Keeping Employees Engaged When Everything Is Changing
BY Mimi Hayes July 02, 2020In recent months, the rhythms and structures of work life have been, well, deconstructed. Employees fortunate enough to have a job will be working from their kitchen tables for the foreseeable future, adding pressure to working families with children. Career development seems hazy at best for many employees, especially those unsure about how their roles will change in the coming months. At the same time, Corporate America is scrambling to combat systemic racism, asking painful questions about diversity and inclusion. As these pressures add up, how do we ensure that our employees are engaged in the work they’re doing and that they’re feeling aligned with new corporate directions? Are they feeling included, heard, and valued during this season of change? Are they feeling burned out and in need of a mental health day (or two)? Surprisingly enough, according to a recent survey in Gallup, employee engagement has been on a historic rise in the U.S. during the pandemic, with a reported 38% of employees feeling “engaged” in their daily work, as of early May. Among the possible explanations: a heightened sense of purpose during the pandemic, as well as efforts by employers to prioritize worker health, wellbeing, and a sense of camaraderie. But will this rally last as the pandemic months drag on? In a recent webinar, From Day One gathered several HR leaders to consider the factors of vulnerability, inclusion, and the changing nature of keeping employees connected during such tumultuous times. Some highlights from the webinar, which was moderated by Fortune associate editor Emma Hinchliffe: What Fosters Employee Engagement Now? “It's really about the emotional connection,” said Liz Pavese-Kaplan, senior director of the Limeade Institute, which helps companies measure employee engagement. “Then the behavioral actions that energize you to put more into what you're doing.” We often think about engagement in terms of productivity: how many products they can launch, tasks they can cross off, and sales they can close. But our panel of experts emphasized that the key to engagement lies more in how employees feel while doing their work than the work itself. Engagement has also been tied to psychological factors: worker confidence, the ability to trust in colleagues, and even feeling well-equipped to deal with stressful situations. “How do you feel about how you belong within the organization? Do you feel included within the organization? Do you feel that your opinions and interests are respected and valued? Do you feel like your voice is heard?” asked Mikeisha Anderson Jones, VP of global diverse executive engagement at American Express. Engagement also connects to an individual’s personal growth within an organization and whether they can weather an economic downturn with a company when things can get difficult. “How do we reinvent ourselves and reinvent what we do?” asked Pavese-Kaplan. “Because it is different, and that's not a bad thing, right?” Elevate the Humanity of Your Employees While it might be easy these days to assume that all is well with employees when their tiny avatars show up on your computer screen, less evident are the overlooked stressors in their daily lives. Many companies are strategically addressing this aspect of work with new programs and digital HR tools to stay in touch. TTEC, a company that provides customer-engagement and other services, launched a campaign called “It’s OK, We’re All Human” during the pandemic, encouraging employees to be as transparent as possible about what they are going through, via community message boards and access to mental health resources. “We wanted to provide different channels of communication that we didn't have before,” said Judith Almendra, TTEC’s VP of talent management and employee engagement. “So truly making sure that employees have a venue for them to voice what's on their mind.” Our panelists, clockwise from upper left: moderator Emma Hinchliffe of Fortune, Mikeisha Anderson Jones of American Express, Judith Almendra of TTEC, Lara McLeod of Zillow Group, Christine Doucet of Ace Hardware, and Liz Pavese-Kaplan of the Limeade Institute (Image by From Day One) While employees have become more open about discussing mental health, there is still a lingering social stigma about it. All the more reason, said our panelists, for leaders to bring these issues front and center. Lara McLeod, senior pathways manager at Zillow Group, gave an example: “One of the things that we focused on was actually providing a company-wide chat where we had our chief people officer and our VP of community and culture sit down together and discuss what they've gone through with mental health and how that has affected their work. And how important they see that, as well as to reiterate the message that it is OK. Not only from a stigma side, but from a business side to take mental-health days.” Breaking down the sense of shame can have myriad positive effects for employees, like bringing authenticity to the workplace. “I think that it's allowing people the ability to truly bring their whole selves to work in a way that was perhaps different six months ago, a year ago,” said Anderson Jones. A Shared Mission It might have been a different story just a few months ago, but aligning employees to a shared mission or purpose is pivotal right now, especially for businesses undergoing drastic changes. Ace Hardware, deemed an essential business at the start of the pandemic, has made adjustments to embrace employees in a shared mission. “I think we all want to be part of something bigger,” said Christine Doucet, director of the Ace Hardware Foundation and head of employee engagement. “To me, that's the ultimate engagement when you can tie that passion and purpose together. That's when magic happens,” she said, noting that one of the company’s mottos is “we exist to help others.” She added: “Regardless of your role, whether you're working in a store, in our warehouse, or here at corporate, we all have that same mission.” What that mission means in the detail of daily work is something that needs to be clearly and constantly communicated. Managers have a responsibility to prioritize connection with their employees and meet them where they are, not just where we hope they will be. Pavese-Kaplan added: “What do we want our employees to leave [work] knowing, feeling, doing? And if we're seeing a lot of redundancy in our goals, that's a red flag for us to say, OK, are we just doing this to make ourselves feel better? Or are we really checking in with the employees to see what they need at any given point and really letting them lead, vs. responding from a fear response?” Compassion for the Unknown As the pandemic wears on, what was once hopefully pictured as a few months of uncertainty has dragged on to form a much more complex idea of the future. The antidote? Compassion. “It's really important to acknowledge that better health and wellbeing, and safety psychologically and physically, also lead to better performance,” said Anderson Jones, adding: “But better health and wellbeing will lead to happier, more whole people. And that drives engagement.” Companies dealing with layoffs and furloughs are in a pickle here, but that doesn’t mean they can’t take actions to lessen the harm to morale. TTEC has continued to provide benefits to furloughed employees as well as partnering with sister companies to help find jobs for those employees in open positions elsewhere. For Zillow’s part, the company leads layoff conversations with transparency, making sure not to promise things they can’t back up. “That's where you can run into trouble,” warned McLeod. For employees with children at home, compassionate engagement also includes having permission to step away from their work to address family matters, which may be something they struggle to speak out about or ask managers for. “We were hearing from our employees that they were feeling guilty. Like, ‘I have to help my kids. Is that OK?’,” said Doucet. And they may ask themselves: “Am I doing all the right things and being pulled in all directions?” Added Doucet: “I felt that too, and so what our leadership did was literally give permission and acknowledge what was happening, that we're all in different situations. As long as you get your work done, we'll be flexible. And I felt that weight lifted off some of our folks’ shoulders.” Listening intently to the concerns of employees, whether they’re parents or not, is a key skill for managers to sharpen if they hope to engage their workforce in meaningful ways. Recently, the Black Lives Matter Movement has propelled this need for compassionate communication and understanding of employee needs. Many companies have encouraged their black employees to speak openly about their experiences if they want to, which itself can be exhausting. McLeod said this was a meaningful moment at Zillow Group. “There were ‘aha’ moments happening everywhere. We went from a company that was not making statements on social justice to one that's now saying racism has no home here and educating employees on Juneteenth and creating multiple spaces not only for our black employees to be able to process and grieve and share what that experience is like, but also we're putting out resources for allies, for employees and for managers. Everyone is watching what is happening in the world right now.” “Look, we are all human,” added Anderson Jones. “And we are all going through this at exactly the same time. And the way that we were experiencing it is not identical. That ability to be human and open about what those distractions are, or about what those changes are, has created a different type of relationship amongst all of us.” Thank you to everyone who attended this webinar live. If you missed it, feel free to check out our replay here and visit our conference page to register for more upcoming events. Mimi Hayes is a New York-based author, comedian, and assistant director of content at From Day One. You can read her work at mimihayes.com, check out her podcast "Mimi and The Brain," or find her first book, a comedic memoir about her traumatic brain injury on Amazon.
How Internships Are Being Reinvented During the Pandemic
BY Mimi Hayes June 30, 2020On the path from school to a career, internships are often pivotal experiences. They give students access to on-the-job experience, networking opportunities, and mentorships that can propel them into their future careers. But what happens to internships during a global pandemic, when so many workplaces are closed? How can fresh talent get their feet in the door if that door is temporarily locked? While hundreds of companies simply canceled their summer internships for the year, many others have made valiant attempts to shift programs online while keeping alive the integrity of a traditional internship. Moving to a virtual format can present challenges, but the situation has inspired companies to come up with creative workarounds. In a recent From Day One webinar focused on the future of internships, a panel of HR leaders said they have not only pivoted their internship programs, but enhanced them in some ways as well. “We're really thinking through being intentional about the goals for our program and making sure that those experiences are as impactful in a virtual environment as they are in the in-person type of environment,” says Brooke Rice, senior director of workplace learning at NAF, a non-profit that brings educators and business leaders together to create student internships. Highlights of the discussion, which was moderated by Seth Green, founding director of the Baumhart Center for Social Enterprise and Responsibility at Loyola University Chicago: New and Improved Programs At this time last year, summer-internship programs were in full swing, with millions of students reporting to work. But this March, HR leaders suddenly realized they needed to make radical changes. “It's just kind of an interesting year, right?” said Tom Kleber, senior manager of university relations at Biogen, a biotech company focused on neurological diseases. “Right as we were wrapping up recruiting, that's when things started to come together, when we realized the traditional internship experience probably wasn't going to happen.” One of the challenges was shipping laptop computers and headsets to the new interns, which for some companies meant hundreds or thousands of devices. Then there was the reinventing of programs. In an effort to revamp extracurricular activities to the remote space, Biogen includes weekly lunch-and-learn Zoom calls, as well as video-game competitions. Kleber said his team’s favorite is “Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes,” a game that encourages players to work together to defuse a bomb. Zillow Group, the real-estate hub, provides “swag” and care packages to get interns started. The company even sends interns a house plant, encouraging them to set up their home offices in creative ways. “It gives the interns a little bit of a sense of belonging because they all have the same items in front of them. And they're all kind of in it together, even though they are dispersed,” said Scott Moore, Zillow’s senior manager of early-talent recruiting. At Fox Corp., interns have infinite access to master classes and unique online experiences to take the place of in-person networking events, said Mercheley Beuns, Fox’s VP of talent acquisition. Companies have adapted in other ways too. NAF, which partners with the global professional-services firm KPMG to operate the Future Ready Lab for high-school students, have expanded the program calendar so that so that students can join internship programs during the school year too. Accountability and Buy-in (From Managers Too) Interns aren’t the only ones who need attention in these new programs. Managers can also benefit from special training to make sure that interns have a rewarding experience despite the shift to a remote-work situation. “I think what we found was there were some managers, quite frankly, that were having a hard time managing their own staff remotely,” said Beuns. “And so what we did not want to do was hinder the internship experience for that intern by having them reporting to a business manager that potentially wouldn't have full onus, or the time to really give that intern a full robust experience.” Our panel, clockwise from upper left: Scott Moore of Zillow Group, Brooke Rice of NAF, Tom Kleber of Biogen, Mercheley Beuns of Fox Corp., moderator Seth Green of Loyola University Chicago, and Amanda Beaver of KPMG (Image by From Day One) Especially given the remote environment, HR leaders have needed encourage managers with interns to step up as leaders and mentors. Among the techniques: frequent check-ins and ample amounts of communication. Important too is a sense of compassion, especially since the look and feel of internships has fundamentally changed and interns may be vulnerable to feelings of isolation. “Do they remember being an intern themselves to remember the kind of guidance that they got?” asked Kleber. Motivating managers to give back in the same way they may have started their careers can bring energy to the remote office as well. Being Intentional About Diversity Conversations about race and diversity have intensified in recent weeks, but the need for active recruitment of diverse talent is an abiding one. Young people need role models, including ones who look like them. “If I am a black or Latina or queer child in this country, and I have not seen my story reflected in in your profession, I could never see myself having a place there,” says Amanda Beaver, associate director of community impact at KPMG. “And so we're really trying to close those gaps so that we can grow an increasingly inclusive and diverse future workforce. This has been how the program has been designed.” Leaders who recognize this gap can work closely with diversity-and-inclusion teams to align inclusive values with in-bound interns and their needs. This also applies to interns with family circumstances that might hamper their participation. “They [may] have parents who are essential workers and they have increased responsibilities in the home,” said Beaver of interns whose families have been disproportionately affected by COVID-19. To take the pressure off individual managers, Zillow assigned additional mentors to the program. “We just wanted to make sure that they got more support than they would have in a face-to-face environment,” said Moore. Fox caters its program to intern interest as well, allowing interns to take a survey at the start to match their passions with their projects for the summer. This has a dual impact of engaging interns in their work and giving them a sense of belonging in the program. Inspiring Stories to Keep the Program Alive For companies that might be on the fence about keeping their internship programs going under these difficult circumstances, our panelists offered some inspiring reminders. “I think it's really important for businesses to also acknowledge how important internships are to them. Interns bring their fresh eyes. They don't know the box, so they can't think inside of it yet,” says NAF’s Rice. She recalled a past intern several years ago who happened to be a teen father. Watching him climb the ladder to a successful career brought her hope and reassured their team that the program was for just that: changing the lives of the people involved. Beaver added: “Do we expect a high-school intern to walk away with technical accounting skills? Of course not. But we think they walk away knowing how to look at a problem from many angles, and focus on asking as many questions as possible instead of seeking the right answer.” Internships have the potential to not only jump-start a young person’s career, but also gives companies an opportunity to welcome young people into their industries, sometimes as life-long professionals with impressive careers. Of a past intern, Moore remarked: “Fast forward five years from there, she's now an adjunct professor at North Carolina A&T State University. She's also a career coach and has started her own business. But that first internship experience really gave her the opportunity to learn about what a career in accounting could do, and all the different ways you could branch off from it.” “We're all learning this together,” said Rice. “And so the interns really bring in that kind of new energy, new vibe, new things to think about as we are learning our way through this. And for those of you in the audience who haven't had an intern before, get one. It's an amazing experience. You'll learn a lot about yourself and a lot about others.” Thank you to everyone who attended this webinar live. If you missed it, feel free to check out our replay here and visit our conference page to register for more upcoming events. Mimi Hayes is a New York-based author, comedian, and assistant director of content at From Day One. You can read her work at mimihayes.com, check out her podcast "Mimi and The Brain," or find her first book, a comedic memoir about her traumatic brain injury on Amazon.
The Workplace Web: Helping Employees Stay Connected and Involved
BY Mimi Hayes June 29, 2020Especially for remote workers, quality communication is king these days. Most of us don’t have the luxury of popping our heads around our computers to ask our coworkers a question or pause at the snack bar to update them on the coming and goings of our lives. Instead, we turn to our screens, and our colleagues behind their own screens, for guidance. There’s no shortage of digital work tools these days, but which platforms stand out from the pack? Are there tools to actually help us get our jobs done while staying connected, but don’t just add to our digital distractions? How can these digital spaces better engage our employees and leaders? From Day One talked with Shaun Slattery, director of change management at LumApps, platform for workplace communication, community, and collaboration. Among our questions for him: how can leaders leverage technology to keep employees both engaged and productive? Some highlights: From Day One: Why is effective communication such a priority right now? Slattery: [Managers] have to execute communication well and thoughtfully. And in order to execute well, you really need to know what's going on in your organization. And so that bottom-up communication is important to have, to be aware of, and to mine for insights into new market opportunities and new cost-saving measures. Across every organization there's a wealth of knowledge in the minds of all the employees. Yet they lose a ton of time fishing around or asking six different people, ‘Hey, do you know where the latest X is?’ Or, ‘Is this the most recent version of Y?’ If we can serve up a platform where that's very findable, and easy for a company to manage its own content, that can really bring a lot of benefits. The other thing is, once you've found which direction you're going to go as an organization, how quickly can you align employees with that direction and get them engaged and involved? I always talk about strategic alignment like this: It doesn't happen when you issue a decree. The alignment happens through dialogue. I experienced a great example of that several years ago, when I was part of an organization that had just gone public. I think we had a bad quarter. And the CIO explained what the call to Wall Street would be like. And it was an opportunity for us to discuss through commenting platforms. We were able to ask questions. And it was through that dialogue that we bought in [to the company’s position]. And even if not everybody agreed with all the messages, we at least had heard what the rationale was. And in terms of achieving actual alignment with strategic objectives, there's nothing more powerful than that. What are some communications challenges that organizations face? And how does LumApps help to alleviate those concerns? When an organization has an office, they put a lot of effort into the front-door experience of how you come into work and what that office environment is like. Organizations need to be every bit as mindful of how they build the digital employee experience as they do the physical employee experience. Too often organizations don't put enough effort into that. If my front door to my organization is my email inbox, or a Slack channel, or what have you, the organization themselves have very little control over the look and feel of that experience. But if it's a social intranet, or a very customizable portal, my company can put a lot of attention and detail into what my experience is when I land on that LumApps homepage. What information is coming to me and how does it look and feel? Having a digital front door to my company can be a very powerful thing in terms of crafting an employee experience. It's a one-stop shop to get to all the 30 different applications I might need to get to in the course of a workweek. In some cases, I no longer have to go to two, three, four different applications in order to answer one question. Sometimes that information can be pulled together for me in one place through integration capabilities, and that's something that's very exciting. In LumApps, it’s easy to make that collaboration more public and discoverable, if you want, which can go a long way to improving company-wide coordination. [Another] challenge that organizations face is the silo-ing of information. And that happens if collaboration is happening primarily via email–or even phone and Zoom meetings if there's only a handful of people on that call. How does anyone else become aware of what went on in that meeting, unless notes are posted or something like that? Same with chat-based applications like Slack, which does great at supporting very local collaboration or team-level collaboration. But there's a real need to disseminate what happens at that level out to the wider organization and increase visibility. What is your role at LumApps? My role is director of change management. But what's important to know is that our change management is focused on helping our customers deliver LumApps into their organizations. My focus is to help our customers maximize adoption, employee engagement, and therefore maximize the value of LumApps to them as they roll out an exciting new technology to their employees. Shaun Slattery, director of change management at LumApps (Photo courtesy of LumApps) What unique services does LumApps provide? As a platform, we offer the ability to target communications based on user's profile information. So that's always a challenge for organizations: How do I get the right information to the right person at the right time? And our content-targeting capabilities really help there. We've also got a good balance of push and pull communications. So it's easy to target communications to specific audiences. But we also have capabilities where employees can select what they want to follow and be notified of. And then finally, there's great bi-directional conversational capability. Through commenting and discussions, we can flatten some of the hierarchy and break down silos so folks can hear from disparate members of their employee population. Has the usage of this platform changed during the current coronavirus pandemic? There's this capability in our platform called ‘Communities,’ where teams or communities of interest can set up their own area for discussion and collaboration that can be as open or as closed as they wish it to be. So there's opportunities for private collaboration or sensitive information. For example: an area for the New York City office to share ‘Hey, how are folks sourcing groceries?’ Or, ‘How are we approaching the possible return to the office and making that safe and manageable for employees?’ Most of our customers have popped up communities for remote-working best practices, as many people have been thrust into new work situations by having to work from home. There has just been a real hunger for information about how to do it well and how folks are coping. And these kinds of collaborative places where employees can share and post pictures and things like that have really given them an opportunity to feel it together. And that's also important for an organization's ability to move through this, is for their folks to feel banded together as an organization. A lot of companies are supporting social advocacy right now, especially with the Black Lives Matter movement. Excitingly, LumApps has a social-advocacy module that can be purchased as part of the platform. It gives owners the ability to post written content that they would like employees to share on social media. And how this works best is when organizations populate that with content from their community-engagement programs. If they are participating in social-advocacy events out in the community and are creating content around that, it would normally just go through the organization’s official channel. But the social-advocacy module provides an opportunity to say, ‘Here's something else we're doing. We'd love it if you would share that with your personal social networks on Twitter or LinkedIn,’ for example. And that does two things really well. One, it helps employees have an easy way to help spread the message, especially those messages that they're proud of. And so if my organization has Diversity and Inclusion Employee Resource Groups, and they have activities going on, and I wish to support that and push that out, great! Another powerful thing about that is employees can be an organization's best brand ambassadors. If they're invested in those messages and the social-advocacy activities of their organization, they have an opportunity to amplify that. And that expresses their personal values as well. That's the best marketing that you can get: an invested and engaged employee who's proud of the work their company is doing. What’s your advice for companies wanting to take advantage of the LumApps platform or reorganize their “digital front doors”? They [may] have a ton of digital information, and that’s part of their challenge as well. You should do a digital spring cleaning every year and kind of make an event of it at your company, and encourage all employees to go and clean up and update and get rid of stuff, just as we do in our homes each spring. It can be useful to do that in your digital environments as well. I would encourage organizations to give themselves plenty of time to do this. To really have a successful social intranet you're going to want to involve employees. It takes a village to come together and make some decisions and agree upon how you want to manage information. And that has little to do with the platform itself and more of how to manage information in large, complex companies. And that takes some coordination. It's important for organizations to really get moving on these conversations and be very thoughtful in how they are going to organize their information, as well as how they are going to get employees aligned and engaged so that they can deliver a great employee experience. Mimi Hayes is a New York-based author, comedian, and assistant director of content at From Day One. You can read her work at mimihayes.com, check out her podcast "Mimi and The Brain," or find her first book, a comedic memoir about her traumatic brain injury on Amazon.
Giving Employees a Hand When They Need it Most
BY Mimi Hayes June 12, 2020When disaster strikes, will your employees be able to handle the unexpected expenses, even relatively small ones? Many probably cannot, as research by the Federal Reserve has shown. In light of this, employers who don’t want their workers’ lives to be upended by natural disasters and other emergencies have increasingly turned to a relatively new kind of employee benefit: employee relief funds, which give out cash grants to help workers get through their crises. Events including 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina provided the inspiration to develop such benefits, a need now underscored by the COVID-19 pandemic and the increase in extreme-weather events. A From Day One webinar last week explored how companies can launch employee relief funds (ERFs), how they work, and how they’ve had an outsized impact in helping workers and their families. Highlights of the conversation: “Our mission at Truist is to inspire and build better lives and communities,” said Lynette Bell, president of the Truist Foundation, the charitable arm of Charlotte-based Truist Financial Corp. “That applies to those 50,000 employees. We want to ensure that they have the opportunity to thrive.” In partnership with E4E Relief, Truist has raised funds, some donated by employees, to help workers in distress pay for essentials like food and emergency home repairs. Leading with Compassion A key component of creating safety nets for employees during emergencies is compassion in the face of the unexpected, says Holly Welch Stubbing, CEO of E4E Relief. “We were committed very early on creating a mantra around compassion, readiness and excellence, trying to treat people well because they are in the most difficult moment–maybe in some cases–in their lives,” she told moderator Lydia Dishman of Fast Company. By helping employees in a jam, companies can benefit in terms of goodwill, building a sense of unity and purpose in the workforce and the communities they reside in. “Corporate America, their greatest asset is their people,” said Stubbing. When those people have a flooded basement because of a hurricane, or a loss of income from a furlough, they will long appreciate that their employer had their back. “Things happen to us as we live every day,” said Bell. “We want to make sure that when those catastrophic or unexpected things happen in life, this organization is there to support them.” How Does It Work Exactly? Companies looking to provide such a benefit for their employees often turn to non-profit partners like E4E to administer the funds, which are set up according to tax codes that allow the relief money to be distributed on a tax-free basis. Working in a partnership, the companies and nonprofits are able to assess needs and design programs to fit the companies and individuals, sometimes focused on a particular situation. One such example is the Brave of Heart Fund for families of frontline health-care workers who have lost their lives battling the coronavirus. A key feature of such funds is that workers take part in the funding. At Truist, employees can donate to relief funds directly and the company may donate an additional $4 for every $1 an employee donated. “So what you're creating there, hopefully, if it's run well, is a virtuous cycle, where programs are funded in large part by employees themselves, to help their fellow employees and their peers. And then grants are awarded to those same employees in a charitable way with the best tax impacts possible,” said Stubbing. Rallying the Right Team In leading the creation of such programs, an emphasis should be put on diversity and the inclusion of new perspectives, our panelists said. “I think we've gotten smarter about asking the right questions up front and knowing who to bring to the table earlier rather than later,” said Stubbing. “I think when we first started we were afraid to do that, to be honest, because we were just a charity, but it's really important that we get the right players early on.” Our webinar speakers, from left, clockwise: Holly Welch Stubbing of E4E Relief, Lynette Bell of Truist Foundation, and moderator Lydia Dishman of Fast Company (Image by From Day One) How long does the setup process take? “Maybe there's been a [factory] that got entirely wiped out by a hurricane and they want to do something now, now, now,” said Stubbing. However, “there is a balance between quality and efficiency and I think companies that put leadership like Lynette in place understand that balance and they understand that you have to have both things at the same time. Those are the best people to work with,” Stubbing said of Bell’s role at Truist. Leadership can come from unexpected places as well. Bell mentioned engaging with community leaders, nonprofits and those with the finger on the pulse of communities at the center of crises. When these leaders are engaged and on board, the fundraising response has been overwhelming, she said. When tornadoes hit Tennessee this spring, one team raised $370,000 in a relief fund for those whose homes were destroyed. “And guess what? That was during the time of our 4-1 match,” said Bell. “Those employees really rallied into that.” The Importance of Stories When it comes to helping employees within your organization, a simple way to build morale in tough times is through sharing success stories, our panelists said. “The first week of us unveiling the Truist Cares initiative for COVID, an employee's husband got laid off right away, and their mortgage payment was due,” said Bell. Their relief fund was able to help this employee quickly. “It felt easy and seamless to them. They got their money five days later and paid their mortgage.” E4E Relief shares uplifting stories like this on its website as well, highlighting ways that employees have bounced back after natural disasters including earthquakes and hurricanes. More is surely on the way. “The predictions are that it's going to be a very active season with four major hurricanes this year,” said Stubbing. “They're predicting 16 named storms, eight hurricanes, and four of those to be major hurricanes. And that gives you a 69% chance that a major hurricane will hit the US coastline.” Rallying employees to donate to these funds not only gives them a stake in their own safety nets, but empowers them to help their peers as well. Said Stubbing: “While companies are wrestling with their own revenue and their own financial challenges, you still see them trying to find ways to fund [relief efforts] in conjunction with all of the other things that they're trying to do for the employees.” Editor’s note: You can watch a playback of the webinar here and check out upcoming events on our website. Mimi Hayes is a New York-based author, comedian, and assistant director of content at From Day One. You can read her work at mimihayes.com, check out her podcast "Mimi and The Brain," or find her first book, a comedic memoir about her traumatic brain injury on Amazon.
Collaborating for Inclusion: the Influence of Employee Resource Groups
BY Mimi Hayes June 08, 2020The three crises that America is undergoing simultaneously–health, economic, and social–have a major element in common: they’ve exposed the painful consequences of inequality and bias. The COVID-19 pandemic, racial injustice and massive layoffs have disproportionately affected people of color, women, and other marginalized groups. While the debate over cause-and-effect is highly politicized, in Corporate America the response has been an unprecedented amount of earnest public statements about striving to be part of the solution. How is that translating into action? For one thing, companies have tried for years to emphasize diversity and inclusion (D&I), deploying a variety of programs. For a recent webinar, From Day One gathered four advocates of D&I with hands-on experience in promoting one of those tools: employee-resource groups (ERGs), also known as affinity groups. These groups–for women, people of color, LGBTQ+, people with disabilities, and more–can reinforce a company's leadership in D&I as well as providing mutual support for ERG members. Among the highlights of the discussion: Opening up the Conversation Among seasoned advocates of diversity, the current recession has ominous echoes of 2007-09, when years of progress toward corporate diversity suffered a setback because of layoffs and hiring freezes. “You look at the Great Recession, you look at the impact on the legal industry,” said attorney D.L. Morriss, the D&I partner at the Chicago-based law firm Hinshaw & Culbertson. “Hardest hit African-Americans saw a 13% reduction, Asians and Hispanic Latinos saw about a 9% reduction, even though historically, they only represent about 5% to 8% of the industry.” In an economic crisis, ERGs can be influential voices in helping management navigate the situation in an equitable way. D&I advocacy groups can take different forms. Atlanta-based Piedmont Healthcare employs a program called a “diversity council,” in which all the employees who might ordinarily join an affinity group instead mix together with the same mission, said Jo Anne Hill, Piedmont’s executive director of D&I. Council members work together to develop programs around such occasions as LGBTQ Pride Month. “We all should support Pride, because these are our patients. These are our providers,” said Hill. “So even people who were not a part of that group came together in the diversity-council model because you can be more than one thing. You can be an African-American, male or female, veteran, someone with a special disability, LGBTQ, so many things.” Intentionality and Accountability For David Alfini, partner at Hinshaw & Culbertson and co-chair of the firm’s LGBTQ Affinity Group and Mentoring Committee, the transition to remote work this spring provided an opportunity to step up communication with his ERG, launching bi-weekly meetings. “They're able to ask us questions about what's going on, what's going to happen when we go back to work, when are we going back to work. I actually think that in a strange way, it's really strengthened our ties,” he added. Our panelists were asked: How do you make sure you have strong leaders moderating these conversations? And who is held accountable for progress being made? The speakers at our webinar on affinity groups, clockwise from top left: Kerri-Lyn Kelly, Jo Anne Hill, D.L. Morriss, David Alfini and moderator Lydia Dishman (Image by From Day One) Morriss offered a personal example of leaders committing themselves emotionally and physically being allies: “You have to learn how to get comfortable in uncomfortable situations. Our chairman, he kind of raised me up at the firm. And we've been able to exchange in some very candid conversations where he's able to say, ‘Well, I don't understand exactly [what] I'm supposed to say.’ And we can talk through that. But I think accountability is something that you exemplify that you show physically, so having a leader in charge who is present is certainly important.” (Here is the firm’s latest D&I report.) Hinshaw & Culbertson celebrated LGBTQ Pride Month last year on the firm’s rooftop in Chicago, inviting all colleagues, including several prior chairmen, to the festivities. Alfini remembers the event fondly. “It really showed how far the firm has come,” he said. Getting Outside the Comfort Zone Hill observed that company-wide evolution in the realm of D&I can be uncomfortable, like a tricky yoga pose. “If you ever do yoga, and I do yoga every single morning, some of the positions are uncomfortable, but I see growth and [us] being more agile, and I think that's where diversity and inclusion really is,” she said. Part of the process involves opening up about personal experience. “I shared this internal memo with the firm a few weeks ago, titled: ‘When Is It OK to Run?’,” said Morriss, whose memo was subtitled, “A Cultural Reflection on Raising a Black Son.” He continued: “It was based on my experience and feeling in response to the Ahmaud Arbery death. My son asked me, can he walk to Walgreens to get some index cards, because he likes to make these little sports cards. And that's his hobby. And my immediate reaction out of fear was, well, no, not right now. It's not a good time,” he said. Alfini talked about his personal journey to becoming a leader in the LGBTQ community. “I never thought there would be a time when anyone could be openly gay at work,” he said. “I never thought that would happen. And about five years into my time at the firm, the affinity groups were formed, but I wasn't openly gay at work. I didn't join our affinity groups. And it wasn't until younger associates came that I saw that this was a real benefit. I thought that I would lose more by being openly gay than I would gain and I realized I was wrong and I joined the affinity group. And over the years, I've become a leader in it.” The affinity groups provide another benefit: creating a space to talk about social upheaval like the widespread protests over racial injustice and how they’re affecting one’s coworkers. Our panelists affirmed that the more open and vulnerable they are in these efforts to broaden cultural awareness, the more understood and heard everyone begins to feel. At Piedmont Healthcare, employees can join its diversity councils by filling out a one-page interest form. People from all levels of the company are encouraged to take part, including younger employees like Kerri-Lyn Kelly, a talent development and learning specialist at Piedmont. “I immediately was drawn to it knowing that I wanted to be a part of something bigger,” Kelly said. “I'm still relatively new to my career. I wanted to be a part of a council and have that opportunity to share my story and to learn from others as well. I believe it's all about education. I know I don't know all the answers, but I want to learn. And I want a safe space to be able to have those discussions, learn from others, and bring my perspective and experience to the table as well.” Hearing those life stories and experiences offer a good way to get past superficial assumptions about coworkers, the place where unconscious bias lurks. Said Hill: “When we talk about diversity and inclusion, what I often like to say when I speak is: ‘If you stop at what you see, you're going to miss out on the best part of me.’” We invite you to watch the full video of this webinar here and consult our schedule of future webinars and conferences here. Mimi Hayes is a New York-based author, comedian, and assistant director of content at From Day One. You can read her work at mimihayes.com, check out her podcast "Mimi and The Brain," or find her first book, a comedic memoir about her traumatic brain injury on Amazon.
Searching for Talent, Even in a Vast Hiring Freeze
BY Mimi Hayes June 02, 2020“What you took for granted yesterday, it just doesn't exist anymore, right?,” Ximena Juncosa, McKesson Corp.’s VP of executive talent, told From Day One recently. “I've got to think through everything differently.” The role of hiring managers has changed almost overnight, as the labor market has gone from the lowest unemployment rate in a half century to a ferocious growth in joblessness. Americans have filed more than 40 million claims for unemployment benefits in the past ten weeks, with one in four American workers now looking for work. Yet, despite what feels like a national hiring freeze, some companies are looking for workers and others are building relationships with people they hope to hire in the future as the economy rebounds. While some companies are faring better than others, the good news is that these quick pivots have brought about creative recruitment solutions and a reorganization of priorities that might not have taken place before, according to a panel of talent-acquisition leaders in a recent From Day One webinar. Which roles have been put on hold, and which ones are ready to be revamped? How do we get to know our new and prospective employees when we’ve never met them in person, given the new work-from-home regime and other restraints? Among the highlights: Building Your Pipelines While some of your company's hiring plans may have been on hold, now is a great time to groom your pipeline of incoming candidates. Adjusting language in job descriptions to meet wider swaths of talent and more diverse individuals is an essential part of that. “Once things come up and all the rules come up all at once, everybody's going to be fighting for the same talent,” said Obehi Ogunbayo, director of executive search at Cox Enterprises. Recruiters can take the time now to ask themselves how they are going to source new talent once the pandemic eases off. This includes getting creative about the logistics of your hiring cycle and how to progress candidates through each stage. “I don't think this is all doom and gloom for many of us,” said Jake Burke, VP of sales and education at SkillSurvey. “I know some of us are having a hard time, but there is some light here too.” Embracing the situation at hand and finding ways to continue growing will take us far, he added. As many companies embrace remote work, perhaps for the long haul, the sourcing of out-of-state talent is a growing consideration. This can open the door to new communities and diverse groups that wouldn’t have been able to apply before. Freshly graduated students can be nurtured right now, and companies can work with Employee Resource Groups to continue sourcing diverse candidates. LinkedIn, Handshake, and other online platforms will become important hubs for talent leaders to interact with new hires and continue building relationships before hiring takes place. “We are very much trying to nurture our relationships with our external diversity partnerships in a way that we're connecting with students and making sure that when we are ready to move forward with opportunities, they're thinking about our employment brand,” said Robi Nevers, senior manager of talent acquisition for Allstate. Reorganizing the Office Experience Not so long ago, prospective hires and employers got to know one another by meeting face to face and walking around their future workplaces. Now those sensory experiences are suspended. Talent executives are keenly aware of this as they move interviewing and onboarding online. Our panelists said they’ve found ways to bring new hires online while being mindful of the anxieties of their new remote roles. “We've done walking tour videos of the facility, and we send those to the employees and prospects,” said SkillSurvey’s Burke. “I think it's been very important for them to see something different and feel something different because they're not getting that opportunity to become a part of the family right away.” That sense of belonging typically reserved for in-person office interactions, while different in nature, can still be replicated virtually. “It has changed the dynamics of how you get them to feel the culture and how you get them to understand the company and the facility.” Another additive measure: Getting new hires up and running with technology from the very beginning. This not only helps employees feel productive sooner with the right tools in hand, but also gets them connected to their colleagues faster. “It just doesn't end with the recruitment process,” noted Nevers. “How do we start the onboarding in a way that really makes them feel part of the company and they're ready to get up and running from day one with the right training, onboarding, leadership, and connectivity to their bigger group that they may not end up meeting face to face for quite some period of time?” For those opting to head back to the office or relocate, details need to be considered more carefully than before. Physically, we expect that offices will look vastly different with less dense layouts, daily health checks, and fewer common hang-out areas. It’s important to ensure that candidates feel safe in the process wherever they decide to get their work done. Navigating the Pay-cut Issue In attempts to reduce and avoid layoffs, some companies are opting for pay cuts. Many CEOs are even pledging to forgo their salaries entirely amidst the pandemic, while other employees have seen their pay reduced by anywhere from 5% to 30%. Those pay cuts make it harder to recruit outside candidates, unless companies can persuade prospective hire about their other attractive qualities, including the corporate mission. But there’s another approach too. “The current situation allowed us to actually look more at internal candidates,” says Mike Cassani, VP of human resources at Cengage, an education and tech company that has made pay cuts to avoid layoffs. “As you can imagine, it's a little difficult to hire people at the 20% discount. So we've looked internally quite a bit and found some really positive impact on development and giving people new opportunities,” he said. Focusing on internal talent can include helping current employees develop new skills, acquire new credentials, and motivate them to immerse themselves more in their own journeys within the company. Leaders can also provide their teams with flexibility and “stretch assignments” to give employees an opportunity to experience different roles and try on new hats. One thing companies should not cut back on right now is performance and talent reviews, warned Juncosa. “That really informs a little bit around your strategic-pipeline approach–your strategy on where are the gaps, where don't you have succession ready? Also with a big focus on diversity, because that's very important for us at McKesson.” Sourcing New Skills With a nearly unrecognizable workplace, what new skills should talent leaders be on the hunt for? Our panel noted that in addition to developing and perfecting our teleconferencing skills (note to person talking while on mute: we’re looking at you!), it’s important to look into behavior too. “It's understanding what the behaviors are that lead to that skill, or that prove that you have that skill is what is really, really important,” noted Burke. “Working from home is not just a change of venue or, you know, dealing with your children, or your dog or what have you. It's a lot of things.” Adaptability and mental resilience are several competencies that SkillSurvey has been measuring lately with the help of organizational psychologists. With many of us leaning on technology more than ever, a great question for new hires is: “What do you do when things don’t go according to plan?” Leaders may shift their focus in video interviewing to see if candidates are not only efficient, but also flexible in response to the inevitable unknowns of WFH culture. With all the distractions of home life, remote learning for children, and unpredictable WiFi, candidates who can shift gears and solve problems creatively will push themselves to the front of the pack. Burke added: “To me, that's a skill. That's someone I want on my team. That's someone who is cool under pressure.” Thanks to those of you who have joined us live in our webinar series. Readers can also watch the playback video here and register for our next webinar here. Mimi Hayes is a New York-based author, comedian, and assistant director of content at From Day One. You can read her work at mimihayes.com, check out her podcast "Mimi and The Brain," or find her first book, a comedic memoir about her traumatic brain injury on Amazon.
Keeping Diversity at the Forefront During Crisis Times
BY Mimi Hayes May 22, 2020“People don't want to be recruited because they happen to be a black woman. People want to be recruited because the gifts and talents they have, their expertise, benefits the business that they’re going into. And if you want to keep them, act like you want to keep them.” Laying down that advice was Carol Henderson, vice provost for diversity and inclusion and chief diversity officer at Emory University. Speaking on a From Day One webinar last week, Henderson and her fellow panelists were addressing the challenge of keeping diversity at the forefront during an economic and social crisis. Already there are echoes of the Great Recession of 2007-09, when those who suffered the most in terms of job loss and economic dislocation were women and minority-group members. As we find ourselves in another downturn, those members of society are most at risk yet again. Diversity and inclusion is not just about hiring diverse talent right now. In fact, many companies are not in a position to hire and may not be for some time. Yet there are many ways to ensure that years of progress don’t evaporate. Employers can focus on pay equity, coaching, and career growth, especially those disproportionately affected by the pandemic. Among the highlights of the discussion: Reprioritizing What Really Matters As we approach summer, employers will face multiple stages of reprioritization. In the spirit of inclusion at a time when many workers are feeling isolated, one of the top priorities should be to address their health and well-being, our panelists agreed. “One of the things that gives me a lot of optimism is seeing companies now pivot to addressing this,” said Anna Robinson, CEO and founder of Ceresa, a leadership-development platform. “What we're seeing is people in our program, who are typically mid-career, really worried about how to support other people, how to lead people who are facing mental-health issues.” Our panelists noted the tendency, despite all the talk of “Zoom fatigue,” for some people to feel disconnected or left behind, which can have a disproportionately strong impact on people who feel marginalized. How can that be addressed? “We're really leaning in and making sure that when you're having meetings, that everyone has an opportunity to speak up,” said Lori George Billingsley, global chief diversity and inclusion officer for the Coca-Cola Co. This includes employee recognition and acknowledgement, as well as building connectivity so that everyone feels that they are an essential part of what is happening. The YMCA has notably pivoted during this time, providing childcare for essential workers and health-care professionals. “Some days are harder than most,” says Chad Nico Hiu, director of diversity and inclusion at YMCA USA. In the midst of the crisis, many YMCA locations have adapted to meet community needs. “Commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion, has been foundational. [YMCA] has been able to ask people to #StayWithUs to continue to engage and partner with the Y to help us provide support for those most vulnerable during these challenging times,” Hiu said. At Sodexo, the global food-service company, the company has implemented a bilingual text hotline where displaced workers can engage with leaders around the clock about what they need the most. They are also redesigning their LIFT program (Leveraging Internal Frontline Talent), which was created a decade ago, to meet the needs of today’s crisis, according to Jodi Davidson, Sodexo’s VP of global diversity and inclusion. “When I think of inclusion, where do you put grief?” asked Emory University’s Henderson. “We have people who've lost folks based on COVID-19. Where do we allow that space to breathe so that there is a communal healing for those individuals? That's what I see with inclusion as well.” Leading the Way With Vulnerability If you’re into the science of human connection, now is as good a time as ever to watch one of the most popular TED Talks in the world, in which professor and author Brené Brown extols the power of vulnerability in leadership and our lives. Our panelists echoed one of Brown’s tenets: While vulnerability is uncomfortable, it’s better to lean into it. Courageous empathy is a parallel principle. After the fatal shooting of Ahmaud Arbery while jogging in a suburban neighborhood in Georgia, African-American communities have a renewed sense of dread and outrage. “I’m the mother of a gorgeous African-American son and this happened right before Mother’s day,” said Henderson. “We have to create spaces on our campus for courageous conversations about how the entitlements of some can become the death of others.” Emory has also been busy creating support groups for Asian communities on campus experiencing racism and discrimination from the COVID-19 outbreak. The YMCA’s Hiu, born and raised in Hawaii, said he encounters this on a daily basis. He described a recent team meeting when he was asked how he was doing: “I broke down. I started to just sob, which I don't usually do on a team call, never mind on Zoom. I didn't realize all this pent-up emotion.” Hiu’s team was supportive and empathetic. “They said, ‘You’re safe with us, Chad. We’ve got you.’ Inclusion is about meeting people where they are, not where we think they should be.” “It starts with our leaders,” observed Billingsley. “You have to show vulnerability, you have to show the authenticity and the transparency.” Allyship and Accountability Some diversity-and-inclusion programs and company-wide initiatives can be time-consuming and costly. But some of the most innovative practices can be the most simple. “It’s time to get humble. It’s time to get back to basics,” said Sodexo’s Davidson. For her team, this means building allyship and accountability into the vernacular. “Inclusion never stops. At [Sodexo] we say ‘Ouch’ and ‘Educate.’ And that's probably not new. But it really does work. And it gives people an invitation to stand up for themselves and to become assertive about what their experience is.” Organizations need to create a culture where slights and disrespect can be safely called out. “If you create an environment where people see that is not okay, then it becomes now the new norm,” said Billingsley. Robinson had some personal experience on this topic: “I started as a 22-year-old analyst in London, getting sexist jokes all the time. I had someone tell me, ‘You’re not as stupid as you look.’ I was like, What does that mean? I didn't even think about these as microaggressions, but with hindsight, these things are microaggressions.” She recommends a combination of awareness training (similar to Sodexo’s ‘Ouch’ and ‘Educate’) and documenting behavior in performance reviews. “If we're not holding people accountable to it in their reviews, then the behavior won't change. It doesn't show you are serious about it,” Robinson said. Accountability does not have to mean shaming or ridicule. We can show people warmth even when they make a mistake, said Hiu. “Not everyone is a perpetrator. Sometimes people are just unaware. Let's distinguish between the two. Let’s not fault or demonize people who didn't know any better.” He added: “I always say, ‘Let's just try not to offend the same person two times in the same day, in the same way.’ If we don't do that, then we're good, because we can give each other grace and space to be humans. And today, let's be honest, we all just need more humanity, more compassion, less intensity, and more love.” While society’s immediate future seems far more uncertain than usual, our panelists agreed that now is a time of transformation when America’s inequities have been under a spotlight. Said Henderson: “I think what would be a tragedy–besides the loss of life that we've seen–would be to come out of this and still do things the same way you did before.” Thank you to everyone who joined us for this conversation. You can check out a replay here and see a schedule of coming events here. Mimi Hayes is a New York-based author, comedian, and assistant director of content at From Day One. You can read her work at mimihayes.com, check out her podcast "Mimi and The Brain," or find her first book, a comedic memoir about her traumatic brain injury on Amazon.
Unearthing Tricky Culture Risks in Your Company
BY Mimi Hayes May 19, 2020What’s going on in your company that you don’t know about? That question is more pressing than ever, with so many shifting forces hitting business at once, including remote work, labor dislocation, and economic recession. “One lasting change coming from this current situation is going to be that culture keepers are going to have to break, what I call, the ‘black box,’” said Janine Yancey, referring to the often vague and mysterious backdrop of a company where leaders are not aware of what is happening within their workforces. Yancey, founder and CEO of Emtrain, which produces workplace-training tools, said that companies will need to focus on this issue “in a much more proactive way than we have in the past 20 years because it’s going to have increasingly large consequences if we don’t get it right. We can do better, and we can be intentional about it.” From Day One interviewed Yancey in a webinar recently about the quickly shifting cultural landscape of our workplaces, and why it’s important to benchmark employee practices before things become problematic. “This is a crucial time to be thinking about tricky culture issues,” she said. “As we go through and navigate these choppy waters, how we act right now is going to have some really far-flung consequences.” Among the webinar’s highlights: Culture in the Age of Social Media Yancey said the implications of fostering a healthy workplace culture are much higher than they used to be, since the fallout is amplified. Unsatisfied customers and employees have an abundance of online platforms to air their grievances. “This is going to be our first downturn in the age of social media,” Yancey said. “You combine that with our changing demographics. Folks that are millennials and Gen Z-ers grew up in the age of social media. They’ve been raised to share their experiences.” This feedback culture will have no problem giving criticism (and praise) about how companies treat them. Yancey offered a vivid example: In late March, hundreds of employees were laid off via a Zoom call with what appeared to be a pre-recorded message at Bird, a popular scooter-rental company. Many employees have taken to social media to recount the event. “The leadership at Bird handled this in an immature manner,” a manager told dot.LA. “The world deserves to hear about it.” Such incidents are not isolated, said Yancey. “What that shows me is that we are now moving into the age of what you do being judged in the court of public opinion. It used to be that you could control the narrative, isolate people who might have been upset at you and move them down a courthouse route. That is quickly becoming not relevant anymore. You’re going to be fighting your fight on the web, in real time.” Getting to Know Your Vulnerabilities Earlier this month, Tim Bray, Amazon’s VP of cloud computing, resigned in protest, referring to the recent firing of employees calling for more protections and hazard pay as “evidence of a vein of toxicity running through the company culture.” Yancey said predicting these kinds of culture failures comes down to how well you know your own weaknesses as a company. “If you knew that not enough people had trust in your leadership and management that you were going to do the right thing, then you could quantify your risk of a backlash,” Yancey says of Amazon’s choice to fire protesting employees. It’s virtually impossible to keep these issues from bubbling up to the surface, Yancey said, but companies can map things like disrespect and ethics issues back to predictive elements and behaviors that company leaders can look out for before problems arise. Yancey used a health analogy to make her point: “Adult-onset diabetes, well, you can actually track that back to predictive elements–your blood-sugar level, your BMI, your lifestyle–and monitor it over time and quantify your risk of getting diabetes.” Not Your Average Pulse Survey Emtrain utilizes a data-based approach, providing a comprehensive Workplace Culture Report which walks through those predictive elements. Among them: the dynamics of in-groups and out-groups, social intelligence, and unconscious bias. But unlike your everyday “how are we doing?” survey, they also use videos to anchor tough discussions. On Emtrain’s YouTube channel, the company has hundreds of examples of common workplace scenes and how to navigate complicated workplace issues. In one scenario, an employee has come out as transgender and a coworker is having a hard time adjusting to their new pronouns. What was quickly becoming a toxic work environment for the transgender employee is mediated by several colleagues who use effective communication to resolve the problem. “Tricky culture issues, when not managed proactively, have the potential to turn into legal consequences,” said Yancey. “That’s typically an area that no one feels comfortable in a pulse survey getting near. It’s kind of kryptonite.” Along with the Culture Report, Yancey said companies can combat this by considering four essential questions: 1.) How many people are using a code of ethics to make decisions? 2.) How many people have trust in their coworkers and leadership? 3.) How many people are held accountable for their actions? 4.) How strong are the organization's norms and practices? Left: Emtrain CEO and founder Janine Yancey in discussion with reporter Emily Nonko (Photo by From Day One) Getting the Results Analyzing 2.5 million employee responses, Emtrain has tracked workplace conflicts back to organizational and people breakdowns. Unbalanced power dynamics, poorly communicated norms, and even differing levels of social intelligence can all play a role in workplace culture issues. The Workplace Culture Diagnostic illuminates these issues and allows employees to weigh in on their own experiences on the job. With this data, companies receive a report which measures how their company matches up to healthy-rated workplaces. In the survey, employees can add comments, from which a word cloud can be generated to inform companies about specific breakdowns, such as who is treated with more respect in the office (the in-group) and who is not (the out-group). “What was really helpful and insightful to see, some interesting golden nuggets if you will, was that 64% of employees said that the biggest source of conflict that they experience in their workplaces stems from in-group/out-group dynamics and power-disparity issues. That was pretty eye-opening for many of us,” Yancey said. Since the initial release of the report in March, Emtrain’s data trove has grown to more than 8 million anonymous employee responses. This is timely research, given how much the working world has fundamentally changed since then, surfacing new challenges. The more we understand and address our vulnerabilities, Yancey said, the better we can show up for and respect each other, especially in times of crisis. Thank you to those of you who tuned in live to our webinar. You can catch a replay here or find future webinars here. Mimi Hayes is a New York-based author, comedian, and assistant director of content at From Day One. You can read her work at mimihayes.com, check out her podcast "Mimi and The Brain," or find her first book, a comedic memoir about her traumatic brain injury on Amazon.
Feeling Harassed on the Job? This Company Lends You an Ear
BY Mimi Hayes May 08, 2020One thing that has become clear from the #MeToo movement: workplace harassment can be more nuanced than we realize. Research indicates that 78% of employees face some sort of unfair behavior or treatment at work, which can include being talked down to, psychologically manipulated, or made physically uncomfortable. Many of these cases go unreported because employees fear losing their jobs or suffering repercussions from a boss or manager. The abused employees may even question their own experiences: “Is this really that big of a deal? Am I just making this up?” Speakfully, a startup company, tackles that gray area. Providing a reporting and conflict-resolution platform, Speakfully empowers workers to document harassment and any experiences that they are feeling uncertain about on the job in a secure and private way. The platform also provides confidential data to HR managers, helping them to be proactive about problems within their organization. From Day One interviewed Speakfully co-founder and CEO Jana Morrin about the creation of the company and why it’s needed now in an era of cultural transformation in the workplace. From Day One: What does Speakfully offer? Morrin: We offer a safe and private space for employees to be able to journal the experiences that they're having within the workplace. And when they're ready, have a safe place to go and submit that to the organization within our platform. At the same time, we offer HR and leadership data and analytics on the trends that are happening within the organization, even prior to anyone submitting anything. The hope is to be able to allow the organization to be more proactive with the things that are happening within their environment, versus reactive. This will organically build transparency and trust with their employees, who will then feel more safe to come forward sooner. Regardless of the size of the organization, they need to have visibility into these concerns. Speakfully can help do that. How does the platform work exactly? Employees go in and write about what they’re experiencing. So it is private until you submit. When you're writing about your experiences, you might not be ready to submit [to HR] yet. You might not even know what it is that you're experiencing. But then we ask a series of questions. And the answers to those questions becomes the data and analytics that the organization can see. And that's the anonymous piece. What happens when an employee submits something on the platform? Once they feel safe enough to submit, then it is no longer anonymous for a couple different reasons. One is, we want the organizations to be able to take action and be able to actually make change. It's really hard to do that when you don't know any of the specifics about who or what. So we're trying to provide this platform of data and analytics prior to that submission process in order for the employees to feel more safe and comfortable coming forward sooner. And that’s because the organizations are getting these data and analytics, allowing them to have these conversations. It shows that they are taking an interest in what is happening and trying to actually make a difference. Why is there a need in the marketplace for something like Speakfully right now? With a pandemic going on, it has changed a lot of things. But one thing it hasn't changed is that there has always been a need for the platform itself. Because organizations don't know what they don't know. What used to be an open-door policy for complaints, where you could go into an actual office, doesn’t apply. Right now we're dealing with a more remote situation, where everyone is dispersed. Since the #MeToo movement, everything has been really magnified as people are coming forward sooner or are coming forward more often than they did before. This has allowed companies to get visibility, vs. not having any intel. In the past, something might come across your desk two years after it happened, and you had no idea anything was going on. Do you think workplace harassment will change now that many people are working from home? Now that everyone is remote, it is even more difficult to try to get a pulse on your culture and what's going on within your organization. Nobody can see each other in real life, there's no water-cooler talk, there's no getting a feel for the room anymore because there is no room. I think that just because people are working remotely doesn't mean that things don't happen. I think about my own experience, and I think about all the emails, all the instant messages, all the texts. I mean, a lot of the things that happened were through different channels like that. Just because we are now behind a screen most of the time doesn’t mean harassment won’t happen. People still need to have tools to navigate that, and be able to try to determine what is going on. There was an open-door policy and now there's no door. You mention that some of your own experiences in the workplace inspired the creation of Speakfully. Can you share some of that story with us? Says Morrin: “Throughout this process, some people have actually been like, ‘Well, we don't have a problem.’ And then I say to them, ‘Well, how do you know that?’” (Photo courtesy of Speakfully) I think what's really important is to talk about my personality first, because a lot of people don't realize that this can happen to anyone, no matter what type of personality you have. I've always been very focused on my career and a go-getter, really wanting to always make a change within whatever organization that I'm in. And I always wanted to help the business grow. And I'm very tell-it-like-it-is. People sometimes think the word “assertive'' is bad, but I do not. I’m just a very blunt type of personality. Because of that, I never thought that I actually would be put in a situation like I ended up finding myself. I didn't think that anyone would do it. I also didn't think that I would allow anyone to do it. And it still happened to me. I worked for a C-level executive. Little things started happening, and it would start out small and I just didn't really know what it was. And I wasn't entirely sure but I knew something didn’t feel right. At the same time, I was confused. And it just continued to build and build. And over time, all of a sudden, I'm in the middle of it. You kind of look back and you're like, “Whoa, how did I get here? What am I doing?” It wasn't a black-and-white situation. I would call it an emotional rollercoaster. And it really affected my productivity. I got to a point where I just couldn't handle it. And that's not my character. I never leave a job without having another one. I would never in my wildest dreams think about doing that. And I did. How did this lead to you creating Speakfully? The co-founder of Speakfully is Zach Halmstad and he is a previous founder of a successful tech company that has since been acquired. He and I started this, and he is a good friend of mine. Before we started this, he knew about what was happening with me and we started having conversations about what we could do to try to help people in situations like this. One of the things that stuck out to him was the way that I wrote about what happened to me. I just threw a bunch of stuff into a Google Doc. I didn't know what I was doing. It was all over the place. I didn't know if I was writing the right thing. And so we started talking about that in particular, and like, “OK, what could have been helpful in that situation?” What has it been like for you being a female founder in the tech field? Starting this from the ground up and being female, you know, it's challenging. I mean, startups in general are hard. It's been really eye-opening and a whirlwind. I think about where we were last year at this time, we didn't even have a product yet, didn't have anything in the market. So just seeing where we've gone has been really exciting. What we're trying to do, and the impact that we're trying to have, is to change the status quo. That is a challenge. People really do want to make a difference within an organization, but people are scared, and rightfully so. I think having a platform like this will really tell you what's going on. So many cases of workplace harassment go unreported. How is Speakfully looking to change that culture? What we're trying to do is let these organizations show people that they do care and that they want to have these ongoing conversations with them. Because they don't want these types of people, [the bad actors], in their environment. And they don't know that they're there. Because if they knew, they wouldn't be there. Throughout this process, some people have actually been like, “Well, we don't have a problem.” And then I say to them, “Well, how do you know that?” Clearly they don't know. Of course, everyone wants to have the best culture ever, 100%. Statistics say 78% of employees face some form of unfair behavior or treatment at work. That is a majority of people, which is hard to even fathom. It’s a scary place, so having more conversations about it as an organization is the best way to get people to come forward sooner, so that you can take action. Opening up these conversations to everyone just makes everybody vulnerable, not just the employee, but the organization too. These aren't comfortable conversations to have. But if you continue to have them, it's going to continue to build that trust with employees. You’re in Small Town, USA. What has it been like creating a company in Eau Claire, Wis.? Eau Claire is such a strong community and everyone's so supportive of each other. There's actually a lot of different tech startups here. It's becoming a bigger thing. The downtown area has really started to develop. And so it's really exciting to see and I think having a start here just seems like it makes sense. Zach, the co-founder, is from Eau Claire as well. So I think it was important for him to be able to continue to build something like that. I think that especially now, the times we're in, with the pandemic, I'm even more happy that we did start it here. It's a cozy town, you know? A few years from now, where do you see Speakfully? I'm super passionate about what we're doing and what we have. And for good reason. This would help a lot of people. It's meaningful to me and to my entire team. As cliché as it sounds, we want to make a difference. We want to change the way that people operate. And we want the organizations and their employees to have a sense of safety and feel good about their culture, and how it is formed. I think that we can really do that. But it's not gonna come overnight. It’s like an ice block, you know. We can slowly chip away at it. It takes a lot of work and a lot of people to want to make a change. Mimi Hayes is a New York-based author, comedian, and assistant director of content at From Day One. You can read her work at mimihayes.com, check out her podcast "Mimi and The Brain," or find her first book, a comedic memoir about her traumatic brain injury on Amazon.
Staying Healthy: How Are Your Workers Doing, Really?
BY Mimi Hayes May 08, 2020“It’s not only OK, but also good to be transparent about the issues you’re having,” observed Dave Landa. Indeed, vulnerability used to be considered a weakness, but in these pandemic times, acknowledging our human frailties can be good for our health. Landa, CEO of Kintone, a workplace-collaboration platform, was among the business leaders who gathered for a From Day One webinar last week focusing on employee health. Chances are, “How to Help Employees Maintain Their Health and Well-being During a Global Pandemic” is probably not in your employee handbook. Yet everyone from front-line workers to work-from-home executives are now operating in a new world. How are we to ensure that they’re taking care of themselves, in addition to all the coping? Are they burning out? Less productive than usual? And how are they doing really? Among our group’s recommendations: Regular Emotional-temperature Checks Staying healthy and sane feels harder than it used to be these days, especially as employees juggle more and varied responsibilities. In a recent global study by Qualtrics, 67% of people reported higher stress levels since the outbreak of Covid-19. Now is the time to double down on consistent check-ins with employees, especially through channels that add a human touch, like old-fashioned phone calls as well as Zoom meetups. Luciana Duarte, VP and global head of employee experience at HP, has added a bit of humor to her internal team’s regular check-ins. “We do check-in calls, but when you say it really fast it sounds like ‘chicken calls,’” she said. “They affectionately became called ‘chicken calls’ because it was just us chickens.” More broadly, to measure the sentiment of HP’s 55,000 employees, Duarte says the company has ramped up “Quick Click” surveys of five to seven questions asking employees if HP is overall a great place to work. She says the company has seen an uptick of four percentage points in the answer to this question in the past month, an impressive feat given the current circumstances. One often-used metric is the Employee Net Promoter Score (eNPS), which measures whether employees would recommend their company as a place to work. At Kintone, this includes tailoring NPS surveys with comment boxes for employees to detail how they are feeling, Landa said. Relax the Control It may feel counterintuitive in the WFH era, but leaders may need to loosen the reins a bit. While it was reasonable before to require employees to hew to a schedule of 9 to 5 (or much longer), those hours may no longer be compatible with their responsibilities at home. “If you’re taking care of small children, or an elderly parent, you might not be able to work the hours that you would normally work that everyone else is working right now,” says Marion Brooks, VP and U.S. head of diversity and inclusion at Novartis. “We’re really just trying to meet people where they are.” For this to work, leaders and their employees need to build a sense of trust that the work will get done, even if it is not within a traditional time frame. Soo Choi, commissioner of human resources for the City of Chicago, says she hopes this pandemic will allow for flexibility that wouldn’t have normally been considered for working parents. “My hope is that one positive change that comes out of this is that we do rethink some of the strict ways we’ve done things in the past,” said Choi. In some ways, individuality needs to be embraced. “We’re all about individualizing things. We say [at Kintone] we have 100 different people with 100 different work styles so we’re trying to understand individual needs and challenges and see if our leadership team can respond accordingly,” Landa said. Watch for Burnout With a lack of commute (unless you count from your bedroom to your kitchen table), it has become substantially easier for millions of white-collar workers to get to their jobs. The downside is that they may have a harder time turning off at the end of the day or even stepping away from their work, resulting in fatigue and burnout. “About half of the state government in Massachusetts is related to healthcare. A lot of our employees are right on the front line,” said Dana Yonchak, head of talent management and culture for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. “We need to address the people and human part, which is the emotional aspect.” It’s unlikely your employees are planning any vacations anytime soon, but that doesn’t mean they shouldn’t take their PTO. Our panel suggested encouraging staff to take these days to realign themselves. “They’re not going anywhere, so it’s easy to forget that’s even an option” reminded Landa. Leaders should keep an eye out for employees who may be sending more emails than usual, an indicator that they are working longer hours or without breaks. This suggests that employees need help in prioritizing: less quantity, more quality. “We’re going from activity to impact,” said Brooks. “We are asking people to be conscious of the amount of emails they’re sending.” The webinar cast, clockwise from upper left: moderator Lydia Dishman, Dave Landa of Kintone, Luciana Duarte of HP, Dana Yonchak of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and Soo Choi of the City of Chicago. Not pictured: Marion Brooks of Novartis (Image by From Day One) Extra Support for Working Parents Back in 2017, Prof. Robert Kelly’s BBC home interview was hilariously interrupted by his two young children, quickly becoming an internet sensation. But what was mortifyingly unusual for Prof. Kelly is now a commonplace juggling act for WFH employees, especially parents with younger children who require constant attention. Managers can embrace these interruptions. “If you have a toddler who walks into the meeting, have them say ‘Hello!’” said Landa. “Everybody has a more positive experience rather than saying ‘Get away, get away!’ Embrace it. There’s nothing else you can do about it.” Another stressor has been been staying on track with online school work among older students. “With school being out, it’s been a challenge because I have no teaching experience whatsoever,” said Choi about homeschooling her two sons. “It’s been very interesting.” The situation raises a question for Corporate America with longer-term implications: what can businesses do to help more with child care, as well as home schooling? Duarte credits HP’s partnership with DreamWorks to help working parents stream videos and educational content for kids to keep them occupied. Companies that can better embrace family interactions, needs, and disruptions can put employees more at ease during this time. Keeping D&I up Front “We can’t continue in the way we did before March,” said Yonchak. “We have to be creative. We have to be innovative and thoughtful not only about the work and the productivity, but the people, the humans that we all are,” she mentioned on the importance of keeping an eye out for diverse candidates. Despite hiring pauses and beleaguered industries, now is the time to ensure that your diversity and inclusion practices are on point. Minority communities that have been hit harder than others by the outbreak of the coronavirus deserve an extra margin of attention in the hiring process. In a global pandemic, Brooks says this is more important now than ever. “We don’t want to lose sight of ensuring that we have diversity at the table in our interviewing panels and our candidate slates. The knee-jerk thing is to say: ‘Well, let’s just get it done fast.’ Our focus is to get it done right. What you focus on grows, and if you don’t continue to focus on diversity and inclusion, we’re going to start to lose ground and this is not the time to lose ground.” Thank you to those of you who joined us live for the event, and to our sponsors Kintone, GymPass, and Speakfully. If you missed it, you can catch a replay here. For a look at our slate of upcoming webinars, visit our schedule here. Mimi Hayes is a New York-based author, comedian, and assistant director of content at From Day One. You can read her work at mimihayes.com, check out her podcast "Mimi and The Brain," or find her first book, a comedic memoir about her traumatic brain injury on Amazon.
How to Be a Great Place to Work, Even in Crisis
BY Mimi Hayes April 29, 2020What do employees value most highly today in looking for a great place to work? At this moment of crisis, a lot of workers are probably feeling fortunate just to have a job. But at the same time, the culture and values of an employer are on display like never before. Workers will be asking not only if a company is a great place to work, but if it is a safe place to work, both physically and psychologically. What are the right benefits to support them? How do employers maintain efforts to be inclusive and foster career growth, even in a crisis atmosphere? In a From Day One webinar titled “Fresh Ways to boost Your Employee Value Proposition,” we gathered a panel of HR professionals to share ideas. Here are the highlights (and you can watch the video by registering here). “I never thought we’d face something like this in the 21st century,” said Jim Sinocchi, head of disability inclusion at JPMorgan Chase. “What’s been fascinating to me is that you had to be prepared even before. How do you account for your people? What’s your deployment strategy? What does your technology look like?” If business leaders didn’t ask themselves these questions before, they are certainly asking them now. Sinocchi says a company's ability to be prepared for anything not only sets you up for success when things do fall apart, but also gives your employees peace of mind that their leaders have their interests up front. Redefining Your Values “Work-life balance has a new meaning now,” said Karla Samdahl, global head of talent acquisition, people and Communities at Cisco Systems. “I have two sons, a 15-year-old freshman in high school and a 12-year-old sixth grader. Now I’m the teacher at home.” As schools, gyms, and other activities move entirely online for the foreseeable future, employees are now juggling their daily work with home-schooling and caregiving for sick or elderly family members. Leaders who can actively shift and reprioritize their company values to meet these new needs will attract a more engaged and healthy workforce. This includes taking a second look at benefits packages such as access to mental health professionals, support for working parents, tele-medicine, and extended PTO offerings. Tracking Employee Engagement With many employees working from home, and others under difficult frontline conditions, now is an important time to stay in touch with employee sentiment. Zendesk, a customer-service software company, runs employee-engagement surveys every six weeks. The results from their last survey surprised Fidelma Butler, VP of talent and organizational development. “Our data was through the roof,” she said. “Our employee engagement skyrocketed. Our effectiveness of our managers as rated by their employees was probably the most surprising, that went up significantly.” Why so? Butler says this “crisis mode” has brought out inclusivity and empathy that drive employees and managers to naturally step up and take on the challenges before them. However, they need to be focused. Butler’s teams aim to establish what is and what is no longer a priority. All panelists agreed that the baseline for engaging and attracting employees came down to culture. “Once you have a culture that everyone feels strongly about, you don’t have to spend a lot of time explaining things, it’s sort of second nature,” said Sinocchi. With the rise of technology, leaders can use unique solutions to find out who is thriving under new challenges and who may have additional stress and needs help during this pandemic. Continuity of Inclusivity Crisis or not, employees want to be heard and understood. Companies that effectively and seamlessly weave inclusivity into their culture will attract diverse talent. But keeping this inclusivity activated once employees are onboard is a different story. Cisco provides a Talent Expo, a digital platform to discuss employee career trajectories, share their own journeys, and enhance their experience within the company. Samdahl said that it is these online learning opportunities that provide diverse employees a place to plan for the future and network with others. Other ideas from Zendesk are wellness allowances and what Butler calls “Empathy Circles.” As the COVID-19 crisis has affected certain marginalized groups disproportionately, these online focus groups ask diverse employees how they are handling the current situation in their communities. “Diversity is hard work,” says Sinocchi. “You just can’t say: ‘OK, we’ve got the right number of women, right number of black people, right number of disabled.’ It doesn’t stop there. Diversity is really about how do you treat people equitably and give them the foundation to become leaders in the business.” Diversity is not only about hiring, and the numbers of people you bring into the organization, but how many of those diverse people you move into leadership positions. This includes incorporating technology to respond to their individual needs. “Technology is a great equalizer for people with disabilities,” added Sinocchi. Repositioning Growth Opportunities The most personal way to keep an employee invested is to provide solid mentorship. Whether they are fresh out of college or a mid-level employee looking to move up in the organization, having a trusted mentor goes a long way. “We want our employees to know that they have a path and career within our company,” said Samdahl. “We’re creating dynamic teams to allow our employees to not only shadow but are giving them the opportunity to stretch and expand their learnings.” But how can you ensure that these opportunities are being taken advantage of by employees? Sinocchi says this comes down to empowering employees and leaders to foster strong relationships with a foundation of trust. “We find a lot in corporate that you have a laundry list of things, but do they work?” he said. When it comes to building a strong mentoring relationship, not only can employees step up, but leaders can provide their uninterrupted attention to those who put in the effort to seek mentorship. “Once you get to know people, that cultivates the richness in the business.” Showing a Way Forward If companies are in a hiring freeze, Butler suggests sending the message that prospective employees should continue to apply once the hiatus is over. Samdahl agreed, adding that communication with candidates, even those who don’t get chosen initially, is essential. “Don’t leave them in a black hole,” she said. Cisco stays engaged with candidates with an internal talent network. “For those silver medalists that may have not gone forward, in a hiring pause we think about how we can keep them engaged and interested,” Samdahl said. For company leadership, this includes staying active on social-media channels, communicating to employees and future job-seekers that you are still moving forward. “Crisis is the mother of invention here,” noted Sinocchi. New programs including virtual internships and recruiting, stronger connectivity between teams, and more focus on culture and inclusion practices are certainly ahead. “It’s pretty exciting.” Editor’s note: Thanks to those who joined this webinar live. Our next webinar, this Thursday, will focus on “How to Manage Employee Health and Well-Being During Stressful Times.” You can register here. Mimi Hayes is a New York-based author, comedian, and assistant director of content at From Day One. You can read her work at mimihayes.com, check out her podcast "Mimi and The Brain," or find her first book, a comedic memoir about her traumatic brain injury on Amazon.
As Workplaces Reopen, How Will They Change?
BY Mimi Hayes April 21, 2020For American workers fortunate to be working from home during the pandemic, another big adjustment is on the way: Going back into the workplace. It won’t be quite the same as before the pandemic, certainly not right away. And maybe not ever, if some of the lessons learned have staying power. There is no script for this situation. In fact, when it comes to getting workplaces up and running while still protecting their workforces from the coronavirus, American companies for the most part “are making it up as they go,” the Wall Street Journal observed this week. To get a sneak preview of what may unfold, From Day One gathered a panel of experts last week as part of a series of webinars, this one titled, “A Year From Now, How Will the Workplace Have Changed?” Among the questions put to them: How will companies look different, feel different, and function differently? They had a lot to say about leveraging technology, building psychological safety, and the importance of strong leadership. Here are the highlights (and you can watch the video by registering here): The Rise of Leadership As companies rise and fall during the economic slump triggered by the pandemic, leaders will have an unprecedented opportunity to make good on their commitments to employees and other stakeholders–or to fail conspicuously in that regard. “Leadership and culture is naked, exposed, during this crisis,” said Larry McAlister, VP of global talent at the data-management company NetApp. “When you asked somebody before on a call or in the room, ‘Hey, how are you doing?,’ you didn’t really know or care. When you ask someone how they are doing now, you really care how that person is doing.” The ability for a leader, high ranking or not, to “walk the walk” during a global crisis, will not be forgotten easily. Just as people ask one another where they were when President Kennedy was assassinated or 9/11 took place, “Now it’s, What did you do, what did your company do during Covid-19?,” noted Genoa Martell, global head of talent at Wish, the e-commerce platform. Leaders will be judged on how they upheld their company values, she said. At the same time, others will step up. “There are some unexpected leaders emerging,” added Martell. “The people that can truly embody the values of a company are the ones that are actually able to communicate and reach out and be gracious and solid in everything they’re doing.” Resilience and Reconfiguration Just how quickly will we bounce back? We can’t know for sure, but our speakers identified several key factors that can help workers ease back into things. Companies can look to partner with other industries, even with competitors, and choose to see the virus as a unifying enemy to tackle together. Just as corporate security measures were ramped up considerably after 9/11, the same idea can apply to how we will need to reconfigure our workplaces after a global pandemic. “We always go to extremes after a crisis,” noted McAlister. “It’s going to be interesting to see how walking into a building changes.” “Is this the end of the open-plan office?,” asked moderator Bryan Walsh, an author and correspondent for Axios. Indeed, office infrastructure may need to be redesigned to provide enough physical separation between employees, but there are precedents for such changes. In the past, buildings have been repurposed to account for technological and even cultural changes. “It’s called shearing layers,” noted Shaun Slattery, director of change management at LumApps, an employee-communication platform. “Your foundation doesn’t move very fast but the art on the walls can be swapped out just like that.” Classic in-person brainstorming sessions with whiteboards or notepads may feel irreplaceable, said Shradha Prakash, VP of future of work and organization design at Prudential Financial. However, if technology were to become available to replicate those analog methods, Prakash said, it would be highly useful to her and her teams. This will take skill-set changes, as we will need our employees to be more adaptable to using these new technologies. Working Out Loud is an example of a company focused on creating online peer groups to share and collaborate on projects. Using such platforms, leaders can encourage their employees to be comfortable sharing works in progress and getting feedback from others online. In the post-pandemic era, it’s likely workers will need more physical space. (Photo by Christina @ wocintechchat.com on Unsplash) Getting Comfortable With Being Uncomfortable Are you ill at ease with the state of things? Well, you’re far from alone. But chances are that things won’t be getting comfy anytime soon. However, our speakers suggested that this might not necessarily be a bad thing. “Be comfortable with decision making that does not have a playbook or precedence,” said Prakash, advising leaders to throw out some of the old playbooks and be open to exploring new territory with their employees. Prakash warned leaders of becoming risk-averse, less communicative, and thinking primarily in the short term. She suggested a kind of inner dialogue: “I need to let go, I need to ask for help, get more creative and out of my comfort zone. That is a muscle we all need to build,” she said. We’ve been through technological shifts before, including the rise of social media and messaging platforms, which became part of corporate life. “I’m interested in how these kinds of widespread social experiences of web-meeting technologies and things like that are going to work themselves back into the workplace and change perhaps meeting formats, or our comfort levels of, you know, a cat showing up in the middle of a meeting,” said Slattery, whose own pet made a cameo appearance in our webinar. “These things play out in weird and sometimes very special ways.” Is Your Company ‘Future-ready?’ While some companies incorporated remote work before the pandemic, there are also many business leaders who find themselves scrambling to adapt their teams accordingly. “Many, I think, feel thrown into the deep end of the pool,” said Slattery. “[Some] organizations had some of the right infrastructure in place as well as cultural muscles to perform well in a distributed and primarily online mode. Others did not have those pieces in place.” Our speakers affirmed that reinvention of communication and digital practices is necessary to thrive in the new working landscape. “The reality is an organization’s culture and its behaviors now have to work at a scale that they’ve never anticipated before through technology platforms and mediums they were wholly unprepared for,” added Martell. Some companies have historically resisted remote work, citing declines in productivity rates. However, other observers have noted that the opposite can also be true in some cases, providing added benefits of flexibility for workers who need it. Companies will need to embrace the question as part of a nuanced approach to their corporate culture. Martell noted a particular study conducted by Bain & Co., which suggested that companies who have communicated clear cultural values with their employees find their workforce 3.7 times more productive than those who have not. A New Age of Technology “We are in the golden age of HR technology,” observed McAlister. Addressing our webinar attendees, he noted, “You are a technologist whether you know it or not. This has really escalated and amplified our ability to bring in new, cool technologies that are just waiting to be used.” While Zoom and virtual meeting platforms take hold, McAlister says there is yet more to come with technologies including digital interviewing and coaching, which go beyond standard video-conferencing capabilities. With the rise of new technology, there is always a fear of the unknown and changes to our society that we cannot foresee. Our panelists said this fear could actually be used to our advantage. “Now we are thinking ten steps ahead,” said Prakash. “How do we ensure that these kinds of black-swan events can be responded to in a better way?” Hiring at a Distance If traditional procedures like the face-to-face interview become a relic of the past, moderator Walsh asked our panelists how they might carry out remote interviews in a fair and effective way. “One thing we’ve learned working remotely is grace. We have much more grace for people,” says McAlister. “We saw Shaun’s cat earlier. It was fine. I wanted to meet the cat. It used to be called ‘work-life balance,’ now it’s life, and work happens to be part of it.” The speakers predicted that talent managers and other HR leaders will get comfortable with their new tech tools and a more flexible understanding of where certain work needs to be done. “So often in recruiting we are told, ‘This role has to be in this office or in a certain location,’” added Martell. “I think that’s gone the way of the Dodo.” At some point, there will come a time when companies will be rehiring furloughed or laid off employees and will need to do so as efficiently as possible. Before this happens, companies must account for the changes their company has endured and create detailed plans for employees returning to a changed company. Polishing Those People Skills “I dare anyone to think that leadership and management are soft skills,” said Martell. Inexperienced managers, or even those unfamiliar with managing remote teams, will need support and training to prepare for the year ahead. McAlister agreed, noting that language does matter. “We’re calling them ‘power skills’ now,” he says. NetApp is also referring to talent management as “talent enablement” these days, which McAlister says makes a difference in how we approach the intersection of technology and solving new problems. “For me it’s truth and authenticity,” he added. “There’s no other way. Any hemming and hawing or trying to blame somebody else for what’s going on, I think, is an abdication of responsibility and leadership.” Leaders now have an opportunity to treat workers with the utmost respect and empathy, not just the ones they have to let go, but also to those who stick around. “It’s called Survivor Syndrome,” Martell noted. “[Returning employees] find that when they do go back to the office some people on their team are no longer there, either because they were laid off or because they were incredibly ill and unfortunately passed.” This trauma may run deep within our companies, providing an even greater need for leaders to step up. Building empathy post-pandemic comes back to culture, and how members of an organization behave in times of crisis. “Sometimes you have your values pasted on the wall, but what do you actually do about that?” Slattery said. Prakash suggests adding more support around mental health and therapy programs to help employees who are internalizing this situation in difficult ways. Large companies tend to offer programs like this, but they often go untouched because employees are not aware of them. Hopeful Signs Despite the grim headlines of the moment, our panelists offer hopeful insights about the future and the changes to come. “This is the shining moment for you to deliver your values,” says McAlister. Referring to Slattery’s previous comment about posting values on a wall, he added, “It’s how you take those values off the wall and into people’s lives. This is when people feel it and remember it.” This period can open up bursts of creativity in how we solve problems and restructure our environments. Slattery pointed out how the rise of consciousness about the needs of people with disabilities led to improvements that were more universal than intended. “There is great hope in the ways in which technology can help bridge those challenges,” he said. “Oftentimes, designing with disability in mind benefits all users.” He cited the example of sloped curbs, which have allowed for easier use not only of wheelchairs, but also strollers and luggage. “It’s amazing how serendipitous things can be, despite the brutality of what’s going on globally,” said Martell. Editor’s note: Thanks to those who joined this webinar live. Our next webinar, this Thursday, will focus on “Fresh Ways to Boost Your Employee Value Proposition.” You can register here. Mimi Hayes is a New York-based author, comedian, and assistant director of content at From Day One. You can read her work at mimihayes.com, check out her podcast "Mimi and The Brain," or find her first book, a comedic memoir about her traumatic brain injury on Amazon.
Webinar: How to Spot Early Signs That Your Culture Needs Fixing
BY Mimi Hayes April 14, 2020Many companies, big and small, struggle with workplace culture issues. Whether it’s a manager’s behavior, disrespectful comments, or micro-aggressions between employees, unhealthy culture can permeate an office environment. Yet those at the top may have a hard time diagnosing this unhealthy culture, simply because they’re insulated from what is happening among their employees. “There has always been a big disconnect between what people know and do in the trenches, vis-à-vis what the business leaders know. It’s almost like two realities,” Janine Yancey said in a From Day One webinar last week. Yancey is founder and CEO of Emtrain, which develops innovative ways to build positive and healthy corporate cultures. Often that means changing workplace behaviors. Employees in entry- and mid-level positions, said Yancey, tend to report that they’ve known for years about a manager’s misconduct or behavior, yet those at the top are not aware of the issue and the harassment often goes unreported to HR departments and higher ups. After observing this in her role as a corporate lawyer, Yancey decided to address the roots of the problem, long before the issues wind up in litigation. “I started Emtrain to not only address compliance training, which was kind of the most obvious solution, but do it in a way so that you fix what I call the Broken Feedback Loop,” Yancey said. It is this loop of being unable to get through to top executives, she said, that accounts for a dysfunctional system that fails to address problems in a company’s culture and heal it from within. But how can we make space to talk about workplace culture, especially in the pandemic times that we now find ourselves? And what steps can businesses take to ensure that their leaders understand and empathize with the concerns of their workforce? Journalist Lydia Dishman, who reports for Fast Company and other publications, interviewed Yancey in From Day One’s webinar titled, “How to decode the 6 key factors impacting workplace culture.” Here are the highlights (and register to see the video here): Navigating Tough Times “This time is going to be the time where we step up and become culture leaders, or not,” said Yancey. She explained that stressful times–and these are some of the worst ever for Corporate America–often reveal people’s respect for one another, or lack thereof. In the next year, ethics problems may arise for many companies, she warns. “This is what happens when times get tough.” The ability to collaborate with each other, keeping employees and executives aligned during difficult times, is a defining element of healthy corporate cultures. And as we encounter a new wave of the digital revolution, it has become increasingly important for leaders to consider that their actions are visible to everyone. “This will be the first time in history that all of us as people leaders, as business leaders, are making these types of decisions under a microscope,” says Yancey. Leaders can navigate these tricky situations using Emtrain’s Workplace Culture Diagnostic to get to the root of problems and help companies on a path to healthier practices. This tool analyzes organizational and people data to inform companies where a breakdown in culture may be happening with a detailed and anonymous survey. “The three pillars of any healthy workplace culture are respect, inclusion, and ethics,” Yancey says. “If you don’t have those three main pillars, you really don’t have anything.” The Six Key Factors Alongside those pillars, there are elements that leaders can look for to get to the root of common workplace-culture problems. Emtrain uses the survey to analyze six key factors that can lead to culture breakdowns: In/Out groups: “Think back to the high school quad, you’ve got the ‘cool kids’ and the ‘not so cool kids,’” Yancey explained. This can extend beyond gender and race lines to things like political affiliation, religious beliefs, and anything that can create a division between one group closer to a source of power and the other marginalized in some way. Yancey noted a particular example of a tech company in which the majority of employees identified as politically progressive while a smaller group of conservative employees felt ostracized from the rest of the company, not an uncommon division in the tech world. Understanding the degree to which us-vs.-themmentalities play into day-to-day interactions can help businesses account for who feels safe, accepted, and valued at their places of work. Power dynamics: “I remember when I was in litigation, and I would be defending a manager, typically a white, male manager, who was accused of some wrongdoing and who was a nice person, but was kind of clueless,” Yancey said. “At the end of the day that person is inviting a 25 year old to have a glass of wine and he’s not really thinking anything of it, while the 25-year-old woman is thinking ‘Oh, gosh, I have to say yes,’” Yancey said. This kind of situation highlights how leaders must be aware of power hierarchies, in which a lower-ranking employee may feel pressured to do things they wouldn’t normally do. The more that executives understand the implications of their power, the healthier that workplace can be for those across the company. Organizational norms and practices: Beyond email protocol and communication styles, healthy workplaces align their employees to specific norms and practices with clear expectations. Yancey suggests asking the question, “Does everyone map to a similar theme or style in that organization?” When all parties know what is acceptable behavior and what is not, the likelihood of crossing the line decreases. Yancey believes that this may be the most important aspect of building healthy workplace culture. According to a data set by Emtrain in which 2.5 million employees from various companies were surveyed for the Workplace Culture Report 2020, “the healthiest companies all show that their workforce says ‘We have really strong norms and practices.’” The opposite is also true: unhealthy companies are correlated with fewer mandated norms and practices. Unconscious bias: “Each of us comes with our own baggage to our workplaces,” said Yancey. Understanding what each of us comes in the door with can help mitigate tricky culture issues. Leaders can not only help employees uncover their biases, but also analyze the ways in which they themselves behave in the workplace. One way Emtrain works with companies to uncover these is with video training. Employees can watch a scenario and reflect on the ways different parties behaved in workplace situations. Social intelligence: Yancey reflected on social intelligence, or as she put it, “the ability to read a room.” This has to do with employees being able to adapt to different social situations and act accordingly. Some are better at decoding non-verbal communication than others, which she says can have its own set of implications when thinking about healthy culture. Pre-existing mindsets: “We are all a product of our former experiences,” Yancey said. “This is going to shape how we interact with people.” Understanding that we are all unique and shaped by the events of our lives, companies can use this element to build rapport with employees. While not everyone can relate to certain life experiences, culture leaders can work to empathize with the lives of their employees so that everyone feels understood and safe on the job. With these key indicators built into the surveys, Emtrain shows managers the data, collected anonymously to protect employees, and helps them assess the health and safety of their workplaces based on the answers they receive, Yancey said. Using the Data After Emtrain gathers the information, usually a few tough conversations need to be had, especially with companies reporting low morale or compliance issues. “Was anyone shocked” to see their own data? asked Dishman. Yancey described a situation in which a leader of a company with an unhealthy environment learned of how her employees felt about a few executives who had acted unethically. “She was surprised that it was that pervasive,” Yancey said. Acting on the sometimes-negative results of these surveys is essential to rebuilding culture in a company. Once managers understand the context of the issues, their companies can work quickly to avoid being in “reactive mode.” Yancey suggests involving change-management teams to help leaders understand their unconscious biases, power disparities, and social intelligence. Workplace Issues in the Remote Era Tying into our recent webinar on leading remote teams, Dishman asked if this process of bettering workplace culture would look different now that so many office workers are doing their jobs from home. What if poor behavior could fly under the radar because we can’t see how people are treating each other? “The silver lining is that it’s going to highlight the need to develop skills,” Yancey said. “Your ability to be empathetic, your ability to switch your perspective and understand how someone else is experiencing things, your ability to be inclusive and to communicate. These are all skills that we have to build up, because if we don’t build them up, then we have these bad culture outcomes.” From the top-down, leaders can intentionally check in with employees during this tumultuous period. Honesty, transparency, and collaboration are the keys to navigating deeply uncertain and troubling times. When tackling many new issues, Yancey endorses “employee-first solutions” and dealing with workplace-culture problems early and head on, as small things can grow into larger issues down the line. She said the easiest way to achieve this is by sharing data with top decision-makers, even if those decisions are tough to face. “This is a time for leadership,” she said. “You need to proactively lean in, work with your C-suite, get a plan together. Communicate and over-communicate. Follow it up with actions. HR leaders can really step up to the plate and be the strong business advisors to the C-suite while they are preoccupied with emergencies.” Editor’s Note: Emtrain has free resources on its website, including a YouTube channel in which leaders can access video simulations and training guides. Please join us this Thurs., April 16, at 2 pm EDT for our next webinar, focusing on the future of work. You can register to attend here. Mimi Hayes is a New York-based author, comedian, and assistant director of content at From Day One. You can read her work at mimihayes.com, check out her podcast "Mimi and The Brain," or find her first book, a comedic memoir about her traumatic brain injury on Amazon.
How to Build Connectivity in Your Newly Remote Team
BY Mimi Hayes April 07, 2020Baby pictures, dogs and cats, Pajama Day and “Tiger King” memes: these are not the typical subject matter of office meetings in Corporate America. But right now they’re the humanizing and bonding elements that help get the serious work done as millions of Americans are suddenly working from home full-time during the pandemic. Keeping up the human connection was among the topics on From Day One’s webinar last week, “Smart Ways to Manage a Newly Remote Work Team,” which featured a panel of experts on workplace issues. They suggested throwing out much of the old rulebook and creating new ways to rebuild what we’ve lost in office interactions, with a mind toward keeping up morale, structure, productivity, creativity, and trust. Among their insights: Staying in Close Touch The importance of good communication came up repeatedly, particularly how leaders can be more transparent and inspire confidence in employees. Consistency matters, no matter if it’s a weekly Zoom meeting or a daily check-in over Slack. “If we’re on a Zoom call and you can be on video, be on video. Eighty percent of communication is non-verbal,” said Santiago Jaramillo, CEO of Emplify, an employee-engagement platform. Another essential element: honesty. Or as Willie Jackson of diversity-and-inclusion consultancy ReadySet put it, “embracing the suck.” Embracing what’s not perfect in uncertain times can allow managers and their employees to avoid getting hung up over things like imperfect video connections and disrupted meetings due to child-care interruptions. “We are all out of our comfort zones,” added Jackson. Kate Zimberg, VP of talent and organizational capability at F5 Networks, said she was concerned that a particular member of her team who is “extremely extroverted” might be struggling with quarantine. So Zimberg made a point to check in with them on a daily basis. For colleagues who have family members stricken with the viris, she has made an extra effort to ask if they need additional time off. Jaramillo enumerated best practices, reinforcing the importance of using appropriate communication platforms. “If it’s something that is not urgent, and low priority, that’s an email and we expect folks to respond within 24 hours. On Slack, that’s probably not urgent but high priority and that needs to be responded to [quickly]. For text, that’s urgent and high priority and needs to be responded to as soon as possible.” The Right Hardware and Software When it comes to working at home, how can companies provide guidance for their employees with technology, at-home devices, and internet security? Jackson said the right gear is essential: “We invested in microphones, lighting, options for headsets. It’s been absolutely paramount to think about how we come across digitally.” Zimberg echoed the sentiment, adding that her company provides employees with work-from-home packages including monitors, keyboards, cameras, and other devices that will help them transition smoothly. “We’ve moved from around 300 people working remotely to approximately 2,100 in four weeks,” said Lydia Martinez, SVP and chief HR officer of Long & Foster Real Estate. Martinez said the company had been prepping for WFH for more than a year, adding resources including a virtual help desk. Keeping It Human In the midst of isolation, many of us have realized how much we take for granted the simple act of walking over to a colleague’s desk to discuss the latest episode of our favorite TV show or a new recipe we tried for dinner last night. Our panelists reinforced that the easiest way to combat this loss of connection is use of video. “Many [tech companies] may be using Zoom or Skype, but they’re not turning on their cameras and they’re feeling disconnected and they’re not feeling that sense of human connection,” said Zimberg. “If you are in a company that is not using video, that is one recommendation I would definitely make. It makes a massive difference.” Another way to promote closeness amid all the separation is to share photos, memes, and personal videos. “At Fast Company we just had our ‘baby photo’ day,” said moderator and journalist Lydia Dishman. “Even just 15 minutes of scrolling through and seeing who’s baby picture it belonged to was, I thought, a really great morale booster.” “In our Slack group, we have a #watercooler channel, for things that are specifically not work related, since we’ve lost the ability to walk by our coworkers’ desks,” added Jackson. From Pajama Day to Thirsty Thursday happy hours, such slightly hokey events can help employees know they are not alone. This can be done in moderation, keeping in mind the comfort level of staff. “I think it’s become a good equalizer,” said Martinez. “Plus it ensures that managers have a means of guaranteeing that connectivity. But you need to be disciplined and stick to it. If you say you’re going to do it, you have to do it.” Welcome to My World Separating work from home isn’t possible for many, especially those with families, pets, and responsibilities at home. Our panelists had some insightful feedback on being vulnerable and acknowledging the human side of our current crisis. “Friendship and connection absolutely drive engagement,” says Jaramillo. “We build trust by understanding the human element of each other, not just the robotic work side.” This can be easier to implement than we may realize. Jaramillo says he sends a weekly video to his team with a message of what they learned that week, shot in selfie-style from his backyard. Emplify also frequently provides wellness checks, bringing together financial advisors, nurses, and therapists to coach employees during the pandemic. Empathy From the Top Our panelists agreed that leaders should see the crisis as an opportunity to practice empathy and share their own struggles and vulnerabilities. “Our CEOs will be in the middle of a meeting and you can see their dog come in behind them, or their cat walk across their desk, or their child says ‘Hey, what’s for lunch?’ They’re experiencing this with us, and hearing and seeing that from our executives makes them so human and really displays empathy for all of us,” says Zimberg. “We are a company of handshakes,” adds Martinez when discussing the disruption of the real- estate industry. “We are trying to find ways to replicate that warmth of a handshake through virtual communication.” This is no easy task, but it’s worth showing some vulnerability in order to build trust and model authenticity. For Jaramillo’s weekly video he had an urge to overproduce the video, making it stylistically perfect, but when it came down to it, he knew that the best message was to be authentic himself. “We can take some risks and model that behavior,” he said. (Photo credit: SeventyFour/iStock by Getty Images) Helping Employees Separate Work From Home “There’s such a big difference between working from home and working while quarantined,” said Jackson. “We work more, and we get less done.” Many of the panelists agreed that their employees and executives have had a tough time balancing priorities in WFH mode, which for many now is inside their bedrooms, kitchens, and living rooms. They may struggle to keep up their productivity. “Don’t go through heroics to make that happen,” warned Zimberg. “You still have to separate out your work from your home. Make sure your Saturday and Sunday look different than your Monday through Friday. Because I don’t want you working seven days a week.” Pausing to reflect on this behavior and encouraging balance is a good way to combat employee burnout and build sustainable practices. Jaramillo advocates data analysis as a useful predictor of burnout. “We started to see the drivers of rest, competency and capacity going down for our product and engineering team, so we said ‘Hey, you’re about to burn out,’” he said. Taking a step back and allowing for rest and recovery is essential for teams now working in less structured environments. Building Trust at a Distance How can you be sure that your employees are doing what they say they are when you don’t occupy the same space? Our panel emphasized the power of building (and often rebuilding) trust with employees as the key to surviving this new remote era. Zimberg mentioned clarity of ownership, as well as opportunity to participate, as keys to setting up clear expectations about tasks. “An email goes out to many people and now you’ve got five people scurrying to do that one thing. Especially in this time of chaos, having that sense of who owns what, while still having encouragement to engage, has been invaluable,” she said. Managers who are used to overseeing their employees closely in the office may need to take a step back. Jackson mentions that communicating your working style to your team is an essential part of building and repairing trusting relationships. “If when you’re nervous, you reach for more command and control and you’re looking to meddle in people’s affairs and double-check on things because you feel nervous, that’s an important thing for you to communicate,” said Jackson. Resiliency, Meditation, and “Tiger King” In the Q&A portion of the webinar, attendees wanted to know how to build personal resilience and soothe worker anxiety. Many companies are offering team meditations and specialized mental-health sessions to help struggling employees. This includes communicating to teams that the tough times ahead are opportunities to grow. “Resiliency is the ability to take in challenge and difficulty and metabolize that into personal growth,” said Jaramillo. “Resilience is a muscle. It’s not something we’re born with or not. It is a muscle we can intentionally build up over time.” Finally, our panelists offered some parting suggestions to bring levity and warmth to trying times. “I’m going to challenge my team to send in the best meme of the day,” Martinez said. “I like to ask my team, ‘What have you learned about yourself in quarantine?,’ and that always evokes some fun answers,” said Zimberg. “My memes and my inside jokes have all been dominated by the ‘Tiger King’ phenomenon,” Jackson quipped. “So if you haven’t watched it and you’re not talking about it, you’re missing out!” Editor’s Note: You can watch a video of this webinar by registering here. Please join us this Thurs., April 9, at 2 pm EDT for our next webinar, focusing on workplace culture with Emtrain CEO and founder Janine Yancey. Here’s where to register. Mimi Hayes is a New York-based author, comedian, and assistant director of content at From Day One. You can read her work at mimihayes.com, check out her podcast "Mimi and The Brain," or find her first book, a comedic memoir about her traumatic brain injury on Amazon.
Different Is Good: How Rethink Benefits Is Blazing a Trail for Neurodiversity
BY Mimi Hayes March 23, 2020The emotional challenges of parenting can increase stress and leave many working parents feeling drained and less productive on the job. But what about families of children with disabilities? How are they being supported in the unique challenges of raising neurodiverse children? This is where Rethink comes in. Rethink Benefits, a web-based program geared toward supporting parents of children with developmental disabilities, identified a need for employers to provide resources to neurodiverse families. Through flexible consultation plans, lessons, and individualized care programs, employers can offer a unique benefit to their employees. With many schools across the U.S. closing due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this benefit gains even more relevance for parents who find themselves home with their children and in need of innovative solutions for at-home learning and child care. More recently, the company has also begun offering guidance to companies supporting neurodiverse employees in the workplace. Rethink Benefit’s mission is to support the inclusion, equity and advancement of neurodiverse individuals throughout their lifetime. We interviewed Angela Nelson, vice president and executive director of clinical services and Connie Donnelly, vice president of business development, about the organization’s goal of supporting parents, particularly those of children with autism. With the approach of Autism Awareness Month in April, they provided these insights: From Day One: Why do companies see a need to provide this now? Connie Donnelly: The latest is one in six children being diagnosed with a developmental disability. There are obvious gaps in care where Rethink comes into play. There's also a tremendous impact to the bottom line, because with parents and caregivers of special-needs children, there are challenges retaining those employees. Often a parent of a special-needs child will stop working because he or she can't manage the stress or there's higher absenteeism or mental-health issues. These are all factors that contribute to an organization's bottom line. Then in terms of the neurodiversity-hiring piece, there's a war for talent right now. Organizations are really recognizing we need to hire these people. We need to make sure that these individuals can thrive in our workplace. (Photo by Shironosov/iStock by Getty Images) When you’re working with families of neurodiverse children, what are the first steps? Angela Nelson: One of the biggest pieces of the caregiver platform is having a consultation with someone on our team who's a board-certified behavior analyst (BCBA). They get to meet with the same clinician every time and they have a set number of hours throughout the year, like a bank of time. The BCBA’s role is to provide them with personalized tips and strategies, troubleshooting opportunities, and recommendations of certain pieces of content in the Rethink platform, books, and websites. So that's how parents start their journey and how we engage with them. Donnelly: We're a therapist in their pockets. Because we're available when they need us, 24/7, to help with all the day-to-day. How does the coronavirus pandemic affect your service? Nelson: Luckily, Rethink is 100% remote and web-based, and thus, we haven’t had to change our model. We are reminding our families that they can have their consultation calls from the comfort of their home and also certainly focusing on specific topics right now like creating schedules, incorporating academic time, increasing play skills (including independent play), and coping with unexpected changes in routine. We’ve seen a major increase in consultations being scheduled because this is one resource in their lives that isn’t being disrupted right now. How has your umbrella of services grown? Nelson: We have expanded beyond autism to include not just developmental disabilities, but anybody that has a child with learning, social, and behavioral change. We're able to support a wider variety of folks in that space. For example, someone with ADHD could be under that neurodiversity umbrella. Do you have the same kind of resources for neurodiverse adults? Donnelly: For individuals who are neurodiverse, there's no aging out of our services. Our solution is also supporting the employers and the managers of neurodiverse individuals in the workplace. We have e-learning modules and content to educate organizations, managers, human resources–all employees, really–about understanding their diversity work. We focus on hiring best practices, direct-report communications, and peer-to-peer understanding. But then we also provide clinical support to those managers who are working with individuals who are diverse. How has society’s outlook on neurodiversity evolved? Nelson: We've come a long way in terms of the stigma, and people are starting to really understand that people with disabilities have so many amazing talents to bring. I think that there's a shift in our society for people to just accept people for their unique strengths and not label them as somebody that has a disability. I think people are opening up and realizing that sometimes it's a risk, right? They've never hired somebody with a disability before. And they're not really sure what the unknowns are. But they're starting to really branch out and see the success, the high performance, and the higher retention and productivity rates. Can you give an example of how your work helped an employer manage a neurodiverse employee? Nelson: There was a gentleman on the job who had a traumatic brain injury (TBI). And he was having a hard time filling a frozen-yogurt cup. Sometimes it would be inconsistent. Sometimes it would be half-full. Sometimes it would be overflowing. What did you help to implement? Nelson: I'm a big fan of sustainable practices, and using what you already have. So this particular jobsite had very thorough and colorful picture manuals of how to fill the frozen-yogurt cup. So I said, “Let's get that!” And we put it on the side of the frozen-yogurt machine so that he could reference it. Now he had a visual aid, something that they already created. It took very little effort on their part. That's important to me. If we want to help managers feel confident and empowered to support these individuals, we have to make it easy. What does it mean to be “inclusive” vs. “adaptive” in the workplace? Donnelly: There’s an important difference. Adaptive, you're making an accommodation for one person or for one population. And often with that, then you also need to make sure that person discloses their disability. Being inclusive means having things like a universal design. You're putting things in place, proactively, that are going to be really supportive for those who need it, but not necessarily disruptive for those who don't. What does that look like in practice? Donnelly: The example that I give personally is, I'm legally blind. If I check into a hotel, and I say that I'm legally blind, an adaptive hotel will give me a room by the elevator. But an inclusive hotel has already gone a step further and has Braille signage on all of their doors. So the Braille signage is really helpful for me, but it's not disruptive for someone who doesn't need it. It makes it an even playing field. For everyone. Nelson: We're not talking, you know, big asks here. These are just simple things that we could do. Things like using multi-modality in a meeting, as some person might be an auditory learner or a visual learner. Giving a presentation, you might have visuals, you might have a handout, you're giving frequent breaks. Giving a checklist so people know how to break something down. So there might be a barrier of just adopting that style. But once managers get into it, they realize this is actually not hard. Donnelly: I think if some of the employers in my history had had a benefit like Rethink, the support that it would have given my parents would have been phenomenal and so valuable. But also, if an employer of mine had a benefit that was educating managers that different is good and different can actually be really valuable, it may have made my experience a little bit easier in past roles. You’ve had to truly blaze your own trail. Connie Donnelly, vice president of business development Angela Nelson, vice president and executive director of clinical services Donnelly: It wasn’t always easy, but trailblazers are trailblazers to make the trails available for others. And that's what's so cool about it, because now other employers are getting there. That’s why I'm here, because it's just incredible. Nelson: We make it okay to say, “I'm a parent of a special-needs child,” or “I'm an employer who wants to understand special needs in the workplace.” So we take down that whole barrier, the stigma, the fear. We empower that employer to just make it okay for everyone, whether you are a parent who has a child at home, or whether you're someone in the workplace who needs support. We put those tools into place to break down the stigma. Having made progress, where do you think Corporate America is headed in terms embracing neurodiversity? Donnelly: I think it is the next frontier, and we're seeing it's rapidly being adopted by employers in the U.S. and globally. More and more employers are getting it. So my expectation is that in the next several years–obviously, it takes time to change–this is going to be part of the norm. Nelson: I'm actually really inspired. I'm very encouraged by the future. And already, Connie and I meet with a lot of organizations who are committed to this. They say, “You're preaching to the choir! We already know this is amazing. We want to get started!” They just want to know what the next step is and want to be better. And you look around and you can see there's already a lot of things in place. I think we're on a really, really good path. Mimi Hayes is a New York-based author, comedian, and assistant director of content at From Day One. You can read her work at mimihayes.com, check out her podcast "Mimi and The Brain," or find her first book, a comedic memoir about her traumatic brain injury on Amazon.
Corona-crisis relief: What companies and others are doing to help soften the blow
BY Mimi Hayes March 16, 2020Our news roundup focusing on how businesses and other organizations are making purposeful efforts to provide help at a time of crisis. Updated April 16 Amazon: Testing all employees for Covid-19 CEO Jeff Bezos announced that Amazon will be expanding efforts to test employees for the coronavirus. “Regular testing on a global scale, across all industries, would both help keep people safe and help get the economy back up and running. For this to work, we as a society would need vastly more testing capacity than is currently available,” Bezos wrote to shareholders. He stated Amazon would be testing all employees, regardless of whether they were showing any symptoms of the virus. Starbucks: Some locations to re-open After closing a majority of stores in the U.S. and Canada on March 21, the popular coffee chain may re-open certain locations for drive-thru and to-go orders, depending on local health guidelines. The company will take a “monitor and adapt” stance, noted CEO Kevin Johnson, and will also be extending paid leave for employees and paying an extra $3 per hour to those still on the job. Toyota: Teaming up to manufacture ventilators Like many manufacturing companies, Toyota has adapted to creating medical equipment, particularly sought-after ventilators. Nihon Kohden, a Tokyo-based manufacturer of medical electronic gear, is now working with Toyota to boost output of ventilators by fivefold, reported Bloomberg. Nissan and other car manufacturers may follow suit. Office Space: This company has created an office-sounds generator Miss the office? Chances are you didn’t realize just how much you craved the sound of a copy machine. Kids Creative Agency, a culture design company based in Switzerland, just launched imintheoffice.eu, a simulator to bring us back to all the familiar and oddly nostalgic sounds of our offices. Updated April 10 Twitter & Co.: Tech billionaires donate money and resources Jack Dorsey, CEO of Twitter, announced this week that he plans on donating approximately one third of his wealth, or $1 billion, to coronavirus relief programs. Other celebrities from Jeff Bezos to Oprah Winfrey are following the trend, contributing millions to food banks and philanthropic organizations. While this provides much-needed short-term relief, critics warn that it's no substitute for what the government can do to alleviate economic inequities. “It’s really important to ask why the crisis has hit us the way it has and the weaknesses it’s exposed,” author Anand Giridharadas told Recode. Restaurants: Becoming makeshift grocery stores With empty shelves in grocery stores and worker strikes sweeping across popular grocery-delivery businesses, local restaurants are converting their closed locations into grocery stores. In San Antonio, dozens of businesses are pooling their resources to sell essential items, meal kits, and, of course, precious toilet paper. Movie Theaters: Finding unique ways to stay afloat As movie theaters large and small have been shut down due to social-distancing orders, some local cinemas are finding ways to stream new indie films with a new stay-at-home option. Customers can buy a ticket online and will receive a one-time viewing link and an option to support a local theater with their purchase. “We really do think that we’re supporting small theaters and their staff,” says Erik Lokkesmoe, president of Aspiration Entertainment. Hair Salon: Founder makes emergency pivots to save company Amy Errett, the founder of Madison Reed, a hair-color brand, taking drastic measures to adapt to the pandemic. After shutting down multiple stores in San Francisco, Errett has seen an increase in online orders by adjusting supply chains and giving hairdressers customer-service positions to help people color their own hair at home. “We quickly quadrupled the size of the Color Crew from 30 to 115 people to support increased customer demand, and got everyone set up in new jobs within a week,” Errett said. Detroit Sewn: Local contractor starts manufacturing masks A contract-sewing shop in Detroit is now working full-time making masks for healthcare staff, essential workers, and the elderly. Inspired by the "Arsenal of Health," a movement designed to pivot manufacturing, the company began work making 50,000 cotton reusable masks per week for healthcare workers in desperate need of personal protective equipment (PPE). The company has since partnered with several other non-profit organizations to distribute and develop machinery to make N95 masks, which are more effective at stopping the virus than standard cloth masks. "What's important to know is these are not alternatives to N95 masks, nor are they alternatives for surgical masks, they are considered standard face masks," says Detroit Sewn CEO Karen Buscemi. Updated April 7 Tesla: Using car parts to make ventilators The electric-auto maker released a video this week breaking down a prototype of its Model 3-borne ventilator, made partly of Tesla car components. The company joins Ford and General Motors in rushing to build ventilators that hospitals need to help severely ill coronavirus patients breathe. "Model 3 parts used in the Tesla ventilators include a mixing chamber and vehicle controllers and several components of its Model 3 infotainment system, including the touchscreen and infotainment computer," Fast Company reported. Car-insurance companies: Giving customers a break As motorists around the U.S. shelter in place, Allstate and American Family Insurance are cutting drivers some slack. Allstate will be giving 15% of its monthly premiums back to customers and American Family will send $50 for each vehicle registered with a policy. With fewer cars on the road, fewer accident claims are being filed, so companies are returning some of the windfall to customers. Not all auto-insurance companies are on board yet. Grocery delivery: More ethical options In response to worker strikes over hazard pay and workplace safety during the pandemic, a new company is empowering small shopping-and-delivery companies to compete with the big platforms like Instacart. Dumpling, a new shopping platform, allows users to hire local delivery-business companies to shop for their groceries and essential items. Founder and co-CEO Joe Shapiro stated that personal shoppers using the platform are earning a take-home pay of $33 per job, “an order of magnitude higher than the average that you see on other online delivery apps,” Fast Company reported. Uber: Helping out-of-work drivers find jobs Impacted tremendously by the coronavirus, 3.9 million hourly drivers are now looking for alternative means to make ends meet. This week Uber launched Work Hub, a platform to connect drivers to new job opportunities such as warehouse, food production, and customer-service positions. Uber will also connect drivers to opens outside of the company and will not collect commissions from partner companies. Updated April 1 Kohl’s: Launching curbside pickup tomorrow In an email to customers this week, Kohl’s CEO Michelle Gass announced that the 1,200-store chain would begin a new "drive-up" feature that allows shoppers to order items online and have them placed in the back of their cars upon arrival. The stores will remain closed to the public. Participating locations are to be announced on the company's website kohls.com starting tomorrow. Facebook: New feature to encourage neighborly behavior The social-media giant announced a new “Community Help” feature that allows users to volunteer to help neighbors in their area. Within a 50-mile radius, volunteers can help deliver groceries, medicine, and run errands for sick or elderly neighbors. The feature is set to roll out this week in the U.S., U.K., and France. Crocs: Donating shoes to frontline health-care workers The company's CEO Andrew Rees is donating 10,000 shoes for nurses and doctors across the U.S. Workers can have the shoes, known for their comfort and easy clean-up, delivered to their homes by going to crocs.com/freeforhealthcare. "These workers have our deepest respect, and we are humbled to be able to answer their call and provide whatever we can to help during this unprecedented time," said Rees. Dallas Mavericks: Owner supports arena workers NBA team owner Mark Cuban has put into place a program to continue to pay hourly workers who are now out of a job. With the league unsure when games will resume, thousands of workers are now left empty handed. Cuban also plans to work with organizations to provide day care for frontline health workers. Bloom Energy: Fixing up old ventilators While many companies are starting from scratch, a California-based company called Bloom Energy has taken to refurbishing thousands of old and broken ventilators to send out to hospitals in need. “This is a really good reminder and representation of the power of American manufacturing, and Americans coming together to support the community,” said Susan Brennan, Bloom’s chief operating officer. Updated March 30 Yum Brands: CEO forgoes salary to help restaurant managers CEO David Gibbs, who oversees brands including KFC, Pizza Hut, and Taco Bell, announced today that he will give his 2020 salary to restaurant general managers in the form of one-time, $1,000 bonuses. His expected $900,000 will also be used to fund the Yum Brands Foundation Global Employee Relief Fund to help employees directly impacted by the pandemic. Facebook: A pledge $100 million to news media News publishers, particularly the print media, are taking a hit during this pandemic and Facebook is offering its help. From the promised $100 million total, $25 million will be given to local media, while the remaining $75 million will be spent in marketing for global news organizations. Both Facebook and Google, whose dominance in the market for online advertising has exacerbated the decline of American newsrooms, have earlier pledged hundreds of millions of dollars to assist local media. Johnson & Johnson: Making progress on a coronavirus vaccine With a $1 billion investment from the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, a federal agency, Johnson & Johnson announced it is getting closer to a vaccine for the COVID-19 virus. Human testing could begin as early as September, with use possibly by early 2021. The company is also partnering with other countries to speed up manufacturing capacity. Amazon: Alexa voice assistant now offering triage The company has added a new feature to the popular Alexa voice assistant to help users gauge their risk level for coronavirus. The AI-bot will respond with questions about symptoms and travel history, while offering expert health guidance from the CDC about how to get help if they are at risk. Alexa will also sing you a song for 20 seconds while you wash your hands, the minimum washing time advised by health experts. Medical drones: taking flight in the U.S.? Zipline, a medical drone delivery service launched in Rwanda, is now working to bring its devices to the U.S. In Ghana, the company has already used the drones to deliver emergency masks and gloves to regional hospitals. The startup is currently brainstorming ways to use the drones for prescription delivery as well. Updated March 27 Walmart: Waiving rent for essential partner businesses For the month of April, Walmart will offer rent relief to more than 10,000 businesses housed in their stores such as hair salons, veterinary clinics, banks, and eye doctors. The company has seen a boom in sales since the coronavirus pandemic and has also announced it will give $500 million in bonuses to hourly workers. Apple: New CDC-approved screening app and website The company announced a new website and iOS app that allows users to take a questionnaire to screen for possible symptoms. The app and website include information from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention about the virus and what to do if the app indicates that a user may be positive for COVID-19. Instacart: Hiring as demand escalates As more Americans stay home and avoid grocery stores, Instacart has announced it will seek to hire 300,000 independent contractors over the next three months, nearly doubling its current workforce. "The last few weeks have been the busiest in Instacart's history and our teams are working around the clock to reliably and safely serve all members of our community," said Instacart founder and CEO Apoorva Mehta. Dyson: Founder designs new ventilator in record time In response to an order from UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who is suffering from coronavirus himself, the vacuum-cleaner company announced that it has designed a ventilator that will be ready to distribute to hospitals as soon as April. The devices will meet National Health Service requirements. Columbia University: Putting 3D printers to good use Madiha Choksi, research-and-learning-technologies librarian at Columbia University, put the school’s 3D printer to work this week by printing face shields for health workers. With help of volunteers, she has turned a local New York community center into an assembly line for the equipment. Updated March 25 Snapchat: New games encourage staying at home Zenly, the Snapchat app that allows you to share your location with friends, is now releasing a Stay at Home leaderboard to challenge users to help contain the coronavirus outbreak by staying at home. Zenly also offers a coronavirus lens, which allows users to see the number of confirmed cases updated on a map three times per day using data from the World Health Organization and Johns Hopkins University. Restaurants: New food automation and 100% contactless production Creator, a restaurant in San Francisco, is innovating with automated food production and a new pressurized “transfer chamber” that allows workers and delivery workers to eliminate the passage of germs during pick-up. “We can’t restart the economy until retail and restaurant workers are protected,” says Creator founder Alex Vardakostas. “They’re some of the most important people to keep virus-free.” Neiman Marcus: Partnering to ship protective gear to health-care workers Luxury retailer Neiman Marcus and Jo-ann Stores, the fabric-and-craft chain, are joining efforts to provide masks, gloves, and scrubs in several facilities across the U.S. The materials are not fully medical grade, but will follow health guidelines from the Providence Hospital System in Washington, reported the Dallas Morning News. 3M: Ramping up N95 respirator mask production Creator of Post-it Notes, Scotch tape, and various office supplies, 3M has been refining its response to health emergencies for nearly two decades. The company doubled global production of N95 masks and is shipping them to the hardest-hit areas in the U.S. The company is also announcing a partnership with Ford Motor Co. to produce air-purifying respirators for severely ill patients. Updated March 24 Nike: Top Athletes promote new coronavirus PSA The company known for the message “Just do it” is campaigning a new one: “Play inside, play for the world.” Among the famous athletes to endorse the message are LeBron James, Michael Jordan, and Cristiano Ronaldo. Ford: new ads and expedited ventilator and mask production Instead of a scheduled March Madness-themed campaign, Ford released a new ad with the tagline “Built to Lend a Hand,” encouraging those struggling to make car-loan payments to contact them if they need help, Fast Company reports. The company is also teaming up with 3M, GE, and the UAW to produce 100,000 face masks and disposable respirators using a 3D printer. Kraft-Heinz: donating $12 million to