to do the hard work, and that takes time and effort and not just numbers and data.”Michael Stahl is a New York City-based freelance journalist, writer, and editor. You can read more of his work at MichaelStahlWrites.com, follow him on Twitter @MichaelRStahl, and order his first book, the autobiography of Major League Baseball pitcher Bartolo Colón, at Abrams Books.
How HR Can Help Employees Flourish at Work
BY Michael Stahl April 27, 2023While at work about a year ago, Glenn Jackson, chief diversity officer for M&T Bank, took what ended up being a memorable trip to the office bathroom. Jackson, who is a person of color, bumped into a 60-something white male co-worker he’s known for years, but hadn’t seen in a while. Jackson noticed the man was, for the first time at work, sporting long locks of hair.Wait, how does a white co-worker with long hair have anything to do with DEI?Like many companies, M&T Bank had responded to the killing of George Floyd by committing to cultural change within the organization. Leaders promised to boost the equity of team members from underserved groups and better establish a sense of community throughout the company.Enhanced engagement with company ERGs, particularly those that represent worker experiences for M&T women, LGBTQ+, Latino and Spanish, and Black staffers, were among the initiatives, Jackson said. Those efforts led to sponsorship and leadership development programs geared toward supporting specific demographics. It also prompted policy changes that just made life at work more comfortable for M&T employees.“Multiple groups talked about hair,” Jackson explained to a From Day One audience in Brooklyn this month. Workers asked M&T leaders if they could finally start showing up to work with their “natural hairstyles,” Jackson said, some of which were not allowed according to workplace bylaws.“We said, ‘Could we go back into that policy and say words that were never said before, like: Afros are fine?’” Jackson recalled. And they did.Upon seeing his now long-haired white compadre in the office restroom last year, Jackson was surprised, but also realized the policy change affected more team members in a positive way than intended.“We thought it was for those three or four groups,” Jackson said. “You find out there’s themes across [community groups], you attack those and you communicate it. You never know who it’s going to benefit.”Jackson told the story as part of a panel discussion, “The Role of HR in Helping Employees Flourish at Work,” moderated by Trey Wiliams, a senior writer at Fortune. Onstage, the From Day One speakers discussed the changing expectations of people managers and the challenges that have come with the radical workplace culture shift of the past few years, especially those revolving around the need to keep workers of different backgrounds content, secure, and engaged.“HR has the responsibility to come up with a holistic plan to address these different areas [of concern] in different ways,” said Angela Li, VP of HR, chief data office for Citigroup, a company she noted was “pretty big”—with 250,000 employees—and, thus, difficult to establish consistency.“It really needs to trickle down to every manager and every manager’s manager,” Li continued. “Every team needs to understand: This is the direction where we’re going; these are things companies are doing for you, and they have to be implemented and tracked with some sort of metrics, because what’s measured is always what can be achieved later on.”“We’ve [also] been helping organizations to think about their culture holistically, which includes things like hybrid work, DEI, all of it together, rather than continuing to keep things separate,” said Anthea Hoyle, executive vice president of United Minds, a global management consultancy.“Thinking about all of this in terms of inclusion…all comes down to managers being more aware of who’s on their team and how they can connect meaningfully with them, so we focus on equipping managers and leaders to do that better.”Achieving as much might not take much effort at all—just some attention to small, but crucial details.The full panel of speakers, from left, moderator Trey Williams of Fortune, Laura Lomelí of BetterUp, Anthea Hoyle of United Minds, Glenn Jackson of M&T Bank, Angela Li of Citigroup, and Jane Cha-Lee of Nielsen (Photo by Cassandra Sajna for From Day One)Laura Lomelí, AVP of people insights for the coaching platform company BetterUp, said a key for people managers is to locate “that authenticity space” in their interactions with workers. Employees, of any demographic, she continued, do not want to think, “How do I show up at work and not feel like I have cover who I am?”Using her own experience as an example, she said while comfortably applying a Latino accent that she wants to go by “Laúra Lomelí” around the office, not the under-emphasized, diluted version. So simply taking the time out to learn how to appropriately pronounce employee names can go a long way in helping workers feel included.Whatever the initiative, Jane Cha-Lee, SVP of global talent & culture leader at Nielsen, the ratings company, said its implementation will come down to the foundational element of communication.“It really takes every employee and every manager having those critical conversations and making sure there’s alignment, meaning, focus,” Cha-Lee said. “It’s the easiest stuff and the hardest stuff because it’s so basic and yet we don’t do it. So I would just go back to the need for those human conversations to take place, so that people are treated as such.”Given the chance to express themselves, perhaps prompted by a greater sense of inclusion, employees have the opportunity to provide managers with ideas on how to make the workplace better, with thriving and productive team members. Otherwise, there’s greater risk of attrition and worker disengagement, Cha-Lee observed.“People are the knowledge holders, the heart of the culture, the ones that really are the glue that makes a company what it is,” she said. “Every individual that comprises a company brings so much, so I think we want people to be at their best and to really contribute to a culture that makes people stick around.”Considering the current “paradigm shift” in workplace culture and expectations, as Glenn Jackson from M&T Bank described it, and the real financial risks that come with not adhering to the demands of today’s employee, he predicted that “the winners coming out of this in the next 10 years are going to be the companies that actually focus on that human center and that employee experience.“If you don’t,” he added, “you’ll lose.”Michael Stahl is a New York City-based freelance journalist, writer, and editor. You can read more of his work at MichaelStahlWrites.com, follow him on Twitter @MichaelRStahl, and order his first book, the autobiography of Major League Baseball pitcher Bartolo Colón, at Abrams Books.
How Hiring Teams Can Create Value During Economic Uncertainty
BY Michael Stahl April 26, 2023Nobody reasonably wishes for an economic downturn. But in business, difficult times also provide opportunities for positive change. Besides, as Maria Culbertson, senior manager of talent planning and acquisition at the hiring software company, Greenhouse, recently pointed out, the economy always bounces back.“The U.S. alone has endured 13 recessions since the Great Depression, and that includes four global recessions,” she said during a From Day One virtual conference thought leadership spotlight titled, “Three Ways Hiring Teams Create Value During Economic Uncertainty.” “Albeit painful, these corrections are part of the economic process.”Sticking most closely to her area of expertise, Culbertson highlighted how within the past two years alone there was a stretch of hiring freezes. First during the initial spread of COVID-19 and then a time of rampant rehiring during the Great Resignation. She advised company leaders not to panic over the current economic forecasts, and urged them to instead identify ways their organization can make some tweaks during the slowdown, while preparing itself for a new period of growth that will inevitably arrive.“A slowdown provides all of us the much needed opportunity to prioritize the things that are ‘important’ and not just ‘urgent,’” Culbertson noted. “Periods of low hiring present an opportunity for you to build a strong foundation for when things pick back up.”Hiring teams, she added, can help a company “thrive” instead of simply “survive” a challenging handful of financial quarters. Seeking quick savings by canceling technology that helps workers in this area is a no-no.“Strategic leaders know that short term fixes like this are rarely supportive of a long-term strategy for success,” said Culbertson. “The analogy that comes to mind for me is: you don’t throw away your umbrella when it stops raining, you simply store it away in a safe place that’s easy to access for the future.”In the long run, she said companies that remove key hiring software spend more—qualitatively and quantitatively—when they begin hiring again. Re-implementing hiring tools to support that effort will require resources that would not have been needed if leaders exercised some patience.When there’s a hiring slowdown or a freeze, hiring teams can shift focus toward a number of areas. In practicing what Culbertson called “data hygiene,” hiring teams should “prune” their pipeline “to mitigate future sourcing clutter.” They can also build a recruiting analytics team to “find and fix process bottlenecks,” as well as data inefficiencies. An examination of pipeline metrics, capacity modeling and hiring manager satisfaction may also be in order.Greenhouse's Senior Manager of Talent Planning and Acquisition, Maria Culbertson led the presentation during the virtual conference (company photo)“With a little extra breathing room, I encourage all of you to take this time to focus on evolving [your] structured hiring process, and in doing so, create equitable and fair hiring experiences for your candidates,” said Culbertson. This can be done, she continued, by “revisiting your interview kits and templates, and reviewing your questions to ensure that they’re thoughtful and inclusive.” She advised that this initiative’s focus would be best applied to the roles that hiring team members believe will reopen first. “One of the things that our team is working on right now is more standardization of our interview kits, particularly for roles that share common skills and attributes,” Culbertson said. “This will make less work for our recruiters when they begin building out roles in the future. And that will create more consistency for interviewers and candidates ultimately, leading to less bias in the process.”Any training that might be required to better execute this initiative, or any others, down the road should be deployed now, before the next hiring frenzy.Hiring teams can also devote more time to, as Culbertson said, “making sure you’re doing the work to add representation to the teams that you support.” She urged teams to set inclusion goals and measure the state of the company’s inclusive sourcing strategy, its diversity and to locate where there’s opportunity for increased representation throughout the organization.The value of diversity to a company has been well-documented.“If you’re going to focus on long term strategies to diversify your talent,” Culbertson added, “it’s important to spend this time building long-term partnerships with communities and organizations that represent underrepresented groups, and incorporating DEI into your company brand and continuously using data to track your goals when it comes to increasing representation in your pipeline.”Finally, she advised hiring teams to sure-up their targeted talent pools to make sourcing more efficient once the company needs new recruits again. They can even engage with candidates before getting the green light to hire to “increase the likelihood they’ll remember your employer brand,” she said. And, if there isn’t one already in place, organizations should build an internal mobility program to help develop existing employee talent.“The decisions that you make right now,” Culbertson said, “can be the equivalent to either taking 10 steps back from the starting line of that crucial next race, or if you’re keeping your end goals in mind, it can be the equivalent of taking 10 steps forward and creating a vast competitive advantage.”Editor's note: From Day One thanks our partner, Greenhouse, for sponsoring this thought leadership spotlight. Michael Stahl is a New York City-based freelance journalist, writer, and editor. You can read more of his work at MichaelStahlWrites.com, follow him on Twitter @MichaelRStahl, and order his first book, the autobiography of Major League Baseball pitcher Bartolo Colón, at Abrams Books.
Employee Recognition Trends & Tips, With Help From Coach Ted Lasso
BY Michael Stahl April 26, 2023People managers today must constantly come up with ideas to ensure their company’s employees are engaged, productive, and committed. To keep up with this increasing demand, Matthew Willis, SVP of North America at the global employee engagement and recognition platform Advantage Club, has one suggestion: theft.“Some of our job is selling up as well as selling down and sideways,” said Willis. “But we’ve gotta keep these things fresh. The best way to do this is to steal.”Of course, while speaking to a recent From Day One audience in Brooklyn, during his thought leadership spotlight titled, “Employee Engagement and Recognition: Trends and Tips With Help From Coach Ted Lasso,” Willis wasn’t advocating for criminal behavior. Instead, he was saying that HR folk shouldn’t be shy about adopting useful and effective strategies and approaches that other organizations may utilize.To show just how much he believes in the stealing of ideas, Willis himself referred to life lessons exhibited through dialogue on the hit Apple TV series Ted Lasso, about an American football coach struggling to manage a British soccer team. Here are a few quotes Willis lifted from the comedy show and how they apply to the current people management landscape:“A challenge is a lot like riding a horse, isn't it? If you're comfortable while you're doing it, you're probably doing it wrong.”Willis explored the robust cultural shift in employee priorities and attitudes toward the workplace, spurred by the pandemic.“Everything shuts down, then all of a sudden we start the engines again and it’s pandemonium because it’s very hard to get people in the door,” Willis said. “Then we have things like the Great Resignation and Quiet Quitting, a hybrid workplace and an HR tech boom.”If that wasn’t enough, more recently economic insecurity has crept in, which has already led to layoffs. Citing data from polling, Willis said up to 68% of U.S. employees are not “fully engaged” at work, which leads to a lack of productivity. Deloitte research, Willis said, recently found that a single disengaged employee costs up to 34% of their salary.Then there’s turnover as a result of disengagement. Citing Microsoft data, 46% of the global workforce is currently evaluating their work situation for the long-term. Should a single employee be lost, it costs a company $4,700 on average, Willis noted. Meanwhile, engaged workers boost productivity, sales, customer ratings and profit, while lowering turnover, he continued. Matthew Willis, SVP of North America for the global employee engagement platform Advantage Club (Photo by Cassandra Sajna for From Day One) Perhaps the best way to get employees engaged is through recognition. Among workers, being recognized for a job well done or getting some kind of credit for one is the single most important area in terms of establishing job satisfaction, according to an American Management Association survey that Willis cited. But among supervisors, out of a total of eight such areas, including “interest in work” and “fair pay,” employee recognition placed second to last on the list. So there’s quite a disconnect between what employees want and what their supervisors think their employees want. Therefore, people managers across departments are probably going to have to get outside their comfort zone, ride that metaphorical horse and recognize employees more regularly and fervently. “There’s two buttons I never like to hit: ‘Panic’ and ‘Snooze.’”Conditions have been difficult for people managers for a few years now, but with such a radical change in employee outlook, any new direction HR might want to take is on the table. So there’s no need to panic, Willis said. It will just require a bit of thoughtfulness to get moving, which can be fueled by data, mitigating the impulse to hit the snooze button about the issue.Willis suggests identifying employee needs through any number of ways–particularly surveys and engaging with employee resource groups (ERGs). Then, employers should expand recognition opportunities, celebrate the work and, finally, analyze recognition results and tie them to key performance indicators (KPIs).Another guide is Maslow’s celebrated Hierarchy of Needs. People have baseline needs just to survive. Above things like air, food and water, though they also require safety, then love and a sense of belonging. Finally, there’s the need for esteem and self-actualization. According to Willis, those same principles can inform an organization’s approach to employee engagement. He presented a chart that said offering workers with just enough so they can survive will promote disengagement. Going further up the pyramid–i.e., providing workers with greater senses of security, belonging, importance and self-actualization–will enhance engagement. “The more we create this sense of belonging, this sense of need that is in line with what the employee wants, the more motivation we get out of them,” Willis said. “Boy, I love meeting people’s moms. It’s like reading an instruction manual as to why they’re nuts.”Willis said that quantitative data obtained through surveys is useful, but only to an extant. Qualitative data matters, too, perhaps even more so, and it can be procured through the establishment of workplace communities, most evidently in the creation of ERGs, Willis suggested. Virtual events can also be helpful, as well as the digitization of recognition and engagement efforts when in-person execution is too challenging. Willis also advocated for more one-on-one time between managers and employees and breaks during virtual meetings for social interactions. This will provide people managers and employees to create stronger bonds by simply getting to know each other better–without necessarily being introduced to any workers’ mothers–and establishing a greater sense of community. Editor’s note: From Day One thanks our partner Advantage Club, who sponsored this thought leadership spotlight.Michael Stahl is a New York City-based freelance journalist, writer, and editor. You can read more of his work at MichaelStahlWrites.com, follow him on Twitter @MichaelRStahl, and order his first book, the autobiography of Major League Baseball pitcher Bartolo Colón, at Abrams Books.(Featured photo: Ted Lasso star Jason Sudeikis with other members of the cast in the briefing room at the White House last month. Photo by Chris Kleponis-CNP/picture-alliance/dpa/AP Images)
A Sense of Purpose, in Both the Workplace and the Work
BY Michael Stahl April 25, 2023Despite the pandemic, worker productivity in 2022 matched pre-COVID 2019, according to Holly Tyson, Chief People Officer at Cushman & Wakefield, the country's largest commercial property manager. Citing company survey data, they discovered that 75% of the time people spent at work was productively.Unfortunately, that data also contained some bad news. “When we compare 2019 to 2022 on well-being that was also around 75%” in 2019, and now that’s down to 39%” says Tyson, speaking during a Fireside Chat at From Day One's Chicago conference.During her talk with Christian Farr, General Assignment Reporter at Chicago's NBC5 News, Tyson noted that much of that burden has fallen to the feet of people managers across industry, who were tasked perhaps most heavily with managing workplace transitions from office-only to all-remote and hybrid capabilities—arrangements that appear sticky even in a post-pandemic world.“What we really need to be focused on most is human connection and the impact it has on wellbeing,” said Tyson during the session, entitled “Creating a Sense of Purpose in Both the Workplace and the Work.” Observing that people are “social creatures” and “pack animals,” she said, we “crave connection and collaboration,” especially when it truly works “towards a purpose.” Therefore, within a few years or more, we may start to see the residual effects of the big disconnect we endured during COVID, especially in industries reliant on innovation. Farr of NBC5 News and Tyson of Cushman & Wakefield on stage at From Day One's Chicago conference (Photo by Tim Hiatt for From Day One)“Because innovation happens by accident, mostly, right? Innovation happens when you discover something that wasn't necessarily intended, and those things happen when you have collisions and coincidences. And not being together, you have less of those collisions and coincidences.” One area that may suffer the most from hybrid and all-remote workplaces are career trajectories, Tyson said. It’s too soon to tell, but Tyson intimated that in this post-pandemic, remote-heavy culture, people who don’t report to a physical workspace and interact with colleagues and leaders may struggle to get ahead. She’s not the only leader with this concern. A new study from a trio of economists, The Power of Proximity to Coworkers, said young workers and women employees are particularly at risk of being held back from promotions if they are part-time or full-time remote workers.“[T]he office, at least for a certain type of white-collar knowledge worker, [has historically] played an important role in early-career development,” wrote the New York Times in an article about the “Power of Proximity” paper. “And the mentorship and training people get in person [has] so far proved hard to replicate on Slack and Zoom.”However, ensuring workplace equity to remote workers is an issue that can be addressed with more mindful approaches and the supplementing of connectivity in light of a remote-work arrangement with employees. Tyson stopped short of supporting companies that go hard with return-to-the-office mandates. “The competitor in me says [to those organizations], ‘Go ahead. I'll take the person who quits,’” Tyson said. “Wise companies recognize that talent is the only real differentiator, and the best talent names their criteria.”She suggested to companies that want to retain terrific talent who demand remote- or hybrid-work arrangements gather them together once a month or once every couple months, whatever the company can facilitate. But quality over quantity prevails. “It needs to be purposeful,” she said of the gatherings. She added that they should also stretch “long amounts of time, like two or three days to build that connection.” This type of setup will allow personnel to “inject” themselves with “that humanity that can sustain you when you’re [each] just a face on the screen for the next two to three months” until the next gathering.So, in a sense, when one removes the digital component to it all, things haven’t really changed all that much. Even before the pandemic employees didn’t like sitting in meetings that felt pointless.“It always comes back to purpose,” said Tyson. “It’s: Why are people getting out of bed? What does your company do that differentiates themselves to make a difference in the world? And if your company is not clearly articulating the impact that they are making, it's going to be harder and harder to recruit.”Michael Stahl is a New York City-based freelance journalist, writer, and editor. You can read more of his work at MichaelStahlWrites.com, follow him on Twitter @MichaelRStahl, and order his first book, the autobiography of Major League Baseball pitcher Bartolo Colón, at Abrams Books.
Designing Recognition Programs That Promote a Sense of Purpose
BY Michael Stahl April 17, 2023The word is out: Employees today, especially those in younger generations, are seeking a greater sense of personal fulfillment out of work than their parents or grandparents did. Where older generations worked simply to survive or take pride in the mastery of a craft, those in the newer waves of workforce entrants want to feel a sense of purpose at their jobs.According to Smiti Bhatt Deorah, co-founder and chief operating officer of Advantage Club, an employee engagement, rewards and community building platform, organizational leaders can generate a more fulfilling work experience for employees by building strong relationships, as well as showing respect, gratification and recognition.“Today’s Millennial and Gen-Z employees do not want to work just for salaries; they want to be acknowledged,” Bhatt Deorah said. “They want to be recognized for whatever challenges they’re facing and whatever challenges they are overcoming.”Her remarks were made during From Day One's March Virtual conference in a thought leadership spotlight titled, “Designing Recognition Programs That Promote a Sense of Purpose.” She not only outlined why people leaders and those in c-suites should foster a sense of fulfillment in their employees, but also tips on how to carry out such a mission.The first step, she said, is to build an employee rewards and recognition program. Its foundation should be laid with assessments of employee needs and strategies on how the company can align with them (if it isn’t already).“Second, be relevant to those needs,” Bhatt Deorah said. “Don’t just build a recognition program because everyone else is designing one. It needs to be relevant to your core company values, to your organization, to what your employees want, and their needs specifically.”Such data will help to empower managers in their efforts to build a company culture reflective of those values and its dedication to employee fulfillment. That culture should include an element of workforce-wide recognition.Smiti Bhatt Deorah, co-founder and chief operating officer of Advantage Club“Lastly, you review, again and again,” Bhatt Deorah said. “You revise and you renew your policies, based on constant feedback and constant results, which you identify.”To get a sense of what employees’ needs are, Bhatt Deorah advised people leaders and other stakeholders to inquire about their morale (the extent to which they enjoy the work that they do), the presence and fairness of a system that provides recognition and rewards for work achievements, if they feel like they belong, whether or not they take pride in their job, find it interesting or stimulating, or if it makes them just feel good about themselves.Once data on these areas is acquired—perhaps through surveys, engagement with ERGs or other means—a company culture that nurtures worker fulfillment and sense of purpose can be built, alongside a recognition and rewards program offering a tangible manifestation of that goal.But another challenge is the emergence of the hybrid work environment. Bhatt Deorah said company leaders simply have to adjust to the changing conditions, mindful that all their employees have needs. With the presence of remote workers, “You need to digitize your entire recognition program in a tool or any sort of internal platform, or you can partner with platforms out there,” said Bhatt Deorah. “Second, you need to replace all your physical gifts to virtual currency. It could be reward points, it could be vouchers, it could be e-gift cards, it could be anything. You have to replace your physical awards with e-badges, physical certificates with e-certificates, which can be safely delivered over email or printed out.”Automation can help in recognizing work anniversaries and birthdays of employees, especially in a large corporate setting, she said. Incentive-based awards’ processing, like in the sales industry, for another example, can also more easily be dispensed with automated tools. And once the R&R program is established, make it a “holistic” one, Bhatt Deorah said. There should be recognition and rewards for some day-to-day goals. Approbation should be carried out in both formal and informal ways, and employees could even have a say in what the program looks like. Organizations must also recognize their programs’ efficacy. “The simplest way of doing that is by identifying data within your recognition programs,” Bhatt Deorah said. “Your budget utilization rates need to be a minimum of 95%; your redemption rates need to be a minimum of 90%. Below that, nothing should be acceptable. You can also look at attendance absentee rates, whether they have declined since you’ve deployed your recognition programs.”Employee satisfaction surveys should also include questions about the R&R programs, and HR leaders might also want to look at attrition and retention rates and figure out how the R&R programs have had an impact. Then, of course, analysis of performance rates, before and after the rolling out of R&R programs, or changes within them, can also be done.Going through these processes will help business leaders show employees they want to establish a corporate culture where everyone has a chance to feel fulfilled by the work they do, and wake up everyday with a sense of purpose. In other words, leaders will have better luck “winning the workplace,” which as Bhatt Deorah said, while quoting renowned business-focused speaker Doug Conant, is the best way for them to “win the marketplace.”Editor's note: From Day One thanks our partner, Advantage Club, who sponsored this thought leadership spotlight.Michael Stahl is a New York City-based freelance journalist, writer, and editor. You can read more of his work at MichaelStahlWrites.com, follow him on Twitter @MichaelRStahl, and order his first book, the autobiography of Major League Baseball pitcher Bartolo Colón, at Abrams Books.
The Great Getaway: Travel as a New Employee Benefit
BY Michael Stahl March 22, 2023When Cana Whitted and her husband traveled from Portland, Ore., to Istanbul for their honeymoon last year, they took advantage of a novel employee perk. Whitted, a recruiting manager at the employee-search firm IsoTalent, tapped into her company’s partnership with Dónde, a platform that enables employers to offer travel as an employee benefit.As she planned the trip, Whitted’s employer matched up to $50 in savings she put into her Dónde account each month, then helped with travel advice in picking their destination and setting up side trips, she said. “I ended up being able to book a couple of hikes that I wouldn’t have found on my own, some experiences in the center of the country.”Just as important was the message from her company in providing this benefit. “It feels like you’re empowered to take some paid time off,” Whitted said. "You get to see the world, and they just make it a sweet process.”At a time when demand for leisure travel is booming, and many employees are suffering burnout after years of workplace disruption, a notable number of companies are finding travel-as-a-benefit to be an attractive new way to boost worker satisfaction and retention. Travel companies were natural candidates to lead the way–notably Airbnb, Expedia and United Airlines–but tech companies have joined the trend as well, including BambooHR and Evernote.“Anything an employer can do, now in particular, to be creative in terms of benefits to employees is significant,” says Rick Grimaldi, an HR lawyer and author of Flex: A Leader’s Guide to Staying Nimble and Mastering Transformative Change in the Workplace. Today’s workers, especially younger ones, Grimaldi said, “come to the workplace with a very different set of expectations.” Among those are not only fair pay and a sense of purpose, but also an acknowledgement of the need for time off and rejuvenation. “Mental health is a huge issue in the workplace, particularly post-Covid,” Grimaldi said. “So to the extent that an employer is concerned about employee well-being–as well they should–that is now part of the social contract.”Employers have more than altruistic reasons to pursue such benefits. The boost to employee well-being and productivity that comes with paid time off and travel has been well-documented. So have the corporate cost savings associated with retention and strong recruitment capabilities. Many workers now rank personal and career growth as being as important to them as their salaries, said Grimaldi, so they may look at the offer of travel in a benefits package as “an opportunity for me to grow socially and intellectually.”One more factor stimulating travel-as-a-benefit is the growth of so-called “bleisure travel,” in which workers combine their business trips with leisure time. The Wall Street Journal reported last year that nearly half of the ticket revenue at American Airlines, for example, is now coming from people on bleisure trips, “and those customers are spending nearly as much as what corporate travelers once shelled out” for business-only travel before the pandemic.The marketing platform Conductor is one believer in bleisure. The company permits its employees to work two months out of the year from any location in the world. The only catch is that workers must maintain business hours aligned with those of the company’s New York headquarters.Outsourcing the ProgramsGiven that busy HR leaders may not want to administer these programs themselves, startup platforms like Dónde can offer one-stop-shopping for both funding and planning employee getaways. One feature establishes a company-matched, travel-savings program, which works like a 401(k), but for travel. Dónde also aims to make travel-shopping less stressful and cheaper for employees through a marketplace available on its own branded app. Employees set travel goals on the app and monitor financial progress toward them. They can also set up recurring deposits into their travel savings accounts and see company contributions. When workers are ready to vacation, getaways can be booked and scheduled on the app, too.Jessica Lim Sorenson and her husband on a visit to the Dole Plantation in Hawaii (Photo courtesy of Jessica Lim Sorenson)“It’s a way for companies to reward their employees with time off and vacation, and it can look like anything they want it to look like,” said Rilee Buttars, Dónde’s CEO and co-founder. “We believe that the employer and employee relationship will be stronger if the employee is able to take time off and feel like they can have the work/life balance that is so often promised in interviews. The company will get a better employee because they enabled that to happen.”’One of Dónde’s partner companies is Zartico, a “destination operating system” designed to help grow tourism economies. Dónde provides Zartico with employee-rewards programs that include worker-recognition events and employee contests. To drum up attention, Zartico’s chief people officer, Leslie Hooper, launched an internal wiki page and paid employees to craft posts for it, with a couple of workers earning as much as $1,000 each in travel benefits in their Dondé accounts.“We are in the travel and tourism space, so people who work for us–even though they’re data scientists or engineers–they’re passionate about travel and that’s one of the qualities that speaks to them for working at Zartico,” said Hooper. “To have that as an added benefit is very, very attractive to them.”A Range of OptionsThe features of such packages vary widely. Some, like Calendly and Evernote, simply offer workers $1,000 yearly stipends for travel expenses, such as plane tickets, vacation activities, dining allowances and even passport fees. Travel stipends provided at other companies can run upward of $7,000 per year. Airbnb gives its employees $2,000 a year in platform travel credits, while United Airlines allows its workers to travel for free, on standby, on an unlimited basis.HR and benefits leaders who would like to incorporate travel into their company’s benefits package will need to devote some thought to how they might sell the idea to upper leadership. Grimaldi says the C-suite might be a little afraid to offer travel as a benefit, especially at a time when efficiency and austerity are corporate watchwords.Grimaldi suggests that HR leaders conduct research and accrue data that quantifies, to some degree, the positive impact that paid employee travel might have on productivity, retention and recruitment, among other considerations. “Show statistical data as well as anecdotal information where it’s been successful,” Grimaldi said. He also suggests framing travel-as-a-benefit as a cousin of the more-familiar sabbatical arrangement to help communicate its upside. “Then, develop a plan that works for your company,” he said.One of the goals of benefits leaders is to make sure workers understand their options and how to navigate them. That has been a challenge as travel-as-a-benefit gets off the ground. A few years ago, New York City resident Debbie Martinez was working for a tech company that offered subsidized PTO travel benefits and bleisure options to employees, but many co-workers were unaware of them. “It was like something that was a rumor,” she recalls. The company’s people managers didn’t understand how to deliver the benefits. “There was a whole mixup with HR,” Martinez said. “I didn’t really know how to make it work and no one gave me straight answers.”Once she figured out the system, it proved to be a boon. After logging eight days of work in Florida, she added 12 days for vacation. Other destinations included Hawaii and the Sundance Film Festival in Utah, both of which included subsidies paid by her employer. “It’s extremely beneficial,” Martinez said of the benefit perk. “I wish more companies would offer it, and sometimes just a change in location while you work is all you need. It was a great reset.”Since her early experience, travel programs have sought to become more user-friendly. Jessica Lim Sorenson, a Utah-based user-experience designer, used Dónde to book her honeymoon in Hawaii last year, partly paid by her employer at the time, Lendio. “You’re getting free money out of it. All you have to do is use it,” she said. “It kind of takes your traditional benefits and gives it a nice twist. It was reassuring to know I can take PTO and I don’t have to feel pressure to always be working all the time.” Michael Stahl is a New York City-based freelance journalist, writer, and editor. You can read more of his work at MichaelStahlWrites.com, follow him on Twitter @MichaelRStahl, and order his first book, the autobiography of Major League Baseball pitcher Bartolo Colón, at Abrams Books.