How to Reap the Rewards of the Increasingly Multigenerational Workforce
BY Lisa Jaffe September 24, 2024The benefits of having a multigenerational workforce are abundant. As an employer, you have a wider variety of opinions, strengths, and ideas to help make your team successful. You create diversity, which can improve both team cohesiveness and financial performance. And workers say they enjoy these workplaces more.Once you have age diversity in your workforce, how do you ensure you continue to reap the benefits of what you have painstakingly grown? In this story, the third installment in a three-part series on age diversity in the workforce—the first one explored myths and realities, and the second one focused on generational allies—we’ll offer practical steps on how to make the most of the multigenerational workforce for both individuals and the business. Among the recommendations we gathered from the experts:Understand ExpectationsMary Abbajay, the CEO of Careerstone Group, an organizational and leadership development consultancy, says recognizing the differences in generations is important. “What Gen Z expects of work-life balance is very different from what Gen X will accept,” she said. While the 100-hour-a-week model of a typical, partner-track lawyer at a big firm was expected by new graduates in the 1980s and ’90s, Gen Z want more from their lives. Abbajay says many of the top-tier firms have trouble getting that new blood in the door. “One told me you can’t find younger people hungry enough to work the hours they want.” Besides putting some limits on work hours, as JPMorgan and Bank of America announced this month, Abbajay says that employers should look more widely for emerging talent. “If you want hungry people, look for those who worked hard to get where they are.” She suggests community-college transfer students, the HBCUs, and smaller state schools where first-generation college grads may have had to pay their own way.To hear much more, tune into From Day One’s one-hour webinar, “Leveraging Generational Diversity: Moving from Ageism to Age Inclusion,” scheduled for Thurs., Oct. 3, at 2 pm ET. You can register here.Part of understanding the differences between age groups is asking the right questions. Old canards like “old people don’t like tech” and “young people are flighty” have been rightly disproved. According to Stephane Francioli, Ph.D., a researcher at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, you shouldn’t base skills training on generations, but rather on age groupings. For example, rather than saying Gen Z or Boomers, focus on age ranges, like workers in their 40s, or the 60+ workforce. Those have proved to be more accurate.That said, some valid research has illuminated differences in work preferences of various generations. A new report from Deloitte about Gen Z and Millennials, based on a survey of 23,000 workers in 44 countries, underscores the notion that the live-to-work philosophy won’t cut it for them. They crave meaning, sustainability, and balance in their lives. A case study by accounting firm Grant Thornton in Ireland concludes that “Gen Z will not compromise their vision to fit into a culture that does not fulfill their expectations.” Rather, “Gen Z will join companies that they feel bring their values to life and align with their own personal principles.” Key values for this generation are diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) as well as job flexibility.Consider the Caregivers An estimated one in every six workers is a family caregiver, defined as providing care for an elderly or disabled family member, relative or friend. Typically, this falls to the midlife, “sandwich generation,” juggling both parenthood and family caregiving, who may feel conflicted about bringing attention to their caregiving responsibilities out of fear it could harm career advancement. Many managers view employees leave early for school pick-up or those who take time off to run parents to the doctor as not being all-in at work, regardless of whether they meet their goals.Caregivers have more stress in their life—financial, personal, and professional, according to a report in the Journal of the American Medical Association. This can lead to a decline in productivity and an increase in absenteeism. But it doesn’t have to. According to a Harvard Business Review report, caregiving can provide skills that are very transferrable to work, and a Harvard Business School survey conducted for the Rutgers Center for Women in Business in 2023 listed many skills acquired through caregiving, including empathy, efficiency, tenacity, collaboration, and project management.Even better, employers can provide support for caregivers in ways that generates a return on investment. In a report outlining Harvard Business School research on caregiving, the authors note that caring for the caregivers on your team doesn’t harm your company, in fact, it helps. Two of the easiest methods to help caregivers, flex time and telecommuting, have a return on investment of $1.70 to $4.34 and $2.46 to $4.45 for each dollar spent on them, respectively.A simple way to help caregivers is to gather and share a list of the benefits you have related to caregiving, says Heather Tinsley-Fix, a senior advisor with AARP, the nonprofit group that advocates for people 50 and over. These may include Employee Resource Groups (ERGs), Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs), or assistance programs for finding appropriate back-up care.Give Them What They Want and Tell Them What It CostsDo you know what your total benefit package costs per person? If you don’t, cost it out, Abbajay says. Share it within your organization–transparency about financials is very important to Millennials and Gen Z. When you survey what they are interested in adding, tell them what it will cost and what the tradeoffs would be—maybe you want a four-day workweek, but it might be at the cost of grad-school funding. Some organizations Abbajay has worked with provide a bucket of money for each employee and a buffet of choices they can spend it on.Don’t forget some of the non-benefit elements of work that people value. Abbajay says that younger workers want a company with a clear ethos that engages in philanthropy beyond corporate donations. Some organizations provide time off for volunteering or create team-building events centered around it.Offer opportunities to learn and grow. While older workers are staying longer in the workforce, Abbajay says your organization can create novel paths to advancement. Not everyone wants to be a manager or a leader. Some in tech just want to be masters of coding. Not every lawyer wants the responsibility of partnership. What kind of advancement can you offer to those who prefer mastery of their craft to climbing the leadership ladder?Frugal FixesEverything you do to promote multigenerational satisfaction doesn’t require leadership approval or a big budgetary investments. Some simple trick and twists:Consider offering ergonomic check-ups of people’s workspace. At AARP, Tinsley-Fix says the facilities team is in charge of those requests. However, there are plenty of on-line resources that can be helpful. Mayo Clinic, the National Institutes of Health, and OSHA offer tools that can help. Many consultants can evaluate your entire organization.Stratify data from employee surveys by age group, says Tinsley-Fix. When analyzed this way, you can spot patterns that can help update your workforce management strategies, she says.Leverage the networks of your existing personnel when searching for new staff. “Add a referral reward if someone they recommend for a job is hired,” Tinsley-Fix said. If you don’t know where to source older workers, your existing employees in that age group may be able to refer their peers.Lastly, Tinsley-Fix says all your internal and external communications should be representative of the demographics you aspire to. Whether it’s the stock pictures on your website or the people you profile in internal newsletters, keep diversity in mind. People like to feel seen, and even subtle representation matters.Importantly, if you ask for input and opinions, do something. One Harvard Business Review article reports that one reason employees are loathe to speak up is having sense of futility–that nothing will happen with what they tell you. So find out what they want, Abbajay says. Organize it, says Tinsley-Fix. Then act on the results.Editor’s note: From Day One thanks our partner, AARP, for sponsoring this story, the third in a series on how employers can foster age inclusion in the workplace. Interested in assessing how you are doing with age inclusion? Try AARP’s new tool on Managing a Multigenerational Workforce. Just send an email to employerpledge@aarp.org, with the subject line betatest. To hear much more, tune into From Day One’s one-hour webinar, “Leveraging Generational Diversity: Moving from Ageism to Age Inclusion,” scheduled for Thurs., Oct. 3, at 2 pm ET. You can register here.Lisa Jaffe is a freelance writer who lives in Seattle with her son and a very needy rescue dog named Ellie Bee. She enjoys reading, long walks on the beach, and trying to get better at ceramics.(Featured photo by Sanjeri/iStock by Getty Images)
Generational Allies: Four Ways to Adopt More Age-Inclusive Habits in Your Workplace
BY Lisa Jaffe August 16, 2024Amy, a program manager at a tech company in Salt Lake City, learned her most valuable lesson about inter-generational relationships when she was a rookie kindergarten teacher more than two decades ago. Back then, she fully expected to have a positive educational impact on her students; after all, she was 20 years older than they were. “Of course they would learn from me,” she said. “But I didn’t expect to also learn from them.”Learning to meet someone where they are in life, to underscore their strengths and work around their weaknesses, is something she carried with her when she left teaching to work in tech, where she thinks that surprising experience helped her be a more dynamic supervisor and mentor. “I don’t expect that every team member who is 20 years or more younger than me will need my guidance. I know that there will be ebb and flow between us, and I think that makes me a better manager.” Working in a multigenerational organization can leave you surprised by what you need to teach, but also what you can learn from those who are older and younger than you. Embracing opportunities to foster a multigenerational team can help move a good organization to great. In this story, the second in a three-part series leading up to our Oct. 3 webinar on Tools to Create a Multi-Generational Workforce, we'll be looking at how employers can confront this challenge by adopting more age-inclusive practices. Here are four ways you can do that:Expand Your Hiring ProcessIf you are only sourcing potential hires who are recent grads, those who have a degree, or who are younger (and perhaps therefore lower-paid) you are limiting your organization. Even if you think you are casting a broad net, the data suggests otherwise.People in their 40s and beyond typically find it harder than younger people do to find entry- and intermediate-level jobs, according to a survey of 3,800 employed and unemployed people and more than 1,400 hiring managers. It can take more than six months to find a new job for older people, partly because of the perception of hiring managers. One quarter of them view younger candidates as having more relevant work experience than older age groups. The survey, conducted for Generation, a non-profit involved in job training and placement, reported that hiring managers think older people are less adaptable as well. However, when asked to rate the people they hired, 87% said older workers perform as well as younger ones. AARP, the nonprofit group that advocates for people 50 and older, practices an expanded search process when adding to their 2,000 person workforce. The organization ensures its job descriptions don’t overly privilege any single age group, says AARP senior advisor Heather Tinsley-Fix. “We don’t put upper ranges on experience requirements. Rather than five to 10 years, we say five or more. We don’t ask for graduation dates.” The organization has a robust internship program that doesn’t limit interns to college students. When looking for interns or candidates, AARP sources from organizations beyond universities, Tinsley-Fix says. Her organization may engage with libraries, senior centers, or civic organizations that host work fairs or put advertisements in media favored by older users.Another problem with limiting recruiting efforts to post-secondary education and training institutions is that it prevents organizations from considering those without degrees. Prior to the pandemic, companies engaged in degree inflation: requiring degrees, or higher degrees, for jobs that may not really need them. But according to a Harvard Business Review report, as hiring became more and more difficult during the Great Resignation, companies reduced educational requirements and adopted a more skills-based assessment of candidates. Postings for jobs requiring an undergraduate degree fell by 12% overall. At companies like Accenture and IBM, less than a third of the job postings for software quality-assurance engineers required a four-year degree. At the same time, ads grew more descriptive of skills the job required.Sow Accord, Root Out DistrustWhile it’s human nature to seek out those who are like us, it’s not a healthy dynamic for high-performing teams or organizations. One way to help improve understanding between different age groups is with a multigenerational Employee Resource Group (ERG). FINRA, a not-for-profit organization that oversees broker-dealers and their personnel, has more than 4,400 employees and contractors. The organization created a Multigenrational Employee Resource Group Exchange (MERGE) to specifically engage its workforce in the diversity of their points of view in life. According to the leaders of the MERGE team, Ann-Isabel Previl, Julie Petulla and Elizabeth Potter, its purpose is to give voice to each generation. They do this “by showcasing their unique and diverse perspectives and facilitating intergenerational collaboration and communication,” said Previl.There are currently four generations in the FINRA workplace, Petulla says, and in 2018 the organization’s leaders decided that providing a way to share different generational experiences and perspectives could increase understanding and decrease any prejudices. “MERGE seeks intentional opportunities to provide members the forum to engage with generations other than their own to help members increase their professional network and increase communication and collaboration among different generations.” “Each generation has different styles of communicating,” said Potter. “Our generation may impact our preferred communication platform, level of directness or formality, and use of slang. These differences in communication styles can lead to misunderstandings. For instance, over text/instant messaging, a short sentence ending in a period may look perfectly friendly from a Baby Boomer's perspective but could be construed as an angry message by a member of Gen Z. By discussing these differences openly, we can better understand our colleagues and collaborate more effectively.”MERGE has created several programs that have helped to dispel myths about different age groups and foster a better understanding. “The Workplace Through Her Eyes” focuses on how women perceive their working environment. One woman from each of the four generations at work at FINRA is asked to share their stories about work–how it was at the beginning of their career, how work attire has changed, or what’s different about communication styles. A series on financial innovation featured investment differences between generations and looked at changes in technology and attitudes towards investing. In this case too, someone from each generation shared their views and experience. “Programs like these do a great job of bringing in other ERGs to raise awareness and address issues related to creating and maintaining multigenerational collaboration in the workplace,” Potter said.Teach and LearnWhen you think of the word mentor, the image is usually an older person guiding a younger one. But according to Harvard Business Review, companies like GE, Deloitte, Cisco and Procter & Gamble are upending that tradition with “reverse mentorships” in which younger people teach older people new skills. Mutual mentorship, where a linked pair teach each other, has also been shown to “support employees’ development of competencies and skills and increase both individual involvement and collective motivation,” said HBR.Aaron Witt, CEO of BuildWitt, a services, media and software company that works with mining and infrastructure organizations, is a generation younger than company VP Dan Briscoe, but the two are unfazed by the age gap. “I don’t think we ever acknowledged being so different in age, but we have definitely leveraged each other’s perspectives,” Witt said. “Dan had way more experience in marketing and business, so I leaned on him heavily. And Dan knew I could tell stories well and leverage social media to build our brand, so he always supported what I was doing on the ‘younger’ front.”Witt says it’s critical to remember that everyone comes from a different place. It’s not just age, but upbringing, career, and life experiences. “It’s my job as a leader to know how someone thinks and what their strengths are. The better I know them, the more effectively I can position them in the right place for themselves and our business.”As someone relatively new to the business world, Witt has learned to lean on Briscoe’s expertise. While he still may have an occasional inclination that he knows better, “I’ve learned it’s best to keep my mouth shut. They have more to offer than I previously thought.”See the Differences That MatterIf you want to leverage a multigenerational workforce into your organization’s superpower, you need to understand them. There are, indeed, differences between generations. But it’s not productive to embrace the stereotypes, for example that one group is tech savvy, and one is staid and slow to change. The more valid observation is that there are differences in communication styles. Younger people may prefer texting and instant messaging. Older people may respond better to public recognition and rewards. What engages someone who is 45 may be different than what keeps a 60 year old focused. “Generational differences exist, and the research, done right, can be very enlightening,” says Corey Seemiller, PhD, who studies generational differences. “It is insightful, not predictive. If you want to understand Gen Z and you’ve never heard of TikTok, you may want to find out what it is.”She suggests getting to know how the different age groups in your organization think. She pointed to a survey she believes gets to the heart of similarities and differences between age groups. “Learn what it takes to make them thrive,” she said. It’s the same lesson that Amy, the tech-industry manager, learned as a kindergarten teacher.Editor’s note: From Day One thanks our partner, AARP, for sponsoring this story, the second in a series on how employers can foster age inclusion in the workplace. Interested in assessing how you are doing with age inclusion? Try AARP’s new tool on Managing a Multigenerational Workforce. Just send an email to employerpledge@aarp.org, with the subject line betatest. In part three of this series, we’ll explore worker-retention strategies from the perspective of different age groups. Part one of the series is What a Five-Generation Workforce Means for You: The Myths and Realities.Lisa Jaffe is a freelance writer who lives in Seattle with her son and a very needy rescue dog named Ellie Bee. She enjoys reading, long walks on the beach, and trying to get better at ceramics.
What a Five-Generation Workforce Means for You: The Myths and Realities
BY Lisa Jaffe July 18, 2024Nick, a senior manager in a global tech company based in Seattle, has worked with people of many different ages, both older and younger than him. His experience is increasingly typical in a workforce that spans five generations, a growing diversity of experience that provides the benefit of workers sharing wisdom across the ages, but also gives rise to problems like ageism–the bias against others based merely on their calendar age. Nick recently learned that one of his direct reports is notably older than Nick assumed. “At that moment, I realized that I had been thinking of him as less serious and more in need of guidance. I knew I had to examine my prejudices about age.”This is the first time in history that such a rich mixture of people from their teens to their 80s are at work. But the implications for business are still being sorted out. In 2020, a Deloitte white paper reported that 70% of executives surveyed believed a multigenerational workforce was important for their organizations, but only 10% felt ready to lead one and understood how it might affect operations.The widespread assumption has been that the generations are distinct enough in their affinities that they should be treated differently. In the Deloitte survey, more than half the respondents said they consider differences between the generations in designing operations and benefits But are these differences more perceived than real? Deloitte’s report cites the new concept of a “perennial” employee, or someone who transcends generational stereotypes.As the Deloitte survey explains: “Why is generation becoming less relevant as a way to understand the workforce? The starting point is that careers have become more dynamic and complex, loosening the historic correlation between age and career progression. Rapid technological and organizational change means that workers must now reinvent themselves multiple times throughout their working lives; at the same time, the broader business culture has shifted to make it acceptable, sometimes even desirable, to promote younger individuals into leadership positions. The upshot is that 65-year-old interns can today be found working side by side with 25-year-old managers, calling into question the assumption that age is a reasonable proxy for understanding people’s workplace challenges and needs.”A 2012 analysis of more than 20 studies supports this view, finding few generational differences in work-related variables like attitudes towards work or technology. Where they do exist, the differences can likely be attributed to variables other than age, like education level.Yet ageism persists. In this story, the first in a three-part series, we'll be looking at how employers can confront this challenge by adopting more age-inclusive practices. There’s good reason to do so, since lack of trust between generations can create unnecessary competition and resentment, to the detriment of working relationships. One experiment found that negative beliefs about older people and how they adapt to new technology led to poorer training of those people. Another survey found that hiring managers view younger workers as having more relevant education and experience and being a better cultural fit with organizations. On the other side is a view that goes as far back as Socrates: young people are flighty, have a poor work ethic, or require constant praise from above. Stephane P. Francioli, Ph.D., a postdoctoral researcher at the Wharton School of Management, has made a study of “youngism” and found that when asked about age-related abuse or discrimination, younger workers report higher rates than bias related to sexual orientation, race, religion, or gender, he says. Could this be because they see the workplace as wholly unfair? No, he says. If that were true, younger workers would also complain about issues of racism, sexism, or anti-LGBTQIA+ actions at higher levels than other age groups. They don’t. Heather Tinsley-Fix is a Senior Advisor at AARP where she helps employers support a multigenerational workforce (company photo)Pigeon-holing different groups can impair how teams work together, says Heather Tinsley-Fix, a senior advisor at AARP, whether it’s saying that older people are not flexible with new tech or younger people have no loyalty. “If someone was young and not tech savvy, they wouldn’t mention it, but if they are older, it gets attributed to age,” she said. “It's often just a knee-jerk reaction.”Abuse and discrimination can take many forms. Younger workers may be asked to run personal errands outside of their job description, or handle on-call hours at night because they don’t have children to take care of. They may be denied flexible work arrangements that parents of young children are given because a manager doesn’t think young, childless employees will work as hard at home without supervision, says Francioli.The problems that affect younger workers are often not addressed because they are not recognized legally, at least at the federal level. In the U.S., the Age Discrimination in Employment Act covers age discrimination in workers over 40, but can disregard other workers. Employers need to be careful not to encourage and reemphasize generational differences by organizing training according to age groups, like courses on how to manage millennials, helping older workers navigate technology, or how your Gen Z staff is different. “There is no scientific basis for any of this, it creates an us vs. them atmosphere, and encourages an in-group/out-group mentality,” Francioli said.One other consideration is how people can project age-related perceptions onto others. An older worker, for example, may believe coworkers think he is slow to adapt to new work methodologies, when they may not feel that way at all. In fact, one study found that what people believed about other generations was usually positive. The outlier was what people thought of younger generations, though young people believed others’ perceptions of them were far more negative than the reality.While putting stereotypes aside, there are still some age-related realities that employers should take into account. For example, companies can consider ergonomic factors when it comes to older workers, as well as developing support programs for staff members going through menopause. But assuming attitudinal characteristics of specific age groups and training workers based on those assumptions is often counterproductive.At the same time, the world is changing fast, so generations are experiencing factors like media and economic conditions in different ways, which shouldn’t be overlooked, says Corey Seemiller, Ph.D., a professor at Ohio’s Wright State University, and author of several books about Gen Z. Understanding those differences can be key to engaging with team members and the future success of your organization. She points to Gen Z, the social media generation, and their comfort with video as a form of communication. “Do you offer the opportunity for them to provide a video resume? Not all of them will, but some might prefer it,” she said.Many in Gen Z are uninterested in public accolades for their work; some actively dislike it, Seemiller says. Similarly, those from Gen X, often called the Latch-Key Generation, experienced a lot of freedom during their childhood and are often averse to micromanagement.Knowing what might discourage different generations and meeting them where they are doesn’t make you ageist. But if, for example, you note that older people who worked in an analog culture for most of their careers are having trouble adapting to a new tech platform and subsequently require special training for all people over 50, Seemiller says, that is when it becomes discriminatory. The best way to support the different needs of employees is to talk to them and treat them as individuals, advises Seemiller. Employers should find out what they want, what they need, and where there is room for improvement. Regular surveys are a good way to do this. All of this can be highly nuanced, but for employers, it will be worth the effort. We are experiencing a great age shift in the workforce. The UN estimates more than a third of the population will be over 65 by 2050. In the U.S., one-fifth of the population will be over 65 by 2030. Better health, and better healthcare, as well as economic circumstances, have led to people working longer. At the same time, the birth rate is declining.Is your organization prepared for fewer younger workers and more older workers? How can you create a culture where ageism and prejudice against anyone, young or old, doesn’t gain a foothold? How can you harness the power of a multigenerational workforce? In part two of this series, we’ll provide actionable ideas and examples of programs that have helped other organizations successfully navigate changing demographics.Editor’s note: From Day One thanks our partner, AARP, for sponsoring this story, the first in a series on how employers can foster age inclusion in the workplace. Interested in assessing how you are doing with age inclusion–and learning more? Try AARP’s new tool, Age Inclusion 101. Just send an email to employerpledge@aarp.org, with the subject line betatest.Lisa Jaffe is a freelance writer who lives in Seattle with her son and a very needy rescue dog named Ellie Bee. She enjoys reading, long walks on the beach, and trying to get better at ceramics.
How the Benefit of a Trained Doula Can Make Childbirth a Safer and Happier Event
BY Lisa Jaffe December 11, 2023As a Black mother-to-be, Aredella McCain knew that the statistics for African American women giving birth in the U.S. are troubling. In 2021, there were 69.9 deaths per 100,000 births among Black women, up from 37.3 in 2018. Among white women, the maternal death rate was 26.6, up from 14.9. African Americans and members of other marginalized communities are more likely also to suffer from post-partum depression, post-pregnancy complications, and feel that they are unheard during the prenatal and birthing process. They are more likely to have C-sections, low birthweight babies, and preterm babies. What can make a difference is a trained doula: a birthing companion with knowledge of prenatal care, birth, and postnatal care. While not a medical professional–they are not licensed–they can have a profound impact on birth outcomes. According to the Doula Foundation, mothers who have doula assistance are 50% less likely to have a premature baby, 36% less likely to have a low birthweight baby, and 33% more likely to initiate breastfeeding. McCain, of St. Louis, has given birth twice with the help of a doula, the first of which turned out to be a learning experience about how to make the most of the assistance a doula can offer. For her first experience with childbirth, in 2020, McCain worked with a doula employed by the hospital, but McCain feels the team didn’t prepare enough for what was to come. “I should have taken the time to prep and practice with her prior to game day. We would have benefitted from going over what to expect and support measures for both my husband and I outside of the birthing class required by the hospital,” McCain said in an interview. “Everything was so intense, and labor was stalled for hours, resulting in interventions which I know now could have been avoided with mental and physical preparation as well as more hands-on support.”The McCain family welcomes their second child (Family photo)For her second birth, McCain found a birth doula through Stork Club, a family-building and reproductive-health benefit solution. Stork Club extends traditional employer-sponsored benefits to provide access to support, personalized guidance, high-performing medical care, and a network of providers.McCain’s experience improved dramatically. “My second doula was hands-on, months prior to delivery. She visited our home, helped to progress labor, kept me moving, and gave comfort measures when I needed it the most. She also visited postpartum. I felt like my second birth was more rewarding because not only was the experience much quicker, I was not acting or making decisions out of desperation. I felt in control of my body.”The Stork Club doula was willing to learn to accommodate McCain’s wishes. McCain used hypnotic birth practices for both deliveries, but it was a new concept for her Stork Club doula. “She took the time to research and support me in my practice, which made a great difference. The end result was exactly what I hoped for, an unmedicated birth.”The Stork Club Birth Doula Program is designed not just to provide individualized care, but also to be easy to use. The pregnant individual is matched with a primary and back-up birth doula early in the pregnancy to ensure a long-term relationship. They can talk as much as needed via phone, text, or email. By week 37, they have developed a birth plan that meets the individual’s values and preferences. They also discuss what to expect during three, 90-minute visits, so the person giving birth feels prepared and supported. As delivery approaches, the doula is on call 24/7 to be available for in-labor room support, where they will help the person giving birth with breathing techniques and provide emotional support. Following birth, there is a two-hour, post-birth visit where the doula provides coaching on infant feeding, emotional, and physical recovery. Later on, a postpartum visit focuses on coping skills.First-time mom Portia Feeny says she wanted to have a doula present throughout the birthing process to provide the support and guidance that doctors and nurses are too busy to provide. “I also wanted someone that could help me advocate for myself if I was too tired or overwhelmed to follow the plan that I originally wanted,” she said.Feeny, of Greer, S.C., said she wanted a natural childbirth and knew that statistics show doulas lower the chance of surgical interventions. As her delivery stalled, however, the doula helped her try several birthing positions, encouraged periods of rest, and when the decision was made that she needed a C-section, the doula advocated for Feeny and her husband to have a few minutes alone together before going to the OR. She stayed at Feeny’s side throughout the procedure. “She helped me mentally to cope with not having my ideal birth. I had someone there that helped me try everything to push me along until we had literally exhausted all of our options.” Jeni Mayorskaya, Stork Club’s founder and CEOOne of the keys to the positive impact from the Stork Club’s birth doula program is ensuring all the doulas have adequate training, says Jeni Mayorskaya, Stork Club’s founder and CEO. All of Stork Club’s doulas are certified through respected programs. “We coach on consistency of clinical practice,” Mayorskaya said. “We insist they be proactive, supportive, and empathetic. Our doulas don’t just wait for calls, they initiate them.”While ensuring that a company’s benefits actually help its employees and their families is reason enough to have a doula program, there are also returns on the investment for the employer as well. Jesse Remer, a certified birth and postpartum doula and international doula trainer, helped to create the Stork Club doula program. “It is one of the most implementable, economical, and ethical investments a company can implement to make a difference in employee work/life balance, retention, and mental health,” she says. “Doulas are one of the most innovative and evidence-based practices.”By helping to address health inequities, they can be a strong part of a company’s efforts toward diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). By improving the mental health of mothers and their partners, doula programs can help to reduce absenteeism, burnout, and turnover. And they can lower healthcare costs, making it a dollar-positive investment. “Over 40 years ago, [the renowned pediatrician] John Kennell said that if a doula were a drug, it would be unethical not to use it,” said Remer. “Expanding a family is a forever commitment, and all the transitions that come with a new baby are deeply impactful. Doulas hold parents’ hands across the perinatal threshold with continuous support. By reducing the more traumatic impacts of childbirth–major abdominal surgery, pre-term labor and perinatal mood and anxiety disorders, for instance–doulas reduce the barriers to the parental recovery required to return to work as productive humans,” Remer said. “Doulas help practicalities of everything from feeding to sleep routines to organization in the 4th trimester. It’s common sense that a person who is happy and healthy and supported will be more productive.” Editor’s Note: From Day One thanks our partner, Stork Club, for supporting this sponsor spotlight.Lisa Jaffe is a freelance writer who lives in Seattle with her son and a very needy rescue dog named Ellie Bee. She enjoys reading, long walks on the beach, and trying to get better at ceramics.(Featured photo: iStock by Getty Images)
The Hidden Costs of Menopause: How It Affects Workers–and What Employers Can Do to Help
BY Lisa Jaffe October 05, 2023During the Great Resignation, organizations all over the world decried the loss of talent and expertise, as well as the difficulty and cost of replacing it. But another great resignation has been happening all along: Every year, 20% of women going through perimenopause or menopause (a period that extends from their 30s through their 50s or 60s) leave the workforce, costing businesses around the world hundreds of billions of dollars in lost knowledge and replacement costs. About 20% of the workforce is going through perimenopause or menopause at any given time. By the end of the decade, the estimated cost of menopause to businesses in lost productivity will be $150 billion annually. Maven Clinic, a comprehensive health platform serving women and families, found that there could be an extra $2,100 in healthcare costs annually for those transitioning through menopause, including $400 in pharmaceutical costs. For an organization, the economic toll comes from loss of workforce expertise and leadership. It can cost up to twice the salary of a lost employee to replace them. There is loss of diversity, lower productivity — Maven says up to 14 days of missed work — and increased turnover. How do employers address this? Here are 4 steps to demystify menopause and insulate your people and organization from its impacts, drawing on a report from Maven on the hidden costs of menopause:Know what it is: Menopause is defined as the cessation of menstruation for 12 months, but the impact can begin years prior as perimenopause, when hormones begin to fluctuate, and last years past its onset. That means some women will experience symptoms from their mid- to late-30s through their 60s, when they are in the prime of their work life. Know the impacts: There are dozens of symptoms associated with menopause. The most common are hot flashes and night sweats (known medically as vasomotor symptoms); sleep disturbance, brain fog and memory lapses; mood disorders like depression and anxiety; vaginal dryness and changes in libido; headaches and nerve disorders like tingling extremities; digestive disorders and changes in taste; joint and muscle pain; and dizzy spells. While the symptoms themselves are troubling, the changes in hormones also lead to medical issues, including increases in LDL cholesterol (the bad one), increased risks of osteoporosis, and increased risk of cardiovascular events.Maven’s new report on the hidden costs of menopause and how employers can support workers Stress can make all of these symptoms worse, and a recent study found that 6.7% of women reported an increase in symptoms during the pandemic. Know how to help: Education is key, not just for women experiencing menopause, but for their colleagues and managers as well. Only a third of people going through menopause feel supported by their managers, many of whom know nothing about menopause, its symptoms, or their impact on work.Make simple environmental changes. Access to fans, desks away from sunny windows or heater vents, and access to a cool relaxation room can help with vasomotor symptoms. Flexible work arrangements – hybrid or full-time remote work, or flexibility to start earlier or later – can help with issues related to sleep disturbances. Wellness programs can help everyone, but those going through menopause can benefit from reflexology, yoga, walking programs, or aromatherapy. Those modes were found in a recent review study to improve insomnia significantly. Stretching and exercise also improved quality of sleep. Evidence was inconsistent related to depression symptoms, but it could help.Provide access to expertise: Most gynecologists report being “barely comfortable” helping patients through this time – or even talking about it to them. Only a fifth of residency programs feature any instruction on menopause. The lack of education leads to women being told to get a hobby, see a psychologist, or wear layers. Health-insurance plans often don’t fully support the specialized help that a woman needs to get through this time.Maven has a network of menopause specialists that are available 24/7 to help patients manage their symptoms, through coaching or second opinions. They also facilitate setting up support groups – something that 2/3 of respondents to a Maven survey said helped them manage symptoms. Will all of this help? There is limited data on the return on investment for menopause-support benefits, but what is there seems to underline the benefits. A review study released in June found that cognitive behavioral therapy, yoga, exercise programs, and menopause education improved symptoms significantly. The first of those showed a special benefit in presenteeism. Awareness programs significantly improved knowledge and attitudes throughout organizations. The study authors noted that there have been some small studies on limited populations that showed improved work outcomes related to implementing menopause support programs. The population is aging, and it is already difficult to find and retain experienced talent. Creating a menopause program or benefit can help organizations avoid turnover, improve engagement and productivity, and make the workplace better for everyone. Editor's Note: From Day One thanks our partner, Maven Clinic, for supporting this sponsor spotlight.Lisa Jaffe is a freelance writer who lives in Seattle with her son and a very needy rescue dog named Ellie Bee. She enjoys reading, long walks on the beach, and trying to get better at ceramics.
Saving Money and Empowering Employees: The Value of Fertility Benefits
BY Lisa Jaffe June 08, 2023In today's competitive job market, companies are constantly seeking ways to retain their current employees and attract top talent. One powerful tool that has emerged in recent years is the inclusion of fertility benefits in the company's standard package. Fertility benefits not only contribute to the overall well-being of employees but also have a significant impact on the company's bottom line. By offering support throughout the family-forming journey, including infertility treatment, adoption, and menopause, companies can demonstrate their commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) while improving employee retention and reducing the costs associated with turnover, as well as keeping costs of medical claims in check.Taylor Padalino, an account executive at Carrot Fertility, spoke during a From Day One virtual conference about how her own personal experience of infertility drives her belief that these benefits should be part of a company’s core offering. "If you've considered fertility benefits in the past due to employee demand, it's likely that DEI goals and employee retention were among the key driving factors for considering them,” she said during her thought leadership spotlight.Fertility Benefits For AllFertility benefits have become increasingly crucial in promoting diversity and inclusion within the workforce. They speak to different age groups, genders, and sexual identities, she said. They go beyond traditional notions of family planning, encompassing a wide range of needs such as supporting the LGBTQ+ community, single parents, and women going through menopause. By providing access to fertility treatments, adoption resources, and menopause support, companies can create a more inclusive environment and foster employee loyalty.Padalino used real examples to illustrate how they can help employees. Susie and Cara, a same-sex couple planning to undergo in vitro fertilization (IVF), are concerned about the financial implications of needing multiple rounds of IVF to create the large family they imagined. They figure they’ll harvest multiple embryos to increase the chances of having twins. But because education is a key component of their fertility benefit, they learn that there are increased risks and costs for birthing twins or triplets. They are more likely to be born early or need time in the NICU. In the end, they opt for a single embryo transfer and give birth to a healthy baby.The average cost of a multiple birth can be more than $150,000, compared with $21,000 for a single birth. Padalino said that she has seen claims of more than a million dollars for twin and triplet pregnancies and birth.Michael and Nick, another same sex couple, seek to build their family through adoption. They figure they’d go through an agency, which can cost $30,000 to $60,000. But their family building benefit hooks them up with an expert who tells them about self-guided adoption, where they create a profile and connect with expectant mothers. The cost for this can be $10,000-$15,000. They save a substantial amount of money while fulfilling their dream of becoming parents.Being Mindful of MenopauseMenopause, often overlooked in the workplace, is an area where companies can provide much-needed support. The costs related to lost productivity, absenteeism, and even resignation related to menopause symptoms runs into the billions of dollars per year. Padalino told the story of Rebecca, a VP of finance, who starts experiencing night sweats, sleep interruption, and increased anxiety when she’s 49. She’s been with the company for 15 years, and her expertise has great value, but over the next year, her symptoms worsen and she’s fatigued, has trouble focusing, and is struggling to complete tasks she knows by heart.Taylor Padalino led the thought leadership spotlight (company photo)Her primary care doctor, like most, doesn’t have extra training in menopause and hormonal changes, and tells her the symptoms are part of life and will eventually decrease. She tells Rebecca that hormone replacement can increase her risk of cancer. Rebecca considers changing to work from home, despite her love of the in-office experience. At least she could sleep later and avoid the commute. But she learns about a menopause benefit that can connect her with experts who have extensive training in endocrinology as it relates to older women. There is also a support group of her colleagues where she can exchange information and simply feel seen. Once she talks to the expert, she starts HRT, the risks for her are lower than she thought. Her symptoms quickly subside, and she is able to stay in the office and return to peak performance.Supporting Your WorkforceStatistics reinforce the importance of fertility benefits. Globally, one in six couples face infertility, Padalino said, noting that she knows personally it is one of the most emotionally devastating experiences I’ve had.” Nearly two-thirds of the LGBTQ+ community express their readiness to start a family, and 80% of people would consider changing jobs for access to fertility benefits. In the United States alone, 1.3 million women enter menopause annually, highlighting the need for comprehensive support in this area.When implementing fertility benefits, it is crucial to ensure clinical oversight and a program that incorporates current best practices. For example, having a single embryo transfer policy in place can result in better outcomes for both mother and baby while mitigating high-cost claims associated with multiple births. At Carrot Fertility, their 93% single embryo transfer rate surpasses the national average by 20%. A plan should also explore first-line interventions and less invasive options before pursuing expensive treatments like IVF. Think fertility testing, nutrition counseling, and precise ovulation tracking, which can help increase the chances of natural conception and reduce the need for costly interventions.Padalino told the audience that including fertility benefits in a company's package is a strategic decision that aligns with both employee well-being and cost containment goals. By supporting employees throughout their family-forming journeys, companies can demonstrate their commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion while simultaneously reducing turnover costs and attracting top talent. Fertility benefits have the potential to make a positive impact on individuals, families, and the company's bottom line.Editor's Note: From Day One thanks our partner, Carrot Fertility, for sponsoring this thought leadership spotlight.Lisa Jaffe is a freelance writer who lives in Seattle with her son and a very needy rescue dog named Ellie Bee. She enjoys reading, long walks on the beach, and trying to get better at ceramics.
Transporting Your Corporate Values and Culture to Widespread Workplaces
BY Lisa Jaffe June 06, 2023How do you help a distributed workforce succeed in a time of flux and uncertainty? How do you get people who work in different places and different time zones to work well together? And how do you know which people and teams need to be in person most of the time to function best? Wayfair is trying to figure that out. “Initially, there was no strategy on what people were located where,” said chief people officer for tech, Cathy Peterman, at From Day One's conference in Seattle. Peterman was interviewed by Bridget Chavez of KIRO 7 News in the opening fireside chat session. Just before the pandemic, the company was trying to revamp 20-year-old computer architecture and hired where they could. “It was a free for all.”Then, with the pandemic, most of the 16,000 global employees were working from home, at least part of the time, with tech largely fully remote. But remote working isn’t the Wayfair culture. Return to office was key to who they are.Initially, they didn’t think they could ask tech to return to the office, they were all over the world, talking to each other on conference calls. It didn’t make sense. But most of the non-tech force is in Boston. “We told them to come back Tuesday through Thursday. You can imagine the discord. Why is tech special? This isn’t fair.”Six months later, they are trying again. “Some want to come back in; they want the connection. But some don’t. They want to code from where they are with their headphones and their dog. Some started from home during the pandemic and just don’t have the connection to others in the company.”The heated debates that have swirled around these decisions have been ongoing in part because people didn’t feel heard. “I made a mistake the first time. I was listening, but I didn’t tell them what I was hearing. There was some backlash.”Be Open With Decision MakingTransparency might have eased the transition. “If they understood the rationale behind the decision, and what their peers were saying about in-person work, it might have gone more smoothly,” Peterman said.Wayfair has done two RIFs recently. “You can imagine the pain our employees feel. But it is the right thing to do for the company.” Still, it can cause a hit to the trust she is trying to build when people feel blindsided by decisions, whether it’s a return to office policy or the potential for layoffs.Peterman said she is trying to bring more vulnerability and transparency to Wayfair. “I’ve had to become more caring and compassionate.” And honest. She admitted her previous mistakes regarding return to office at an all hands meeting and had people reach out with thanks. “I had one person tell me they had never heard an admission of error in that public forum. We will make more mistakes. We are human. But bringing visibility and vulnerability will go a long way.”Retaining Talent in Turbulent TimesPeterman knows that some people won’t like some of the changes in the company and will want to leave. But retention of key talent matters, perhaps especially in rocky times. “We are focused on the work and the people. We aren’t building AI or other cool tech. We are e-commerce. When we talk to them in interviews and retention conversations, we talk about them being part of building a new future for Wayfair. We key in on that.”Peterman and Chavez kicked off the From Day One Seattle conference in their fireside chat session titled, “Transporting Your Corporate Valyes and Culture to Widespread Workplaces" (photo by David Ryder for From Day One)There is also a focus on the culture of collaboration and caring. That feeds into the rationale for being an in-person company. “We build a caring environment through relationships with each other. And we think it’s easier to do that when we are together.”When people leave or there are layoffs, she said they try to emphasize the opportunity to grow skills with the remaining team members. For example, when the DEI partner for technology left, the position wasn’t filled. Now it is on the rest of the team to drive those efforts forward. “We aren’t experts. This is an opportunity for us to take on new skills.”As a parting piece of advice, Peterman said that HR leaders should remember that they, too, are human. “We have underestimated the toll the last couple years has taken on us. We talk about RTO, caring about employees, the fight for talent, and all the things we had to lead our companies through. I’m tired. I’m still energized but I’m tired. I talk to peers in different companies, and I think we need to come together more to support each other and share.”Lisa Jaffe is a freelance writer who lives in Seattle with her son and a very needy rescue dog named Ellie Bee. She enjoys reading, long walks on the beach, and trying to get better at ceramics.
Empower Your Workforce With Health Navigators: Guiding Employees Through Pivotal Moments
BY Lisa Jaffe June 05, 2023More than a quarter of all health care dollars are wasted due to failed care delivery, lack of care coordination, or unnecessary treatment. It’s an astounding percentage, exacerbated by rising health care costs. Given corporate focus on cost containment, it is an issue that companies need to address. The wasted money is a symptom of a larger problem, though: how to provide health care solutions to employees that are attractive, useful, and cost effective.In a From Day One webinar, two executives from the health navigation company Accolade talked about how this kind of service can help achieve cost containment, better outcomes, and stellar appreciation from users. “In a survey by Willis Towers Watson, two out of every three U.S. employers plan to prioritize controlling rising health care benefit costs over the next three years,” said Jen McDonnell, VP of solutions management for Accolade. “You are under ever growing pressure to both contain and even reduce your trend and under pressure to help your organization attract and retain top talent. Many of you are likely experiencing frustration, because the programs you worked so hard to put in place and invest in and to take care of your employees are not necessarily delivering the return on investment that you expected.”Life has become harder for all of us, McDonnell said. “The pressure of work, the economy, and caring for parents and children all take a toll. Mental health care demand has skyrocketed, and it’s compounded by the shortage of providers. And while the rise of specialty clinical point solutions has brought much needed specialty care to millions, it's also made it more confusing for people to know how and where to get the care they need when they need it.”“Consumers need someone to help them understand the benefits available to them, to access them, to find high-quality providers, and get appointments with them that aren’t weeks away, and to help make the really hard decisions they often face when dealing with a serious health issue,” McDonnell said. “A lot of HR and benefit leaders are turning to advocacy and navigation partners like Accolade to avoid that wasted spend.”Erin Hirshorn, RN, senior director of population health at Accolade, said that these services can predict which members will cost more, and that can lead to opportunities for early intervention or providing access to those who may not have it. She pointed to a Robert Wood Johnson study that found 80% of health outcomes are impacted by life circumstances, like access to care, cost or family caregiving responsibilities. Any of these can delay care which can lead to worse outcomes and higher costs.It’s considered dogma that a strong relationship with your primary care physician leads to cost savings, said McDonnell. But data suggests the majority don’t understand that, with about half the population either lacking a PCP (primary care physician) or a good relationship with one. It could be that they are the victim of the shortage of primary care providers, or they travel so much for work that they can’t easily access a provider in their home area. It could be that their relationship with their doctor is so bad that they avoid care. Maybe they come from a marginalized community and don’t feel seen by their provider. Accolade’s virtual connections allow people to have access 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. They can treat both physical and mental health needs, and patients can look for a provider that is, for instance, LGBTQ+ friendly.“In the 15 years that we've been in this business, one truth we’ve learned is that almost no one cares about their benefits until they need to use them,” McDonnell said. “If no one in your family has diabetes, then you don't really know what benefits you have to cover diabetes. People are overwhelmed with their daily lives, and they won’t spend time learning about benefits that they might not need, or no one in their family needs. But when people get sick, they care a lot about those benefits.”The problem is they lack the foundational knowledge of their benefits, said McDonnell. “They don't know where to start. They're often scared, they're not feeling well, which makes it even harder to be a smart consumer. The goal is to get information and guidance to the to these, in the moment when they're sick, when they're experiencing symptoms, facing a new diagnosis or caring for someone who is. And that's hard. It’s like being a dating site that matches sick people with the benefit or provider who is best and uniquely suited for them right now in this moment. Many people don't have anyone to turn to so they turn to WebMD and crowdsourcing ideas from their friends and family. But companies like Accolade guide people through this entire journey.”Jen McDonnell, Accolade's VP of solutions management and marketing, presented on the importance of accessible health care and benefits (company photo)McDonnell said the data Accolade uses to identify when people need or are seeking care spurs them to reach out to them at that moment. “We use a lot of modern technology and behavioral science to capture their attention to let them know we see them and that we're here to help. We identify the steps that they need to take, and we guide them through their entire journey.” In the last 15 years, Accolade has operationalized doing this across the entire population of people from low through high risk. “We created the concept of health care moments that matter the most,” she said. These include when someone is experiencing symptoms, when someone needs to find new providers because they moved, or there is a new diagnosis and a need for a specialist. Chronic conditions can also lead to some of these moments: someone who has well controlled diabetes may be thrown off balance by a life change like divorce or death. “We identify people in those moments, reach out to them, and let them know we can help. We tell them the steps they need to take, the benefits they have, what programs are available to them, and then we help them stay on that path.”The payoff isn’t always just a great medical outcome or financial savings. Hirshorn told the story of a patient identified through their stratification model. The person had stage four bladder cancer with metastasis to the bone. “It’s a scary diagnosis, not just for the person, but for the family as well,” she said. “This person had been hospitalized, and discharge is a time when a lot of things can go wrong. We had a nurse case manager working with this family, and she found a few errors with prescriptions of pain medication, and a lack of instruction about medical equipment that the patient was sent home with. She was able to work with the hospital and the discharging provider to make sure that the the correction for the pain medication was made, that the patient and family understood the best way to take the medications, that home health care was set up so they could understand the equipment that was sent home, and we even pointed them to a expert medical opinion.” Oftentimes, during a diagnosis like this, a confirmation of the diagnosis is a good idea. Second opinions can also let patients explore other treatment plans. “Even if they recommend the same thing, it builds confidence in the patient and family that they are on the right course.”The mental toll of such a diagnosis can be brutal, and Hirshorn said they were able to help the wife and daughter connect to some mental health support through their EAP program. “Most importantly, there was somebody hanging in there with them through their entire journey with the family, helping them navigate through a really difficult time.”None of this obviates the potential financial benefits of having a good navigator program, said McDonnell. “A tremendous amount of health care costs is driven by the overuse, misuse, or lack of use of the health care system. What we do is solve for a lot of those by reacting to symptoms. We triage them and guide them to the best place of care. If they should go see a PCP versus visiting the emergency room, then we're going to help guide them there. A lot of people use the emergency room and urgent care these days because they either don't have a PCP or they can't get an appointment, or they can't find a PCP that’s open when they need them. In managing a chronic illness, we help get people back on track, so they don’t turn into a high-risk patient. For many people, getting them the care they need rather than avoiding it or getting the wrong level of care, can help them remain a lower risk patient, and lower risk patients cost less.”Editor's note: From Day One thanks our partner, Accolade, for sponsoring this webinar.Lisa Jaffe is a freelance writer who lives in Seattle with her son and a very needy rescue dog named Ellie Bee. She enjoys reading, long walks on the beach, and trying to get better at ceramics.
Boosting Performance by Promoting Well-Being
BY Lisa Jaffe June 02, 2023The work rules we learned early in our career no longer apply. The last three years have drastically changed what we do and how we do it, as well as the expectations between employees and employers. As an example, Dr. Tom Van Gilder, chief health officer at the virtual coaching company BetterUp, noted in a From Day One webinar that the rate of skills retirement–the time it takes for a skill to become irrelevant or no longer applicable–has declined from about 5 years 15 years ago to just 18 months. “Everything seems to be always in flux,” he said. Change can be good, but this constant state of change is increasing stress. Indeed, a 2021 Harvard Business Review study found that 85% of respondents felt that their well-being had declined in the past two years. The study also reflected a 25% increase in anxiety and depression. Why does that matter? Because employee well-being has a direct impact on performance – of individuals, of employee populations, and of organizations themselves. “There is a relationship between well-being and performance,” Gilder said, but take heart. “Well-being can be measured, and well-being can be improved over time.”BetterUp data, based on about 2 million coaching sessions with people around the world, suggests that, when it comes to well-being, about 5% feel strong, 35% feel steady, and 55% feel strained or unsteady. The last 5% feel stuck. Unlike the people at the very bottom of the scale, most people who languish in the strained or unsteady category won’t likely show up in mental health claims, Gilder explains. They don’t see themselves as having something treatable. “But they're not at their best, they don't feel their best, they don't perform their best.”There are a variety of resources for measuring well-being, including: • The National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health • The HERO Scorecard, developed with Mercer • PositivePsychology.com • What Works Center for Wellbeing in the UK While an organization can try to tackle this issue at any time, it’s best to be proactive and not wait until things are unsettled or bad to start a program that measures well-being and looks for methods to improve it, he said. But regardless of when you start, Gilder says that improvements in well-being can drive performance and help create resilience and adaptability in your workforce.Martin Seligman, the originator of positive psychology, conducted a study of more than a million Department of Defense employees that showed happiness was the number one predictor and driver of success. The people who won the most prestigious awards were those with the highest well-being scores at the start of the study – four times as many in the top quartile compared to the bottom one. BetterUp’s own data shows a 16% increase in performance among people whose well-being improved than in those whose did not.What’s the connection? Gilder says resilience and cognitive agility are predictive of well-being and are also drivers of performance. “Resilience allows a person to adapt more smoothly in the face of change or stress, and it provides a buffer to burnout,” he said.Dr. Tom Van Gilder, BetterUp's Chief Health Officer, led the webinar (company photo)On an organizational level, where there are higher indices of resilience in individuals and across the population of the workplace, there is a greater ability to respond to change and to remain competitive. “As things change, the ability to see which way things are going and to react calmly and efficiently and effectively becomes an organizational predictor,” he said. Companies that have higher resilience have over a three and a half times higher annual return on equity, and almost three and a half times higher year-on-year growth, Gilder added. “This component of well-being is good for the individual and the organization as well.”How can you improve it? Coaching works. Even during the pandemic, BetterUp data showed that those who had coaching on well-being ended up with higher markers of productivity than those without coaching. One of their larger clients, Salesforce, has provided a wealth of data to BetterUp. Those accessing services showed a 75% increase in markers associated with flourishing than those who did not. It led to fewer missed workdays, better health, and an increase in the likelihood of delivering a top performance. The people who are really stuck get the most impact from accessing mental health care services. But there is a large percentage of people who don’t access those solutions, either because they're not identified or don’t self-identify as needing something or they are not aware of these options. Make sure that whatever mental health solutions you provide, through your health plan, EAP, or other benefits, that it is communicated to and available across your entire population. If you provide coaching, know that it isn’t therapy, and ensure that whatever coaching providers you use are trained to point to other resources and refer on as needed. EAPs are often underused because people don’t know about them. There also remains a stigma around mental health care. Be sure you are working to tear down those barriers.Don’t forget about financial well-being, too. In these inflationary times, money troubles and concerns can have an impact on overall well-being. Consider whether financial coaching or financial literacy education could help your employees become more resilient. Younger people may be more likely to engage with digital tools. Find out what your people will respond to and offer it. You may need to offer both digital and real-life options, depending on your workforce’s preference. Consider group options, too. This can help with issues of catastrophizing, Gilder said. “If people organize around specific topics, it can help them develop tools to cope with change and help them see positives that come with it. “We can’t change the rate of change, but we can become more comfortable with it.”Editor's note: From Day One thanks our partner, BetterUp, for sponsoring this webinar.Lisa Jaffe is a freelance writer who lives in Seattle with her son and a very needy rescue dog named Ellie Bee. She enjoys reading, long walks on the beach, and trying to get better at ceramics.
Checking In to Reduce Checking Out
BY Lisa Jaffe May 16, 2023The current reality of the workplace leaves little doubt that it is bad for the physical and mental health of many workers. At a From Day One conference in Seattle, Steve Arntz, chief executive officer of Campfire, noted that this opinion is not his alone; rather, it’s shared by the Surgeon General of the United States, Vivek Murthy. Dr. Murthy has “‘slapped a warning label’ on work. It is destroying our mental health right now. It’s killing us.” This is not as it should be. Murthy believes that work needs to be an engine for mental health and wellbeing. Instead, work is hurting people physically and mentally, and the results are hitting companies hard in terms of retention and employee engagement. According to a 2022 McKinsey report, 32% of people leaving their jobs say it is because of uncaring leaders. How does a company change from seeming not to care to demonstrating that they do? Arntz believes it is by asking questions and creating an environment where honest answers are not just welcomed but really listened to. Three questions can help lead to metamorphosis: What are you feeling? What are you thinking about that might be distracting you from being present? Who are you right now? Would you know how your team members would answer? “You probably don’t know for sure,” Arntz said. What Are You Feeling? Researchers have discovered more than 23,000 emotions. You can find a list of 53 that are grouped into five major categories on Healthline. “It can be hard to name the precise emotion you're feeling,” Artntz acknowledged. “But there is a vocabulary.” No one feels anything 100% of the time, he says. “You probably feel enjoyment maybe five or 10% of the time. There are moments when you feel joy and think, ‘This is what work is all about, this is my purpose.’ But it isn’t all the time.”What Are You Thinking Now? The second question hones in on distractions that can take away from work. “We think the big distractions are office politics and Netflix and sporting events and social media. We think everybody's stuck in their LinkedIn feed, that they can't get enough of this thought leadership on LinkedIn. But that's not the case. Friends being laid off, divorce, mental health challenges, finding a therapist, global conflict, inflation: This is the hard stuff people are thinking about now, not social media or what to stream on Netflix.”Who Are You Right Now? If you lead sales people, you might think they’re all outgoing, sociable, sports-loving closers who are motivated by money. But that’s not the case. In three years of research with 200 groups of salespeople, Arntz found that money and rewards were core motivations for only 20%. “It shocked me. At our own company, money and rewards weren’t in the top group of motivators either. [Respondents] were motivated by problem-solving, collaboration, and people. They want work that's purposeful and meaningful, and to do it with people they enjoy collaborating with.” We can often fall into traps of identity rather than figuring out who the people we work with really are.Steve Arntz of Campfire led the interactive thought leadership spotlight (photo by David Ryder for From Day One)Asking these questions is already working at companies. Microsoft does this weekly, Arntz said. They ask: What are you thinking? What are you feeling? And what are your intentions for this time and space? These questions are used in small to medium sized group meetings. Initially, there was concern that meeting time would increase. But this approach actually reduced both the number and length of meetings by 30%. “You start to become connected to each other in a way that helps you to move about the cabin a little more safely and confidently,” he said. “You can move forward productively, come up with great solutions, and collaborate.” These check-ins can sometimes illuminate intense challenges that some people are having, including childcare and finding a therapist, both issues that were exacerbated by the pandemic. Discussing one topic by itself can bring relief to someone who is worrying. But in a group setting, participants may gain insights or information from their peers that can help address specific issues. The name of the company, Campfire, evokes camping trips, where sitting around a dying campfire and eating s’mores can facilitate deep conversations and true connections, sometimes even without eye contact. “You're staring straight in the fire telling each other stories. You are centered. That is what we call campfire culture, and we need to create it in our workspaces. We need to re-create psychological safety.”In her research into psychological safety, Harvard researcher Amy Edmondson says there are three keys to creating a safe space conducive to such a culture: 1. Framing work as a learning problem, which means everyone is there to learn, and work is a learning experience. 2. Being able to readily acknowledge your own fallibility, and sometimes even celebrating it. 3. Modeling curiosity as a leader by asking questions.If you want to grow a great company, invest in your middle layer of management, Arntz recommends. “They are the linchpin, and the linchpin to their effectiveness is conversations.” Conversations about what you expect of a team or team member, conversations about what they expect of you: these are the details that are often missed. “A manager will come to you wanting to fire someone, and when asked why, they say it’s because they don’t meet expectations. But did you ever tell them what you expected of them?”Ask them: What got you here? Where do you want to go? How can I help you get there? “These conversations are a lot less about talking and a lot more about asking questions.” Arntz said. He likes approaching them with a “GROW” model: What are your Goals? What is the Reality of the situation you are in now? What Options have you considered? What is the Way forward? To that he would add the regular check-in: What are you feeling? What are you thinking about, and what might be distracting you? Who are you? What are your intentions for this space? “The future of work will be built on connected leadership,” he concluded. “It sounds like a buzzword, but I think what will differentiate us is what makes us human. Creating and innovating will need this kind of leader.”Arntz says that everyone should ask themselves if their work is meeting the rallying cry of Dr. Murthy and creating an engine of mental and physical wellbeing. The key is connected and caring leaders: “Give a voice to everyone and prioritize connection. Ask someone: How are you? Honest answers only.”Editor's note: From Day One thanks our partner, Campfire, for sponsoring this thought leadership spotlight.Lisa Jaffe is a freelance writer who lives in Seattle with her son and a very needy rescue dog named Ellie Bee. She enjoys reading, long walks on the beach, and trying to get better at ceramics.
How Performance Management Needs to Change Along With Employee Expectations
BY Lisa Jaffe May 15, 2023Before the pandemic, performance management seemed to be more straightforward. You had certain expectations of employees and you reacted depending on whether they met them or did not. But with the pandemic came the recognition that employees have lives outside of work. Systems grew more compassionate. Employees felt empowered to quit if they didn’t feel seen and heard. At a From Day One conference in Seattle, a panel of experts talked about how their companies have handled performance management in these turbulent times.Staff development was one of the biggest areas of change at Microsoft, said Ki Thompson, global leader of diversity and inclusion for executive engagement. Before, they would hire based on needs. Now, they look at overall corporate strategy, which existing staff may have needed skills, and what competencies they need to acquire to move the organization forward. The company is also changing job descriptions to match future goals and “intentionally working to develop that talent for the future,” he said. “We can’t necessarily buy talent now. We have to develop it internally instead. We have 220,000 employees. I’m sure we have the skill set internally to move forward.”The pandemic brought more compassion to a lot of business policies. At Talkspace, the online mental-health company, leaders strive to find the middle ground between performance and compassion, said Aidan McMahon, the director of employer sales. Sales can be hyper-competitive, she said, and it can be difficult to find that line between business goals and empathy and compassion. McMahon said that knowing that she tends to fall on the empathy side of that spectrum, she makes sure to work the expectations side of management as well. You can’t be all one thing and succeed, said Nicole Tanzillo, co-founder and chief operating officer of the leadership-development company Ceresa. There is an internal slogan used in the company that “clear is kind,” she said. “I can’t tell you how many conversations I've been in at the team- member level and at the leader level where both sides are frustrated because it seems there are unspoken expectations. Our employees are amazing and talented, but they aren’t mind readers.”Being clear about expectations is critical, Tanzillo said. “You don't have to have a full-blown competency matrix and progression plan, but having clarity around the outcomes that we need someone to drive is critical. We have to talk about how we can get there.” Those conversations are not as common as they should be. “If we're all guessing, it’s hard and stressful.”“We have always had a culture of care at Hearst,” said Maris Krieger, the company’s senior director of talent programs. “It wasn’t ever all about performance and then with the pandemic a sudden shift to empathy. We had it before. But we did become more patient and flexible.” The company didn’t do any RIFs or furloughs or pay cuts during that time. Now the business environment is changing, and people will have to demonstrate their value to the company going forward. But she said that doesn’t mean the company won’t still be patient and flexible.Nicole Tanzillo, co-founder and chief operating officer of the leadership-development company Ceresa (Photos by From Day One)Changing performance management to be more compassionate doesn’t mean there aren’t clear measurements of success. Julie Johns, who is in charge of talent acquisition for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, said she thinks about performance as the what and the how. “What is your role, what are you trying to achieve, and what are the outcomes you are striving for? I want to know what ‘good’ looks like to them and what success means to them. Where are they making progress and where aren’t they? I want to know too, how they show up and whether and how they collaborate. Do they bring people along and bring people in? When you aren’t talking about hard numbers, like sales, it isn’t black and white. But you do have to have clear expectations. And I think that moving away from having these conversations just once a year is a good idea. The more conversations you have, the fewer surprises can occur.”The criteria on which you base measurements should change over time, said Thompson. “I used to have development plan conversations with people and one of the top competencies that would come up was the balcony and the dance floor.” That is, about micromanaging what is happening on the dance floor, or looking at something from the perspective of the balcony. “When leaders are trying to develop this competency, it is easy to say, well if a worker is remote, I can’t be micromanaging. But if you are still checking in and emailing them constantly, you are.”If you can’t be in a room full of people, but instead have to influence them remotely, the results might be different, and your criteria for success should reflect that, he added. “Adjust the performance criteria to meet the world we are in today.”One misstep Tanzillo said she made early on was in trying to develop balance between being more directive and telling before asking, versus someone who connects with someone first, understands their world, and then works with them to create expectations. Questions she might ask now: How are you doing? How do you think things are going for you here? How can we help you bridge any gaps? These questions can help create a connection that leads to very different conversations than walking in and telling someone that you’ve noticed something about their behavior or performance. “Almost certainly, they are aware of problems and probably feel worse about it than you. Creating a connection makes it a different conversation.”You hire people because they are smart and good at what they do, said Johns. “When things aren’t going well, call it out early and often. Don't wait for it to pile up into something bigger.”If there is one truth about the last three years, it is that we now understand the impact of mental health on work and workers. Krieger said at Hearst, they understood the additional stressors that were put on employees, and they added more benefits related to childcare and well-being. “What we didn’t do well was figure out how to make these perks work in the new world of work. We had all these wonderful well-being webinars for people, but they had no time to attend them. That was really annoying. We tried, but we still have work to do.”Mental health is always a factor, even when we aren’t in the middle of a pandemic, said McMahon. “When you have a team member who may have performance not going in the direction you want, don’t assume it’s because they don’t care or aren’t working hard. Often it’s something deeper.” You can have a huge impact on them just by having a conversation, she said. Ask if there is anything you can do to support them. Be ready to provide them with resources. McMahon also recommends modeling the words and behavior of self-care. “When I need a mental health day, I tell them I am taking a mental health day. They respect that and support me. In turn, they will also ask for mental health days. I encourage people to do what they need to take care of themselves. For me, it is often taking a walk to clear my head. I do that and I come back like a completely new person.”Lisa Jaffe is a freelance writer who lives in Seattle with her son and a very needy rescue dog named Ellie Bee. She enjoys reading, long walks on the beach, and trying to get better at ceramics.
After Three Years of Crisis, What Does It Take to Keep Workers Engaged?
BY Lisa Jaffe May 10, 2023The last three years have taken a toll. Upheaval, changing government guidelines, and concerns over physical and mental health have impacted workers and organizations alike. Retaining employees, as well as keeping them engaged and productive, has become more difficult through the turmoil. At the recent From Day One conference in Seattle, a panel of four HR executives, moderated by Puget Sound Business Journal’s Alex Halverson, discussed some of the strategies that have shown promise in their organizations. 1. Ask them what they want. At Providence Healthcare, a hospital system based on the West Coast, Denise Bowen, who leads the people strategy and solutions team, emphasizes flexibility in the workplace. “We engaged focus groups before we started inviting people back to the office,” she said. Among the factors considered was what work could be virtual and what needed in-person participation. Surveys for feedback found a 10-point increase in engagement with this flexible model. But there was also a desire for more connection. “We asked them to return to the office based on that feedback,” said Bowen. “We told them how, why, and when to return, and we made it more invitational than a mandate.” Murika Matz, the chief customer officer at the people analytics firm Visier, said talking to employees about what they want is key: “They have to express to us what they are looking for so we can all be accountable.” The last three years there required nearly constant communication between organizations and their people. Moving forward, Matz suggested, keep some of that up by asking team members where they want to go: “If they are remote, ask them how you can help ensure they are ‘seen’.”Alex Halverson of the Puget Sound Business Journal moderated the discussion (photo by David Ryder for From Day One) 2. Be clear with expectations. At Fortive, Shannon Flynn, the head of HR, said they have tried more than once to get people back into the office. The first invitation back was in July 2021. Almost no one returned. With the rise of the omicron variant, RTO was put on hold until May 2022. “Our culture is in-person problem solving, so we really wanted people back.” That second time, the corporate team was required to be in 2 to 3 days a week – every Tuesday and Thursday, with the third day personal choice. More people responded, but leadership wasn’t getting the 2-3 days they wanted. “Productivity wasn’t the issue. We were missing out on collaboration – especially cross-team collaboration,” Flynn said. Some of the newer hires had never worked in-person, and engagement with them was lower than with those who had longer tenure. Half of all attrition came from those newer hires, too. Last fall, Fortive asked managers to have one-on-ones with each team member and inform them they needed to be in four days a week. “We figured if we said 3-4, we’d get 2-3. So we said four.” It wasn’t just a directive, though. Employees were asked what they needed in order to meet the goal. “We asked, ‘What can we do to get you to four days?’” Flynn’s own request was to be remote one week a quarter. “Those were my parameters. We are trying, through these one-on-one conversations, to avoid any misconstrued group message and to help them figure out how to be intentional about being in-person.” Managers will be accountable for making progress on the goal. So far, it’s working, and 70% of the corporate team is back full time. 3. Show them what you know. You might tell your people about results, goals, and plans, but it’s better to show them, said Bowen: “Transparency has to be authentic.” Even layoffs can be transparent, says Janine Yancy, founder and CEO of the online learning and predictive analytics firm Emtrain. “Do employees understand why this is happening? Open the lens so that employees can see what the executives see. Instability comes when there is no visibility of what is going on, and they have to simply receive decisions. That’s when people feel unsafe. There is always some level of business information you can share about what needs to be done to be successful. ” While executives may craft the policy, HR people should help create the message. It isn’t about performance of the individual, and Yancy said HR can help ease the transition for those impacted by a reduction in force by emphasizing their contributions and strengths and reminding them they are still part of a community. 4. Focus on people, not just the bottom line. Bowen says that if you view employees only as means to an end, they will feel it. “There are still opportunities for talent,” she said. “This can’t just be about business outcomes. They know if there is genuine care, and it’s the right thing to do to show up for and invest in your team.” Flynn likes the analogy of the three-legged stool: individual, team, and business. While business results matter, the stool won’t stand if the other two legs aren’t considered, as well. The last three years have helped individuals become more known to their managers and other team members, said Matz. Zoom calls featured pets and kids and updates on how people were handling lockdowns, isolation, and quarantine. That improved knowledge of each other is one of the things that we should try to hold on to, she said: “There were things we were missing that we didn’t know we were missing.” 5. Be consciously inclusive. Emtrain has more than 100 million poll responses related to inclusion, and Yancy says that, without equity, you won’t achieve inclusion. If you are implementing a RIF, ask yourself if the process is transparent so that people have context. Check to see the impact on key demographics. “From our own research, we know that not everyone has the same experience. White men have the best, then men of color, then white women, and women of color have the worst experience.” HR can’t just be a recipient of strategy, but rather needs to drive it, said Bowen: “We aren’t just about organizational excellence on the back end, but are a partner in shaping strategy. We can help manage culture and experience.” Flynn says that, even in a time when many businesses are contracting, there are opportunities. Indeed, Bowen points out that tech company layoffs were often an opportunity for organizations like hers. “There are other options,” Flynn said. “If they don’t feel connected, if they aren’t engaged, you will lose them. I want it to be hard for people to go.”Lisa Jaffe is a freelance writer who lives in Seattle with her son and a very needy rescue dog named Ellie Bee. She enjoys reading, long walks on the beach, and trying to get better at ceramics.
What Women Want: A Future for Women’s and Family Health
BY Lisa Jaffe May 08, 2023Gender balance has been an issue in the workforce, well, forever. But more and more companies are pushing harder to move the dial. One way of ensuring that women apply for, are hired by, and remain with an organization is to focus your benefits package more on their needs – especially when it comes to health.“Because of Covid and other factors, women are exiting the workforce in greater numbers than men,” said Christine Geissler, head of HR for the global nutrition business at Reckitt, the makers of Enfamil infant formula, among other products. “To stop that loss we need to figure out how to better support women and families in the workplace.” That’s about more than just keeping the women you have happy in their jobs, said Mamta Elias, the vice president of strategy at Ovia Health, a women’s health and parenting benefit company. “The business case for a diverse workforce is clear, and we know benefits are an important piece of that equation,” said Mamta during a From Day One webinar on women's and family health benefits.What Are Family-friendly Benefits?Ovia recently surveyed working parents and employees of childbearing age about their existing benefits and where they could improve. Among the results:• Nearly 80% of respondents said they would gladly leave their current role for a lateral move to a company with better benefits. • More than 96% of respondents consider family-friendly benefits to be important. • 55% of respondents didn't consider their employer to be family-friendly. • Most employers offer at least around three months of parental leave, which is at least partially paid. • 44% of respondents said their leave was paid at 100%. • Only 22% of respondents said their benefits were easy to understand. • 63% didn't even know if they had family-friendly benefits like parental leave, adoption support, surrogacy benefits, or maternity support. • Respondents wanted digital tools for maternity support, perinatal mental health support, and pumping-friendly work environments. • They also wanted financial support for childcare, as well as for caring for elderly or sick relatives. • They wanted support for all paths to parenthood, including surrogacy, adoption, and fertility assistance.Elias says the survey also asked which benefits matter the most. Flexibility was at the top of the list. Respondents also wanted fully paid parental leave of at least four months so that they wouldn’t have to drain their PTO and sick leave before tapping into parental leave. They wanted flexible scheduling, remote options, and gradual return-to-work options. And the desire for flexibility goes beyond postpartum: “People need flexibility, no matter what phase of their life or family building or family supporting they’re in,” Elias said.The full panel of speakers from top left, Christine Geissler of Reckitt, Hannah Wilkowski of BuzzFeed, Mamta Elias of Ovia Health, moderator Anna Maltby, and Dr. Jaime Knopman of CCRM (photo by From Day One)“There is a large spectrum of generations currently in or entering the workforce,” said Hannah Wilkowski, global director of benefits for BuzzFeed. Some younger people aren’t ready to start a family. But they may want to know more about contraception. Maybe they're new to a city and want to find a new OB/GYN. Being able to offer fertility benefits like IVF or egg freezing for those who are just starting their parenting journey can be as important as providing resources for those who are pregnant or have a young baby. There also needs to be attention to people entering menopause. “We want our employees to feel seen and heard,” she said. “Different people need different things. Providing the resources necessary makes their lives easier, and makes BuzzFeed a much better place to work for everyone.”Finding Solutions that WorksJamie Knopman, MD, a reproductive endocrinologist with CCRM, said there has been a huge shift in what employers cover. “Embryo and egg freezing used to be available only to couples and women when they were older, and only if they had the financial resources to do it,” she said. “I didn’t have $10,000 to freeze my eggs when I was 28, but I probably did when I was 40. But my eggs weren’t good by then. I could freeze all I want and they probably won’t make a baby.”Now, more companies help women take advantage of technology when they are younger. Then, when they are ready, those eggs are available if needed. The pandemic also exacerbated the push towards freezing eggs and embryos, in part because, as people sat at home alone or with their partner, they started to think more about what they wanted from life. “Women came in droves to freeze their eggs or to make embryos with donor sperm,” Knopman said. Sperm banks were tapped out for a while owing to the demand.Offering egg and embryo freezing provides options for families, Knopman said. While they may not be sure at 28 if they want to be a parent or carry a pregnancy, they won’t have to face fertility decline in their late 30s. They just need to open the freezer, pull out their 28-year-old eggs, and make a baby.Solutions can cost a lot of money, but Wilkowski said you can make a difference by looking at redundancies in the benefits you offer. Is something offered in two different places or with two different vendors? Are you paying for benefits that no one is using? Know what they use, what they like, and what they wish they had. What are the problems they are experiencing that keep them from being their best, most productive and engaged self at work? “When we understand the problems and perceived gaps, we can go find a solution,” she said. Geissler suggested that companies regularly evaluate what they spend and ensure that it aligns with the company’s vision and goals. Who do you want to attract and keep? Are you fixing a gender imbalance? Are you a company whose ethos and products have an obvious alignment with specific kinds of benefits? Since Reckitt is in the formula business, women’s, mothers’, and infants’ health had better be included in their offerings. “We over-index in supporting women and families. We support environments where healthy babies and families can thrive.” Reckitt offers 26 weeks paid parental leave, something that is vanishingly rare in the United States. “But we should over-index in that area because the importance of babies and families is our message.”Elias says that having an organization where women’s and family benefits are respected and utilized, and where everyone sees the value and importance of those benefits, requires having an open and supportive work culture. “Everyone understands the ways in which women's and family health can impact people's personal and professional lives. We need to highlight why this should matter to all of us in an organization.”Lisa Jaffe is a freelance writer who lives in Seattle with her son and a very needy rescue dog named Ellie Bee. She enjoys reading, long walks on the beach, and trying to get better at ceramics.
Why Volunteering Works: The Evolutionary Drive to Help
BY Lisa Jaffe May 05, 2023Chris Jarvis likes a thought experiment. At From Day One’s 2023 Seattle conference, the CSO and co-founder of Realized Worth asked the audience to think about this one: Give some members of a group $100 and tell them to spend it on others; give some $100 and tell them to spend it on themselves. Who feels better afterwards? When Harvard professor Michael Norton did this, the group that spent money on others felt better than those who spent it on themselves. He did the experiment with college students, with people in various African countries, with businesspeople in Europe, and with sports teams. Almost universally, the givers group felt better, reported more happiness, and also outperformed their counterparts.Jarvis says the result is known as the helper’s high. “There are primary behaviors that have good feelings baked into them, so that we want to do them again and again,” he said. “Helping each other is a great way to stay alive, and on an evolutionary basis, Mother Nature has put it right up there with eating and sex.”When you ask people why they help others, most respond that it’s the right thing to do. “But what we really mean is that it feels good, so it must be the right thing to do,” he said. “The feeling pre-exists. That’s how it has become institutionalized into our systems, our societies, our culture, religious beliefs. It is an ancient system.”Chris Jarvis, the CSO and co-founder of Realized Worth, led the engaging presentation (photo by David Ryder for From Day One)Another thought experiment from Jarvis: Imagine a hand on a table under a spotlight. Now imagine another hand coming into view holding a syringe with a long needle. The unseen person pokes the needle into the spotlighted hand. The hand wants to pull away, but that hurts more. So it stays still and takes the agony. “Most people will flinch a little.” He also points to a popular video of magician David Blaine doing a magic trick involving the insertion of a large pointy object like a knitting needle through his bare forearm in front of others. You can see it go in one side and the point stretching the skin on the other side before it pops through. In one video, comedian Ricky Gervais expresses extreme discomfort before getting up and leaving the room. “Will Smith and his family ran from the room in terror,” Jarvis said. The effect is similar to that of being overwhelmed by disturbing news or social media and having to take a break. “You are feeling too much, so you abstain from it.”This is an example of the pain matrix, he explained. “There are neurons deep in your brain that can’t tell the difference between seeing someone in pain or experiencing it yourself.” We see this in the reaction people have to natural disasters and the plight of those impacted by war. This is empathy, and the reaction happens in your brain faster than the blink of an eye.The problem is, we don't help everybody. We tend to help those with whom we share an identity. In research out of the Netherlands, subjects were put into a functional MRI machine and shown pictures. First up were pictures of inanimate objects like tables and chairs. The test subjects’ prefrontal cortex, which decides whether something is human or not, didn’t react. When pictures of people were used, there was a spike of activity – until a picture depicted someone who was homeless. Many participants then reacted in the same way as they had to the objects.That reaction wasn’t universal. Participants who’d had experience with homelessness or homeless people did not see those people as objects. You can find more information on these experiments here and here.The in-group/out-group tendency is strong. Jarvis pointed to research that included the needle in the hand experiment. In this version, people wore wristbands that said Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Buddhist, or atheist. When the needle was inserted, test subjects mostly reacted to the people whose bracelet they identified with. “It’s not surprising,” he said. “Research shows that religion and politics are the easiest ways we dehumanize other groups.”Well-constructed volunteer opportunities in the community can reduce the us-versus-them mentality, Jarvis said. They help create brain plasticity that allows people who are often seen as outsiders to be viewed as worthy of concern and action.“Events should be designed in a way that alerts people to something new,” he said. Imagine a volunteer opportunity to serve food at a homeless shelter. “I promise two things: we are not going to make a dent in hunger today, not even a little bit. And we are not here to fix the poor; they are not a problem to be solved.”Participants may wonder why, then, they should bother. This question should be explored as part of any event. “That is the learning. That helps orient them to what meaning they will bring to the experience. I'm going to give you just enough information to inform your meaning-making process. And if we've done a good job, you'll come back. And if you come back, and we revisit those pathways in your brain, you will grow new neural pathways to think differently.”Our current neural pathways dictate how we see the world. “If we want to think differently or behave differently, we must grow new neural pathways. There's no exception. We cannot think our way into better behavior, we must think about it, orient to it, and act.”Without that experience, you can’t achieve neuroplasticity, which is the only way to undo the evolutionary flaw of us-versus-them thinking that leads some people to see a homeless person as an object. “Employee volunteering is very much about building the kind of culture that you want to see in people. Think about the social impact. Not how many people, how many things, how much money. Those are interesting outputs. But the key metric is how people change, and whether they can adjust the us-versus-them [thinking] enough to internalize the social impact. That has promise for the rest of our species and the future of this planet.”Editor's note: From Day One thanks our partner, Realized Worth, for sponsoring this thought leadership spotlight. Lisa Jaffe is a freelance writer who lives in Seattle with her son and a very needy rescue dog named Ellie Bee. She enjoys reading, long walks on the beach, and trying to get better at ceramics.
Three Ways to Make Your DEI Efforts Stick
BY Lisa Jaffe February 27, 2023Some time ago, a recruiter pulled aside Christina Tymony to ask her why recruiting from top universities was so problematic in terms of diversity goals. Tymony is the senior manager of diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEIB) at SeekOut, an HR company that helps clients find, nurture, and retain talent, with an emphasis on finding diverse candidates. “He said that if we say we want the best, we should go where the best are. I had to walk them through things related to access, cost, legacy students, being able to afford to move across states or countries, and nepotism that allows some people to get into those universities not based on merit, but on those other factors.” It wasn’t an easy conversation, Tymony said, but in the end, that recruiter became a diversity champion. The day that recruiter left the company, they thanked Tymony for taking the time to have those difficult conversations. “They said they could take that wherever they would go. And that’s what we are trying to do–to create change agents that amplify the work we do,” she said. Often, in conversations about DEI, the focus is on tactics or strategies, but seldom on creating system-level change that lasts. In a presentation at From Day One’s November virtual conference on workforce diversity, Tymony explained key reasons why some programs never gain traction. Among them: lack of commitment at the leadership level; efforts driven by only one part of an organization or even a single person; having unrealistic goals that are either unattainable or unsustainable; and a lack of consistent action over time. The last is often driven by a lack of support, reprioritization or lack of prioritization, or frustration from a lack of goal attainment. Have the Difficult Conversations Everyone comes to the conversation with different experiences and understanding about racism, sexism, and other forms of systemic repression that underrepresented communities face, she said. We have each had our own experience at home, in school, and in the wider community that impacts our belief system. “We need to spend time to educate our people. It’s not enough to say that these groups are underrepresented. We need to dig in and ensure our people understand the ‘why’ behind the work that we’re doing, how these groups became marginalized, and how they became underserved today,” Tymony said. That understanding alone increases the likelihood they will connect with the work and develop a level of empathy for others’ experience and perspective. “Don’t shy away from emotions. Things like vulnerability, transparency, and even tears tap into how we feel, and help demonstrate how imperative and how personal this work is.” Christina Tymony, senior manager of diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging at SeekOut (Company photo) Some people will fail to have that empathy because of the schools they went to, the town they grew up in, their parents’ beliefs, or even search algorithms that are generally curated by who you know and where you live, she said. People in your organization will have biases, both conscious and unconscious. They come to Tymony saying they don’t get it, and share the stories of the belief systems they grew up with. “Those moments, as difficult as they are, are teachable moments. That means driving them to a new way of thinking by unraveling the bias together–what it is rooted in, how it's harmful, how it’s incorrect.” There may be people who will still not understand or value DEI efforts. That’s why the next key is so important, she said. Bake DEI Into Your DNA This can’t just be about some data point in your annual report, she said. You have to care about the results. No single program, department, team or person can be the entirety of DEI. Rather, it must be part of the company’s values and the entire employee experience. “It needs to be about how you think about your organization,” Tymony said. Some organizations interview potential employees to see how they align with company values. Tymony asked listeners to consider: Are you including DEI in your values questions? Are you screening potential employees for inclusive behavior? At the manager and leadership level, she asked whether leadership is evaluated for their ability to create, develop, and retain diverse teams. Are they asked to enumerate how they create inclusive and safe teams? From a data perspective, do you know how the various diversity demographics advance? Are the rates equitable? “You can bring in diverse candidates, but are you growing and retaining them afterwards?” she asked. Is the company welcoming? Is the work of DEI rewarded and amplified? Do you recognize the DEI champions in your organization? You can’t view DEI as some extracurricular activity, but a hard business objective, Tymony said. “Maybe you have created detailed reports and deployed all the tools you have available. But if no one in leadership is invested in this, it may be viewed as interesting, but not actionable. Leadership should be tied into the process, not just voicing the vision and message of DEI.” DEI isn’t often included as an evaluation point for leaders, yet it should be woven into the responsibility of every function. “That means leaders need to be active participants, must be engaged, and must be measured. Without that, you end up with just lip service.” Tymony said that DEI professionals don’t own much in most organizations. “You may be responsible for diverse recruiting, but you don’t own recruiting. You may be judged based on developing underrepresented talent, but you don’t own talent management. The job becomes lobbying other executives about why DEI is important. What works is when those who own profit and loss are also responsibility for DEI.” To Ensure Success, Measure Outcomes Tymony said that a lot of organizations will measure processes–the number of diverse candidates, for example–but not outcomes. Whether candidates convert into employees, whether those employees stay on and develop into effective talent and progress in their careers is just as important as trying to source those candidates, if not more so. She outlined several data points in two areas–recruiting and talent management–that you should aspire to measure. Recruiting: •Funnel data: pipeline representation, recruiter-screen to onsite–visit ratio, and passthrough parity •Candidate sourcing data: demographics and success rates by source, time and cost-per-hire by source •Candidate feedback scores: score by demographic, demographic by organization team and level Talent Management: •Engagement: engagement survey scores by demographic, ERG satisfaction and success rates •Growth and development: promotion rates and parity, mentorship, sponsorship and professional-development-program success rates (individually) •Retention: attrition rates by demographic, exit surveys by demographic, management and peer feedback Not all of this may be applicable to everyone. “Not everyone has a mentorship program, or the ability to collect all of this data right now,” Tymony said, but all of this could be aspirational. Lastly, she warned that goals for the metrics you choose have to be realistic. “If you are in Seattle it’s unrealistic for you to want your talent to be beyond what is represented in that metropolitan area. What is achievable where you are? That’s the conversation you need to have with hiring managers and leaders.” Editor’s note: From Day One thanks our partner, SeekOut, who sponsored this thought leadership spotlight. Lisa Jaffe is a freelance writer who lives in Seattle with her son and a very needy rescue dog named Ellie Bee. She enjoys reading, long walks on the beach, and trying to get better at ceramics.
Upcoming Webinar: How Tech Can Boost Engagement and Recognition
BY Lisa Jaffe January 19, 2023Not much more than a generation ago, figuring out what was on the mind of employees could be more trouble than it was worth: Paper surveys, low response rates, and a long lag time between asking for input and getting responses to the right managers. All these steps impeded efforts to communicate. But with technology comes opportunity. The question is whether you are making the most of it. Many employees are frustrated because they have an overall impression of not being heard or seen by their company, as opposed to more isolated factors such as benefits or workload. According to research undertaken by McKinsey & Company in 2021, the top three factors employees cited as reasons for quitting were that they didn’t feel valued by their organizations (54%) or their managers (52%), or because they didn’t feel a sense of belonging at work (51%). Hybrid work environments are strongly desired by employees and supported by many organizations, yet they add another element of difficulty in gathering relevant and timely information. Adrián Campomanes, senior product marketing manager at Workday, an enterprise management platform, says old approaches in which employees were asked for input just once or twice a year are no longer good enough. By the time any relevant data reaches the appropriate person, it is too old to be of use. “Moreover, these surveys were not personalized, so how can managers address employees’ concerns with different circumstances, in other words, hybrid and non-hybrid workers?” To get current information that applies to the varied experiences of different employees, whether in different positions or different locations, requires specialized technology. “Organizations should implement an employee-listening platform to gather real-time insights into employee sentiment across their whole organization,” Campomanes said. When choosing a platform to facilitate this data-gathering, it’s important to consider these elements: •It makes the experience personal, regardless of size of organization. That means that someone who is a relatively new hire would have a different experience with the platform than someone who has a longer tenure; someone working from home full-time would see something different from someone who is at the office all the time. Even in a small company with fewer than 50 employees, the experience of each will be unique. •It seeks out trends or issues of import. Knowing how someone feels is important, but knowing why they feel that way can be the difference between solving a problem or letting it fester. •It recommends necessary changes to address those issues of import that are brought up by employees. •It asks questions based on organizational science, not just standard-issue queries from a template. Your organization, and the people in it, are different. “Out of the box” question sets address this. “The most important thing is that companies should make a clear assessment of their needs and implement the one that ticks most of their boxes,” Campomanes said. A From Day webinar on Tues., Jan. 31, at 2 pm ET titled, “Bridging the Distance: How Tech Can Boost Engagement and Recognition,” will explore this topic more deeply, focusing on how the right technology can help motivate employees–and how the wrong ones can be counterproductive. Among the confirmed executive speakers are Lynn Kubinski, VP of digital excellence & Strategy at Bristol Myers Squibb; Christopher Shryock, the SVP and chief people officer at Sam’s Club; Loren Blanton, chief talent officer at the marketing and communications company VMLY&R; and Freddie Simshauser, VP of leadership development & learning at Ciox Health. You can register for the webinar here. Editor’s note: From Day One thanks our partner, Workday, for sponsoring this forthcoming webinar. Lisa Jaffe is a freelance writer who lives in Seattle with her son and a very needy rescue dog named Ellie Bee. She enjoys reading, long walks on the beach, and trying to get better at ceramics.
How to Create a Sustainably Healthy Workplace for Older Workers
BY Lisa Jaffe January 11, 2023Norway’s Oslo Airport was struggling to replace organizational knowledge lost when employees retired. Determined to combat the brain drain, the organization launched a series of programs, including one that allows older workers to transition to less physically demanding jobs and another that focused on specific health needs of older workers. They added training components for managers on how to work with a multigenerational workforce. The goal was to increase retirement age by six months. The result was far better than expected, delaying retirement by three years. This example of building an age-inclusive workforce, drawn from a report by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), shows just what organizations can gain by increasing efforts to recruit, hire, and retain workers of all ages–including older ones. How can you make that a reality? Try these tips: Train Your Management to Work With All Ages A 2020 report by the Deloitte consulting firm found that only 6% of organizations believe their managers are prepared to manage a multigenerational workforce, but 70% said that having one is important. Only 10% felt ready to address that trend. One way that management of older workers can differ is in communication methods and styles, said Heather Tinsley-Fix, senior advisor for financial resilience at AARP. While it’s not a hard-and-fast rule, older workers may be more comfortable with email and phone calls, while younger workers may prefer texting or instant-messaging platforms. It turns out the norms of your early working life are those that stick with you, Tinsley-Fix said. “Your first couple of years in a profession set your expectations for how work gets done. That’s one reason you often see older workers leaning more toward phone and in-person interaction, while younger people leann more toward interacting via apps and texting.” Managers need to be trained to handle issues related to age discrimination. AARP research found that while only 3% of those over 45 have complained about ageism in the workplace, 15% say they have heard negative comments, 16% say they have been refused a job, and 12% have been passed up for promotion. A lot of employees are afraid to talk about these issues with managers, for whom AARP has created a toolkit for dealing with mixed-age teams. Create Development Opportunities for Older Workers, Too Younger people are demanding the opportunity to learn and stretch in their careers, but older people want the same thing, said Tinsley-Fix. “You need an inclusive culture that considers older workers for stretch assignments and new opportunities.” Be Flexible With Scheduling and Retirement Options Don’t assume someone nearing retirement age wants to retire. If there is no mandatory retirement age in your organization, consider a longer off-ramp that allows for part-time schedules, consulting opportunities, or mentorship and training of newer employees, Tinsley-Fix said. “Older people may want to continue the structure of work, even if it’s not full time. They may be less concerned with making full-time wages, but rather feel they still have skills and talents to offer an organization. Provide some flexibility for this if they want to stay but don’t want to go full-tilt anymore.” Have a Mix of Benefits Tinsley-Fix said AARP research shows younger workers tend to be less interested in high-quality health insurance and retirement plans, and more interested in higher salaries than their older counterparts. However, it’s important to get to know your employees’ benefit preferences (as well as encourage them to avail themselves of valuable health and retirement programs). The oldest workers at the Columbus, Ohio, branch of childcare company Jovie don’t need health insurance because they have Medicare, said franchise owner Susan Cornish, but they do want eye-care and dental benefits. Some also avoid driving at night or in bad weather, so she will reimburse for car services like Uber or taxis. “If you want to attract a multigenerational workforce, have a mix of benefits,” said Tinsley-Fix. Understand the Varied Roles of Older Workers Older workers are often referred to as the sandwich generation: Many of them in their 40s and 50s are taking care of children while simultaneously having to care for aging parents, said Tinsley-Fix. Older workers want flexible time off for their caregiving responsibilities. Eric Levitan, founder and CEO of virtual fitness company Vivo, said that his workforce–all of whom are older than 40–have caretaking needs that revolve around children, parents, and themselves. His operation is all-virtual and real time, meaning that employees can work from anywhere they have a good internet connection. “Broaden your definition of caregiving,” said Tinsley-Fix. “Be inclusive in your caregiving benefits so that single people aren’t left out.” Self-care can count as caregiving, too, and is important in a time when the mental health of many workers has been affected by Covid lockdowns, inflation worries, and other concerns. AARP offers a guide for employers supporting the caregivers in their workforce, which can help managers be more supportive of everyone’s caregiving needs. Provide Part-Time Options Older people are more likely to want to work part time. The Bureau of Labor Statistics says that 40% of women and 30% of men over 65 in the workforce work part time by choice. Among those 55-64, the figures are around 18% of women, and about 8% of men. The reasons can include family caregiving obligations, limits related to Social Security income, health issues, or a desire to volunteer or travel. “Most of our trainers don’t want to work full time but are still interested in being engaged and having a sense of purpose,” said Levitan. Others don’t want to retire completely and are looking for a new opportunity. Cornish has also experienced this: People who are training for something new opt into Jovie as a temporary role, or they tried retirement and it didn’t stick. Not just part-time scheduling, but overall flexibility is important to older workers, according to new research reported recently in Harvard Business Review that focuses primarily on retaining frontline workers. The seven key strategies the authors recommend: “Designing purposeful roles, enabling flexible schedules, adapting pay policies, accommodating physical challenges, communicating clearly, building community, and tackling ageism.” Tinsley-Fix adds some context: Older people still want challenge and meaning in their lives, and flexibility with schedules can support that. Create a Safe Physical Environment Older people may be more likely to suffer form the aches and pains of aging and require accommodations, like a place to sit rather than standing for an entire shift, or a more ergonomic design in a workstation. But that shouldn’t be considered favoritism. Tinsley-Fix said anything you do for your older workers also benefits your younger ones–a factor that holds true for any workplace improvement. Looking ahead, a trend that will benefit older workers is the increase in jobs that involve less physical exertion and greater use of social and communication skills, according to a new working paper titled, “The Rise of Age-Friendly Jobs,” by three researchers at MIT, McKinsey & Company, and the London Business School. Older workers aren’t the only ones who are taking advantage of these jobs, since they also appeal to younger women and college graduates, but the trend “should lead to greater involvement in the labor market for older workers, a key policy objective in an aging society,” the researchers said. Editor’s note: From Day One thanks our partner AARP, who sponsored this story, the third in a three-part series on retaining older workers. The previous installments: You Need Them as Much as They Need You: Why Older Workers Are a Good Bet and Four Myths That Obscure the Benefits of Hiring Older Workers. Lisa Jaffe is a freelance writer who lives in Seattle with her son and a very needy rescue dog named Ellie Bee. She enjoys reading, long walks on the beach, and trying to get better at ceramics.
Four Myths That Obscure the Benefits of Hiring Older Workers
BY Lisa Jaffe January 05, 2023Of the 3.5 million workers still missing from the labor market after the pandemic, about 2 million of them are older workers who “have simply retired,” the New York Times reported recently, citing a speech by Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell. That’s a problem for short-staffed employers and the U.S. economy as well, since the stubborn labor shortage is part of what’s sparking inflation and interest rates. What’s preventing employers from doing better at keeping older workers on the job? Attitudes about older workers may be part of the problem, driven by myths about the costs and benefits of hiring and retaining them. Among the myths: Older workers cost more than the value they provide. They use more benefits. They get sick more often. They get slower and weaker as they age. Every one of those statements is a common assumption among many executives and hiring managers–and there is data to refute it all. Here’s why employers would benefit from building age diversity into their organizations: Myth: Older workers are a money pit. Fact: Increasing the number of over-50 workers by 10% can decrease turnover 4% and increase productivity by 1%, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). One common mistake is to focus on age rather than tenure, says Heather Tinsley-Fix, a senior advisor on financial resilience at AARP. Research shows that it’s smarter in the long term to hire people and keep them than to outsource them on a gig basis, or have a transient workforce with a lot of turnover. “It may be cheaper in the short term, but it harms overall performance as an organization,” she said. Tinsley-Fix cited a study that was commissioned by McDonald’s restaurants in Britain whose results showed that stores that had older workers among staff are more profitable. “The reasons managers gave is that older workers are more approachable and more dependable,” she said. Research scientists including David Waldman of Arizona State University have cast a spotlight on anti-aging bias, finding that when employers use objective data to rate performance, the ratings improve with the age of the worker, and only when subjective data are used do you see a decline. Tinsley-Fix noted that older workers typically avoid errors that younger, newer employees may make. They are more resilient in hard times and add to diversity of ideas and the retention of intellectual capital. In practice, the myth of older workers being more likely to call in sick is one that doesn’t ring true for Susan Cornish, a Columbus, Ohio-based franchise owner of the Jovie childcare company. She says it is the older of her 150 workers who are less likely to take a day off with short notice. Workers in their 20s are more likely to create last-minute plans for occasions like spring break. As for using more benefits, Cornish said older workers don’t necessarily use more, but they tend to use different ones. Some don’t need health insurance because they are on Medicare, but they may be averse to driving in bad weather or at night, so a benefit that provides transportation reimbursement would be of interest. Myth: It’s cheaper to hire younger people because they earn less. Facts: Longer tenure in an organization equates to greater productivity at the unit level. What’s more: Older workers can be better than younger workers at avoiding distractions. The costs of turnover have been well-documented. Tinsley-Fix said it can cost employers as much as $30,000 per position to recruit, train, and get a new employee up to speed. That’s over and above the cost of their salary. The University of Minnesota open library book Human Resources Management lists the following direct costs related to turnover: •Recruitment of replacements •Administrative hiring costs •Lost productivity associated with the time between the loss of the employee and hiring of replacement •Lost productivity due to a new employee learning the job •Lost productivity associated with co-workers helping the new employee •Costs of training •Costs associated with the employee’s lack of motivation prior to leaving The cost of losing an employee ranges between 25% and 200% of their salary, according to Keeping the People Who Keep You in Business, by Leigh Branham. Cornish said the average tenure of her workers over 50 is four years, compared to 210 days for her overall staff average. “Who does that make me want to hire?” she asked. Myth: Older workers have too many other priorities besides work. Fact: People over 50 have the highest level of workplace engagement. The OECD found that creating a truly multigenerational workforce helps get the best performance out of all your workers, and AARP data shows that engagement and belonging are higher in that kind of environment. “We surveyed a mix of employees from 18 to 60 and they said they enjoy their work more because of it,” said Tinsley-Fix. “Everyone has something to teach and something to learn. Knowledge spillover is tangible, and productivity is higher.” There is one priority that is may differ between older and younger workers. Eric Levitan, founder and CEO of the Atlanta-based fitness company Vivo, said money is often less important to older workers. “We pay competitively, but they are often more mission driven than salary driven.” Myth: My organization doesn’t see age. Fact: Between 1997 and 2020, 20% of workers over 40 and 35% of those over 60 said they experienced age discrimination. Ageism hits women earlier and harder than it hits men, according to the non-profit Catalyst, which advocates for women in the workplace. It can show up as older workers being pushed out, being the first to be laid off, or being less likely to get an interview or be hired. Once in a company, older workers are less likely to get top marks from a performance review. All of these tendencies can affect the bottom line. According to Tinsley-Fix, research shows that ageism costs companies 4% of net income. Research shows that age doesn’t effect job performance in a negative manner, and longer tenure has a positive impact. Older workers’ value exceeds the higher costs, and there is no tipping point at which age becomes a liability. In fact, for many older people, their collective experience can manifest in positive ways. The musician David Byrne, the Talking Heads co-founder who has experienced a surge of creative output in his later years, sought to explain the phenomenon as his 70th birthday approached last year. As he told the Guardian: “Over the years, I think my temperament has become more optimistic. I can, in some ways, convey that to an audience without telling them, without saying, ‘Be hopeful.’ I can show them. By what we do on stage, who we are and how we work together, they see evidence that things can be different.” Editor’s note: From Day One thanks our partner AARP, who sponsored this story, the second in a three-part series. Lisa Jaffe is a freelance writer who lives in Seattle with her son and a very needy rescue dog named Ellie Bee. She enjoys reading, long walks on the beach, and trying to get better at ceramics.
A Key to Retaining Employees: Continuous Coaching and Upskilling
BY Lisa Jaffe December 29, 2022Last year, 4.3 million people, or 3.4% of the U.S. working population, left their jobs, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. But this wasn’t something that started with the pandemic. It’s a trend that started in 2009 and continues this year. “The trend is continuously increasing in terms of people who leave voluntarily,” said Madhukar Govindaraju, founder and CEO of Numly, a company that provides solutions for coaching, learning and development, and upskilling. Govindaraju presented a thought leadership spotlight at From Day One’s virtual conference on “New, Active Approaches to Employee Coaching and Recognition.” The people leaving their jobs at the highest rates are women and, and they aren’t just leaving their jobs and companies; they’re moving internally. “Obviously retention is hard. But hiring has also become very hard,” said Govindaraju. “It’s not just the cost of hiring, but in finding the right talent, paying them the right market salaries, engaging them, and attracting them to your company. And it’s not just hard but getting more difficult. Even if you want to throw dollars at the problem.” Add to this the challenges of hybrid work. “Fifteen or 20 years ago, as a manger or leader in my own organization, I was looking at the same thing. I want my team to be very productive. I want everybody to have flexibility in terms of the choice of work location work time,” Govindaraju said. “And everyone on the team, myself included as leader, wants them to feel a sense of belonging. We felt there was a need to upskill and reskill our teams always.” Now, there are rumbles of anxiety and burnout, and there is uncertainty not just from an economic standpoint, but for employees’ jobs and careers within teams, says Govindaraju. “It's not just a lack of engagement, but active disengagement. Existing programs are not working as well as envisioned.” Companies are looking for for skills beyond the technical, like resilience and empathy. Managers need to extend their abilities in these new skill sets to be more effective in the world of remote work–leadership, problem solving, and critical thinking alike. That requires coaching, says Govindaraju. Numly CEO Madhukar Govindaraju (Photo courtesy of Numly) E-learning works in certain areas, he says, “and without e-learning, you can’t embark on developing your teams. When we extend training with coaching it makes a big difference.” Training can mean e-learning, workshops, and other development programs. The productivity numbers that result from the combination of these different types of training show this is “a slam dunk,” Govindaraju said. Combining these types of training can result in four times the productivity and five times the engagement among employees who do both traditional training and have access to coaching. Coaching actually improves the efficacy of learning delivered in other manners. “If you think of doing this not just quarterly, or assigning 25 hours of learning and coaching to managers and top talent, but rather do it across the entire organization,” said Govindaraju, you can quickly see the return on the investment. Coaching Is Different Now Traditional coaching is usually freeform, one-on-one, on-off, involves bringing in outside experts, and produces results that are difficult to measure. The new kind of coaching is different. It includes structured, guided conversations; it is offered universally, is many-to-many rather than one-to-one, and it is ongoing and continuous. Success isn’t measured by skill level pre- and post- training, nor just engagement. You should know whether people are working together, how many sessions happen each week, and the satisfaction rating of each session. You want to know not just how many people participated, but how many completed the programs. “What you can’t measure won’t improve,” he said. You need to find out if users feel psychologically safe during the process, and if there is assurance of privacy– something that HR leaders have told Numly repeatedly is important to any coaching platform. Turning Managers Into Coaches Start with external coaches, says Govindaraju, and have them work with your managers to become coaches themselves. “They aren’t just coached how to coach, but required to practice coaching. Then we take the network of leaders and managers and incorporate them into a network where they can coach their teams and others within the organization.” They need to develop skills to be effective coaches, including those related to dialogue, such as active listening, emotional intelligence, teamwork, empowering and providing recognition, as well as development skills like providing powerful feedback and fostering a growth mindset. These are some of the critical skills needed to coach with confidence, says Govindaraju. “Coaching always correlates better KPIs,” Govindaraju said. “Across the board, according to a study that Google did about what’s the No. 1 factor for people to stay within their company, it was not benefits, not any other compensation related things, or the economy or whatever. It was psychological safety. And if you look at coaching, it improves team functioning, increases engagement, and of course, productivity. Most importantly, it creates a foundation and a very strong trust network of psychological safety within your organization. And you can absolutely expect higher retention within every small unit, your team, your organization, or a division or a company at large.” Lisa Jaffe is a freelance writer who lives in Seattle with her son and a very needy rescue dog named Ellie Bee. She enjoys reading, long walks on the beach, and trying to get better at ceramics.
You Need Them as Much as They Need You: Why Older Workers Are a Good Bet
BY Lisa Jaffe December 22, 2022The country is aging and so is its workforce. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 45% of civilian workers will be 45 or older by 2030, and workers over 75 will account for nearly an eighth of the total. Some employers view this as problematic: older workers are more expensive, they are slower, they are more likely to get ill or need time off to care for their even-older parents. Or so these employers think. The reality is far more nuanced. Heather Tinsley-Fix, senior advisor for financial resilience at AARP, said that younger workers also need time off–to care for children, for instance. And while workers with longer tenure do cost more than someone just starting out in their career, there are costs associated with replacing them. Tinsley-Fix said there is data showing it can cost upwards of $30,000 to hire and train someone new, on top of the salary you will pay. You also lose a lot of expertise and intellectual capital when you turf an older employee for a cheaper replacement. AARP studies have found many benefits among organizations that have multigenerational staff: better resilience in tough times, more diversity of views and capabilities, improved stability, and better retention among the entire workforce. Older workers are often more flexible in terms of schedule, and according to BLS data, they are more likely to seek part-time employment voluntarily. At Vivo, a fitness company that provides real time virtual training for those over 40, an older staff also helps attract more clients, said Eric Levitan, founder and CEO of the Atlanta-based company. Often older people are less comfortable with the trainers at traditional fitness studios and gyms, and older trainers feel the same disconnect with younger clients, he said. His model leverages that and gives another compelling reason for people to spend their fitness dollars with Vivo rather than somewhere else. Many industries are facing labor shortages and a dearth of appropriate talent. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce lists hospitality and the retail industry as suffering most from this, while HR consulting firm CXC cites health care, non-flight-crew-related aviation and airport jobs, and construction as industries in dire need of staff. Retaining Older Workers: What Do They Value? Given the demand for their labor, the question becomes: What are the best ways for employers to retain older workers in their jobs? Tinsley-Fix said that older workers want the same thing as younger ones in terms of feeling valued and respected. “Research shows people want the same core things across generations.” If you are doing a good job providing any of your workers with a feeling of mission and inclusion, and if you are providing adequate compensation, you should be able to inspire loyalty among the older workers in your organization. “The only potential difference is that what younger people think respect means may be different than what older people think it means,” she said. It’s a good question to survey employees and candidates about. Heather Tinsley-Fix, senior advisor for financial resilience at AARP (Photo courtesy of AARP) Using older people to fill employment gaps has worked well for Susan Cornish, a Columbus, Ohio-based franchise owner with the childcare company Jovie. “Some people are looking for something different after downsizing, or they are interested in something part time while they retrain,” she said. While that implies that the childcare gig is only temporary, Cornish has found many stay on. One of her older employees was going to stay only until she completed some additional education. Several years later, she’s still on the job–one of the increasing number of older people Cornish has among her 150 employees. “We tend to skew young, but that may be due to the old name,” she explained. Until early this year, the company name was College Nannies and Sitters. Increasingly, Cornish is looking for older workers because they have more patience, compassion, empathy–and driving experience. The latter can be a point in their favor for a prospective employer, Cornish said. “A crying baby or a mischievous toddler won’t rattle someone who has already raised their children as much as it might someone who is 17. They bring life experience lessons that you can’t train for.” Finding and Recruiting Them: It’s About More Than Just Money The biggest issue she has in attracting older workers is knowing where to find them. Cornish said come January, she has a new hire whose job will be to figure out how older potential workers can be reached and entice them to consider a job at Jovie. Cornish said that older workers are often more flexible about money than younger people. She pays for experience, and a couple of years ago, she would have called older workers more-expensive-but-worth-it. Now, however, she has 17 and 18 year olds with no experience expecting $17 per hour, or more than double the $9.30 state minimum wage. It can take longer to train older workers on the apps they use as part of their operations, Cornish explained, so managers “pack their patience” when they train. Having a multigenerational workforce helps because often the younger employees can help get older ones up to speed on new tech, a practice often called reverse mentoring. The longer learning curve is something that Levitan has experienced, too. All his trainers are over 40, and some are over 60. They may not have used scheduling apps or know all the bells and whistles that are available on Zoom, which Vivo trainers use to deliver their classes. “We use our onboarding time to get them up to speed.” Both Cornish and Levitan have signed the AARP employer pledge to facilitate older workers and aim for multigenerational workplaces. Both think it makes business sense, but Levitan said there are softer reasons to consider it. “They bring a trifecta of wisdom, knowledge, and experience that provides enhanced customer experience. “ Cornish has her own non-data related rationale: “Our tag line is ‘We hire role models,’ and older people are role models, not just to our clients, but also to our younger workers.” Editor’s note: From Day One thanks our partner AARP, who sponsored this story, the first in a three-part series. Lisa Jaffe is a freelance writer who lives in Seattle with her son and a very needy rescue dog named Ellie Bee. She enjoys reading, long walks on the beach, and trying to get better at ceramics.