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Balancing Cost Efficiency and Positive Outcomes in Employee Benefits

BY Katie Chambers May 14, 2025

As the employee benefits landscape continues changing, it’s important for employers to identify what benefits their workers find most meaningful today. During the pandemic there was a big push for mental health support—and that’s still important given all the cultural and political uncertainty impacting workers in a variety of ways.But now, the physical, financial, and personalized offerings are returning to the forefront. At From Day One’s Boston benefits conference, leaders discussed the benefits that make the biggest impact for their employees. Here are the key takeaways.A Focus on Physical Health“With the advent of GLP-1s and medically assisted weight loss, one of the hottest topics we’re seeing in the industry is around weight management,” said Cody Fair, chief commercial officer at Noom. With GLP-1s, he says, “Think about the member experience first,” in terms of minimizing hurdles and prior authorizations. Consider alternative funding methods to access medications at a reduced cost to the patient through rebates, and add behavior change support in addition to the medication options for long-term success. “We’re [also] seeing a lot of talk around women’s health, specifically around menopause,” Fair said. Generally, he says, people are not just interested in living longer–they want to live healthy longer. Therefore, employers are best served by taking a holistic approach.“As an organization, we focus on the overall happiness of our employees. That’s something that we practice very intentionally as part of our cultural framework. And because of that, we have programs which not only focus on physical health [and] mental wellness, but holistic well-being, which includes even things like financial literacy [and] how we plan for retirement,” said Shahina Islam, VP, HR at Zensar. To increase DEI initiatives for an increasingly diverse workforce, employers can also consider adding benefits for fertility and resources for parents and those involved in elder care, she says.Serving a Large Workforce While Staying on BudgetModerator Rebecca Knight, independent journalist and contributor at Harvard Business Review, notes the challenges of providing adequate benefits to a large, diverse workforce with varying needs while also “staying on budget.” Part of the answer, says Amy Claffey Widell, global benefits director at Akamai Technologies, is identifying point solutions that can cover several areas at once, such as musculoskeletal, fertility, cardiovascular, and cancer, and then being able to prove the cost effectiveness.Leaders shared insight on the subject of "In Employee Benefits, Balancing Cost Efficiency With Good Employee Outcomes"“I’m creating that business case to our senior leaders: if we implement a mental health benefit, we’re going to see a decrease in claims from our medical spend,” Widell said. “[For example], we implemented a point solution three years ago, and we’ve seen a 10% decrease in the claims in our medical plan.”To determine ROI, claims analysis paired with employee feedback is key. Employee surveys can help you understand which benefits employees are using, which they aren’t, what they want and, importantly, what they may not realize is already being offered. HR leaders should remember that the vendors themselves are constantly changing, so it’s important to stay flexible. “Every couple years, revisit the market, see who’s out there, [and] see if you can consolidate vendors,” Widell said. “I don’t necessarily want to have 500 vendors,” as that causes confusion for workers and a headache for HR managers. ROI can’t be pegged to one particular benefit, since wellness itself is holistic. “Look at the cumulative effect of everything you do. Are you managing cost and trend from everything you do, and are you reaching the maximum efficiency on those things you do?” said Scott Kirschner, senior director, global benefits at Greystar.Implementing Digital Solutions“Employees are increasingly looking for a more seamless experience,” Knight said. That’s where technological advances can help, especially when it comes to healthcare and wellness benefits. “With digital care, I’m noticing that we’re really able to take an ordeal that could take three hours and turn it into a 30-minute access thing,” said Dr. Bijal Toprani, senior clinical solutions lead and doctor of physical therapy, Hinge Health. Healthcare apps allow for easy provider follow-up and opportunities for patients to access care outside of traditional in-person office hours, she says.“How are we going to get people to use [a benefit] if they don’t know about it?” Kirschner posited. Digital solutions also offer centralized access to benefits for a workforce that is becoming increasingly dispersed as hybrid and remote setups become the norm. Additionally, Kirschner says, employers should take advantage of the fact that everyone is always on their phones. Place QR codes around the office for employees to scan for benefits, offer webinars to train employees on the benefits portal, send regular text updates with an option to opt-out, and embrace internal email marketing. To meet employees where they are, you might need to get even more creative with your communications. For example, Toprani was able to successfully reach her truck-driving workforce by leaving cards about benefits on their windshields, since they might not regularly check their email. Focusing on Positive Employee OutcomesThe best employee benefits programs take into account the entirety of the population they are meant to serve. For example, even if most of your employees are men, Toprani shares, sending them information about women’s healthcare is important since they may be married or have daughters.For workforces spread across multiple countries, it may be necessary for HR to seek out local vendors for certain benefits. Menopause care in particular, Widell notes, is more accessible in the U.S. but does not yet have prominent global solutions available in other countries. Ultimately, benefits programs are meant to do just that: provide benefits. “Everything that we are doing we need to ensure that we have a very happy and engaged workforce,” Islam said. “Our annual survey has a big section on how employees are feeling valued, and benefits are a big component of that.”Katie Chambers is a freelance writer and award-winning communications executive with a lifelong commitment to supporting artists and advocating for inclusion. Her work has been seen in HuffPost and several printed essay collections, among others, and she has appeared on Cheddar News, iWomanTV, On New Jersey, and CBS New York.(Photos by Rick Friedman for From Day One)

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Employee Mental Health and Wellness: How Managers Can Be Empowered

BY Jennifer Yoshikoshi May 14, 2025

More than 90% of American workers say it’s important to them that the organization they work for values emotional and psychological well-being, according to a 2023 survey by the American Psychological Association. Continuing the growing conversation around mental health and wellness, more companies are putting programs in place to support the holistic well-being of employees. During a From Day One panel discussion at From Day One’s Boston benefits conference, executives joined in on a conversation moderated by Boston Globe reporter Katie Johnson about how managers can be empowered to respond to employee needs. For Robert DiFabio, senior director of global benefits and mobility at Waters Corporation, being able to address the mental health concerns of his employees feels mutually beneficial. To be able to provide opportunities that help people which at the same time help the company is a “win-win,” he said.“The happier or healthier employee is someone who also would be more attentive, less absent, more productive at work, more motivated, just simply, even more grateful for their employer for giving them tools and resources,” DiFabio said.Managers who are engaging with their employees to support their well-being are driven by the passion to help others and deliver support with resources that are customized and personal. Although some leaders feel satisfied by being able to help their employees, others might struggle with some aspects of being prepared to engage in conversations about wellness and checking in with their staff. While managers may know when to engage in check-ins, they might not be comfortable with the support that needs to follow these conversations.Panelists spoke about holistic employee health and well-being“My concern is that managers are maybe ill equipped to deal with what then comes from those conversations. So I think it's important that we be prepared as companies to provide them the appropriate training if we're going to expect them to engage in those conversations,” said Anne Marie La Bue, vice president of compensation and benefits counsel at Assurant.CEO and Co-founder of LearnLux Rebecca Liebman added that discussions about mental health are also considered taboo for many communities and cultures. She emphasized that it’s important to start “breaking down barriers to let people at least start a conversation around these traditionally more taboo topics in the workplace.”The Main Drivers for Stress, Anxiety and DepressionMore than 80% of Americans are living with debt and 46% of people making six figure incomes are still living paycheck to paycheck, says Liebman. Financial hardships are an aspect of life that company executives recognize needs more attention within the corporate world. When it comes to supporting employees that are impacted by financial struggles, Holly Duvernay, director of benefits at Crane NXT, says it’s important for managers to leave the bias at the door and create a space that offers open conversations with the employee. Without any judgement, asking employees what they need and how they would like support can build strong relationships with workers. “The difference between a toxic work environment and loving your job is a razor thin margin,” said Ryan Kellogg, vice president of partnerships and sales effectiveness at Talkspace. He adds that communication is key in the workplace. Training for Managers Annual manager training is often seen as a hassle to many, but Duvernay says this requirement is a great investment. “You’re equipping your managers again with those resources that they need to understand, but you're also sending a message from the top down that it’s a business imperative, and it’s very important to the business success that everybody is able to develop their own well being,” she said. Waters Corporation makes discussions about important topics a part of meeting agendas, allowing the team to set aside 20 minutes to talk about things such as mental health and emotional well-being. “It’s a way to be helping them, giving them tips, educating them without making it feel like it’s this strong, stern requirement,” DiFabio said.The company also has an online resource that is available only to managers which include tips, suggestions, guides and employee assistance programs. It also partners with a EAP vendor which is open for managers to call for one-on-one private coaching sessions with a trained professional that can provide advice on any situation that a manager might find difficulties with.Talkspace, an online and mobile therapy company, makes sure that its organization’s leaders see that mental health is part of the workplace culture. Kellogg said the company has “mental health minutes,” which are one to two minute Youtube clips that give managers the mindset about mental health going into the day.Kellogg says that Talkspace also has mental health first aid training sessions where the company has a highly intensive one day block of instruction for either frontline managers, middle managers or senior leaders. “Following that training, those individuals are now force multipliers in your own workforce, and it's a resume builder, it’s something that they accomplish. They get a certificate and by doing that, you’re creating a culture that’s generating energy around mental health,” Kellogg said.In order to build a culture where mental health is prioritized, managers might be expected to be accountable for boosting wellness. Duvernay adds that the accountability piece is in the managers ability to have regular check-ins, collecting feedback and being able to act on what they are hearing from employees. As a form of accountability managers have to engage, be proactive and anticipate needs, she says. “If you create that environment as a manager, to have that open door policy and to anticipate challenges and how you’ll react to them, I think you create that environment where employees are accountable for their own well being, which I think is really the end goal,” Duvernay said. Measuring Wellness TrendsTechnological advances have allowed people to gain insights on trends and anticipated outcomes. Data driven tools can especially be useful for measuring mental health and wellness trends within a workplace. Talkspace analyzes data on who is leveraging mental health services as well as clinical assessments. These assessments can give a deeper look into whether the company is rating high on anxiety, depression, work-life balance and allows the company to understand where its employees stand and evaluate how the workplace is impacting them, says Kellogg.While data can be helpful, Liebman acknowledges that usually this type of information is not known to companies until they bring in a third party vendor. It’s insightful for human resource teams to understand what’s going on in their workforce at different levels to identify stressors within the company, she says. “Having those insights allows you to add better programs that are specific to what your company needs and what will improve their overall well-being,” said Liebman.Jennifer Yoshikoshi is a local news and education reporter based in the San Francisco Bay Area.(Photos by Rick Friedman for From Day One)

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Agents of Their Own Growth: Encouraging Employees to Advocate for Their Career Development

BY Jessica Swenson May 13, 2025

Non-linear career moves that may be deemed risky, like a lateral transfer with no increase in pay or title, can also offer unexpected benefits. Sumeeta Maxwell, chief people officer for Experian’s Global Functions and Centers division, took control of her growth early in her career by making a lateral move that diversified her experience and broadened skill sets that later proved invaluable. “Very quickly, I was able to demonstrate success and [show] that I can grow and have potential,” Maxwell said during a fireside chat at From Day One’s Dallas conference. She encourages team members and peers to value a breadth of experience over a traditional strictly upward progression, favoring opportunities to illustrate their capacity for change and learning. This is just one example of how employees can take charge of their career development at Experian. The company offers a variety of resources to attract, engage, and retain talent, but Maxwell says that one thing you cannot replace is the employee owning their development process. “Only the individual can actually seize the opportunity and then deliver on it,” she said. “You have to take charge of your development—constantly evaluate your strengths and find ways to leverage them through your development plan.”Given the current status of the US job market, is an emphasis on career self-advocacy a good idea right now? Regardless of the market, you can never go wrong by continuously finding ways to learn, gather expertise, and expand your skills, says Maxwell. One way to do this is to embrace stretch assignments or other opportunities for growth that are offered. In the midst of a transformation, Maxwell says, one Experian organization decided to further embed the tenets of its high-performance culture through an internal initiative focused on enhancing business goal performance. Senior technology leaders participated in a curriculum that combined learning activities with structured progress checkpoints to sharpen their skills in leadership, goal-setting, and communication. This program not only drove short-term impact to the business but prepared participants for high-level interactions through improved presentation skills.As a global organization serving around 150,000 clients and millions of consumers, Experian’s commitment to a flexible work culture is also crucial to the success of its 23,000 employees. Hybrid schedules have delivered high engagement and productivity, Maxwell says, allowing the company to “foster flexibility without sacrificing the value of in-person engagement.” Sumeeta Maxwell of Experian was interviewed by Steve Koepp, editor in chief and co-founder of From Day One However, with multiple generations, working styles, and sets of expectations in the workplace, Maxwell and team understand that there is not a one-size-fits-all solution. It is important for companies to consider the nuances of a diverse workforce, but employees can also advocate for what they need to advance their career. While universally appreciated, she says, flexibility can mean different things to different people, ranging from flexible work schedules to self-expression and inclusion. “Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) is a foundational value for us,” says Maxwell. It’s a critical element of the company’s culture as it strives to reflect its global customer base and encourage employees to bring their whole selves to work. DEI at Experian is supported by employee resource groups (ERGs) which are open to all employees regardless of identity. Maxwell says that Experian’s ERGs provide not only a sense of belonging and community-building, but they are a resource that helps employees develop leadership capabilities, communication skills, and career mobility. Oftentimes, she said, “people will find out about internal opportunities through their friends in the ERGs.”Another resource available to Experian employees is artificial intelligence. The company’s philosophy on AI is that if you don’t adopt it, you’ll be left behind. So they prepare their employees to use AI appropriately, says Maxwell. “We’ve put a lot of effort into ensuring our people are equipped and trained to know how, when, and why to use it,” she said. Their system includes an internal AI coach named Nadia, which Maxwell herself even uses to prepare for meetings or specific conversations. Nadia is trained on the company’s strategy and leadership principles, so leaders can interact with her as if she were an executive coach. To really put employees in control of their career and internal mobility, Experian will soon launch a talent marketplace tool, Maxwell says. The platform is educated with internal career frameworks and role criteria. Employees will be able to create personal profiles and be proactively matched to open internal roles based on that criteria, helping them find ways to grow within the company. “The idea is, we really want our people to be able to find their journey and find their development inside [Experian], and not have to leave to find it,” said Maxwell.When it comes to advocating for your own career development, Maxwell says, consistent effort, strategic action, and hard work are essential regardless of your work environment. “Good communication skills and the ability to present never go out of style.”Jessica Swenson is a freelance writer based in the Midwest. Learn more about her at https://www.jmswensonllc.com.(Photos by Steve Bither for From Day One)

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Building a People and Culture Team in a High-Profile Business

BY Ade Akin May 12, 2025

Tarsha LaCour didn’t expect transitioning to the Dallas Mavericks in 2018 after a 19-year HR career at telecom giant AT&T to be as much of a stark contrast as it turned out to be. “It was culture shock,” she said during From Day One’s Dallas conference. Performance management processes were largely manual, employee records were kept in file cabinets, and staff frequently put in long hours that weren’t always sustainable. “I walked up to what I thought was our system of records, and someone pointed and said, ‘Those file cabinets over there,’” LaCour described during her conversation with Stephen Koepp, From Day One’s Editor in Chief and Co-Founder. For LaCour, now the Mavericks’ Chief People Officer, this became an opportunity to build an HR function as dynamic as the basketball team on the court. LaCour, along with former Mavericks CEO Cynt Marshall, sat down with every employee to conduct one-on-one assessments, mapping out available skill sets and cultural needs. “We did a compensation analysis to make sure everyone was at or above market,” she said. “And we built out ERGs, learning functions, business partners, everything.”LaCour prioritized staffing and technology to professionalize the HR department. Her first goal was to convince leadership to invest in recruiting, which was no small feat. Once that mission was accomplished, her second goal was layering performance-management, recruiting, and workforce modules onto the existing ADP system. LaCour followed that up by creating a dedicated diversity, equity, and inclusion team, followed by learning-and-development specialists.Championing Wellness and RecognitionLaCour went on to launch the Mavs Vitality Program (MVP) after recognizing the additional burdens game days put on staff, sometimes requiring them to work past midnight. MVP is a holistic wellness initiative that covers multiple areas, from physical and mental health to financial well-being, she says. “We bring in counselors on retainer and offer financial-planning workshops so our young staff can build real wealth,” she said. Alongside the wellness programs, the Mavericks created an annual award banquet based on respect, authenticity, fairness, teamwork, and safety (CRAFTS), where peers nominate and vote for standout colleagues. “We give out over 100 awards by team, then crown one True Maverick,” LaCour said.Leading Through DisruptionFew events have tested LaCour’s change-management chops like the recent trade of superstar Luka Dončić that left fans and employees stunned. “Everyone loved Luca,” she said. LaCour’s counsel to distraught team members was to acknowledge the loss, trust leadership decisions, and stay focused on the business at hand. She coined the acronym ACT (acknowledge, communicate, and trust) to guide decision-making during challenging times. “We empower our leaders with data to make fast, informed choices, rather than wait for C-suite direction,” LaCour said. Tarsha LaCour, chief people officer at the Dallas Mavericks, was interviewed during the fireside chat To stay ahead of changes and disruptions, learning and development has also become a priority. The Dallas Mavericks have embraced an ethos that embraces continuous learning under the guidance of new CEO Rick Welch. LaCour’s team curates OpenSesame courses on their learning management system (LMS), creating mandatory paths for new hires, people managers, and high-potential employees. Mentoring and coaching round out the offerings, ensuring team members gain core leadership skills that are transferable across industries. A Winning CultureUnlike some organizations that waver on their DEI commitments depending on political climates, the Mavericks’ dedication is ingrained in their DNA, LaCour says. “Sports and music unite people from all walks of life,” she added. “So, inclusion is second nature, woven into our policies, hiring practices, and vendor relationships.”The Maverick’s HR transformation underscores LaCour’s belief that winning on the court starts with empowering those behind the scenes. “Our end goal is simple,” LaCour said. “Make this a great place to work, uplift our community, and—yes—win championships.”Ade Akin covers workplace wellness, HR trends, and digital health solutions.(Photos by Steve Bither for From Day One)

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From Data Collection to Strategic Transformation, How People Analytics is Evolving

BY Lisa Jaffe May 07, 2025

“People analytics has always been about combining a passion for change with a deep understanding of data,” said Miles Overholt, founder and CEO of Strategia Analytics. The HR profession has matured significantly, moving from fighting for a “seat at the table” to being core strategic partners, he says. “People analytics is key to earning and using that seat effectively.”Once seen as a peripheral function, people analytics has become a strategic cornerstone for navigating complex organizational challenges, from workforce transitions to AI adoption. At From Day One’s Seattle conference, a panel of executives reflected on this transformation and on how data is shaping HR in real-time.“During the Great Resignation, we didn’t just rely on instinct. We used data to guide leadership decisions,” said Becky Thielen, general manager of people analytics, at Microsoft.As companies navigate uncertain economic conditions, she says, there’s increasing pressure to deliver holistic, high-quality insights with speed and precision.Paige McGlauflin, reporter at HR Brew, moderated the discussion about "How People Analytics Can Give HR Leaders Insight Into Employee Experience and the Future of Work"For Shanthi Nataraj, director of economic research at Amazon, it’s not just about tracking data–-it’s about understanding the employee journey. “We look at all the inputs an employee receives, from their manager and peers to external pressures like the job market,” she said. “These shape behaviors and ultimately impact business outcomes. We don’t view data points in isolation.”Amazon’s internal feedback tool, Connections, allows for real-time sentiment tracking. But collecting data isn’t enough. “The key is closing the loop,” Nataraj said. “When employees see their feedback drives change, it builds trust and supports engagement.”Data is increasingly democratized. “We’re empowering HR to tell their own stories,” said Shannon Peterson, head of people analytics at Verizon. When she joined two years ago, the challenge wasn’t a lack of data, it was too much of it and with no unified view. “Our goal was to centralize, certify, and connect insights across the employee lifecycle, from recruitment to exit.”Verizon has also embraced AI. “We’re training systems to identify sentiment trends, draft communications, and provide tailored insights to leaders,” she said. These efforts are channeled through what she calls a “digital front door” for insights—streamlining access and decision-making.AI Is Great, When Used With CareAt Microsoft, AI tools like Copilot are transforming how managers engage with data. “Instead of mass communications, we’re shifting to targeted nudges,” Thielen said. “We’re enabling users to ask questions and get contextual answers instantly.”Still, AI adoption must be intentional, says Laura Luther, VP, health solutions account executive at Aon. Many mid-sized organizations don’t have in-house analytics teams or advanced infrastructure, she says. “Inventory how your vendor partners use AI. Focus on consolidating and aligning data practices to reduce risk,” she said. “Prioritize high-value, low-risk applications like customer service, and tread carefully with high-risk areas like healthcare data.”Verizon has responded to those concerns with a centralized AI certification process. “Every AI initiative is reviewed for legal and security risks,” said Peterson. “Transparency is critical. Two years ago, what we do with AI now would have seemed invasive -- but today it’s essential, and we’re doing it responsibly.”With massive amounts of data, prioritization and storytelling become essential. “Even with great analysts, storytelling is a separate skill,” Thielen said. “You need to communicate insights that resonate with the CHRO or a frontline leader. Otherwise, it doesn’t drive action.”Overholt agreed, underscoring the importance of context. “Data without context, both micro and strategic, isn’t useful,” he said. His work studying CEO successions revealed that when transitions are handled well, they preserve the organizational ‘core,’ or its culture and values. “Failures happen when that core doesn’t get passed on.”Dig DeepToo often, HR teams lean on simple metrics like participation rates or satisfaction scores. That’s not enough, says Nataraj. “Those are starting points. We need to ask: Did the program reduce attrition? Improve knowledge transfer?” Her team often applies economic models to assess impact, especially when controlled trials aren’t possible.Measurement should start early, says Thielen. “Don’t bring analytics in after the fact. Involve us during program design. It’s much harder to measure outcomes retroactively.”As organizations face continued volatility, real-time listening is becoming more vital. Microsoft, Verizon, and Amazon are all investing in always-on feedback systems, shifting away from static quarterly surveys. “A single snapshot isn’t enough,” said Peterson. “We’re building systems that evolve with the employee experience.”Whether it’s guiding CEO transitions, refining total rewards strategies, or addressing workforce segmentation, people analytics is no longer just about numbers. It’s about interpreting data in ways that inspire trust, empower action, and ultimately drive business outcomes.“At its best, people analytics helps organizations not only see themselves clearly, but navigate where they need to go next,” said Overholt.Lisa Jaffe is a freelance writer who lives in Seattle with her son and a very needy rescue dog named Ellie Bee. She enjoys reading, long walks on the beach, and trying to get better at ceramics.(Photos by Josh Larson for From Day One)

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Making Talent Acquisition and Development More Efficient, Inclusive, and Personalized

BY Jennifer Yoshikoshi May 07, 2025

In 2025, it will take an average of six months for an unemployed person to find a job, according to the Wall Street Journal. While many people seek employment, companies are now seeing an overwhelming amount of job applications and with such an influx of submissions recruiters are finding it difficult to keep up.As artificial intelligence has become a key tool in the world, companies must learn to evolve with technology and learn how to utilize it as a way to mobilize their work and increase efficiency. Using AI for talent acquisition and improving candidate experiences was the top discussion during an executive panel discussion moderated by KING 5 News anchor Jake Whittenberg at From Day One’s Seattle conference.Recruiting and Acknowledging Job CandidatesLHH is a company that specializes in supporting individuals and organizations with recruitment, career transitions, leadership development and more. It receives over 300 million applications a year from around the globe, says Erin Bogdanovich, vice president of innovation of LHH.A common dissatisfying factor in the job application process is being ghosted, only having access to a chat bot, not being acknowledged and never hearing back from a recruiter. With so many applications being submitted daily, AI has been serving as an effective way to give each candidate the acknowledgement and personal support that they need to find the right jobs for them, Bogdanovich says.Amazon also utilizes AI to help recruiters identify if one applicant’s skills can be applied to other open positions that the person may not have applied to. While technology can be helpful, Anthony Palumbo, head of talent acquisition for Amazon ads and IMDB, says it’s still important to maintain human interactions. “I think that the key is applying technology using high judgment, preserving candidate experience, but not eliminating the human aspect of what we do,” said Palumbo.Improving the candidate experience is the same as providing positive customer service. For many companies like Uber and Amazon, job candidates are going to be current customers. Jack Leitch, head of talent acquisition programs and enablement at Uber, said this is a “double edged sword.” In these situations, a negative job application process could impact how the candidate feels about the company and its services. “You have to kind of consider your impact on the business with what you do with your candidates,” he said.At LHH, Bogdanovich said the company has a candidate portal for any jobs they apply to. It shows them real time updates to their application and provides transparency to candidates.Finding the Balance With AIUsing AI can help speed up certain processes while also ensuring that customers and recipients of the service are still receiving quality care. Although the human aspect is still important, some processes can be better done by technology.Panelists spoke about "Making Talent Acquisition and Development More Efficient, Inclusive, and Personalized"Roz Francuz-Harris, vice president of talent acquisition at Zillow, says the best method is to provide options for people on when they want to see automated tasks and when they would prefer to speak to a real representative. For example, when you enter the Zillow career site and upload your resume, an AI assistant can recommend jobs that match your skills and later in the process an option to speak to a recruiter can be given as a choice. “It’s that duality. It’s giving me optionality, not one or the other. I think what makes AI so special is when it goes hand in hand with the human experience,” said Francuz-Harris.This human experience paired with AI can be useful to process tasks for technical jobs. These elements can slow down recruiters and lead to tasks getting held up because the manpower is not enough, said Carl Sanders-Edwards, CEO and founder of Adeption.By using AI for efficiency, it frees up more time for recruiters to think more strategically about how they can better engage with job candidates and recruit the right people with the best skills the company needs, says Leitch.Now that AI is able to complete more repetitive tasks which were formerly done by recruiters, those same employees now have to go through a transition phase to relearn how to focus on the more human parts of the job. In order to do this, they have to learn how to leverage AI technology and learn how to maintain human connection, says Sanders-Edwards.He also added that the most important skill in candidates is the “skill to acquire skills.” The ability to adapt and evolve to new challenges and learn from them is one of the most important qualities, he says.Francuz-Harris emphasized this when she said, “AI will not replace recruiters. Recruiters who don’t learn to use AI will be replaced.” With the rise of new technology, employees need to learn to evolve to changes.The message to not be afraid of technology was adopted by panelists during this conversation, echoing Francuz-Harris’s sentiments. “Don’t be afraid. You’re going to mess it up. We’re all going to mess it up and do the wrong thing. Do it fast, and then pivot if you need to,” said Leitch.Jennifer Yoshikoshi is a local news and education reporter based in the San Francisco Bay Area.(Photos by Josh Larson for From Day One)

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Creating Connection in a Complex Work World

BY Lisa Jaffe May 05, 2025

The pandemic changed how work happens, and the alterations continue apace. “Five years in, the challenges haven’t stopped, they’ve just changed,” said Joe Reimer, VP of HR for F5 Networks. Hybrid work has become a norm, but it requires fresh thinking to maintain connection across locations and workstyles.In today’s evolving workplace, connection is more vital than ever, but it’s also harder to maintain. Work and workforce have both changed, agreed Jennifer Olivas, HR director at Airgas. “That shift requires new strategies to stay connected,” she said during an executive panel discussion at From Day One’s Seattle conference. Reimer, Olivas, and three other executive panelists had a distinct definition of connection. They mentioned relationships, meaningful experiences in community, communication, building empathy, and integrating physical, emotional and social well-being.One shift has been the emphasis on mental health and well-being. “Stigma is still a barrier,” said Nicole Wolf, VP of B2B partnerships at Rula. “Especially in small companies, where it can feel more personal.” Leadership must model openness and ensure mental health resources are visible and accessible, she says. “Normalize small interventions,” said Tristan Orford, VP of total rewards at Sentinel One. Regularly reminding employees about existing resources can help prevent bigger issues from developing, he says. Mental health isn’t some silo to be treated as unique, says Jennifer Jones, a dietitian and director, clinical solutions architect for Noom. “It impacts everything, from stress to healing to weight loss.” At Noom, they’ve woven mental health support into all their wellness programs, says Jones. Olivas noted that Airgas trained its HR team in mental health first aid. “It helps managers recognize red flags and respond effectively,” she said. “That builds credibility.”Companies can foster good mental health by providing support to employees during “moments that matter,” said Reimer. Whether those are positive personal events or crises. “That’s when benefits feel meaningful.”Orford noted that many solutions don’t require new investment. “Often, the answer is already in the system. We just need to communicate it better,” he said.Wolf agreed, noting that their women’s ERG helped promote a postpartum mental health benefit. “A member connected with a therapist who spoke her language and understood her experience,” she said. “That created a real impact.” Still, she cautioned that ERGs need structure. Building Connection From the Top DownConnection doesn’t happen by accident. Leaders must be intentional. “Share stories, not advice,” said Orford. He said that when leaders speak honestly about what’s worked for them, it makes resources feel more relatable.Olivas emphasized regular, structured check-ins. “Intentional, uninterrupted one-on-ones build trust,” she said. “Some of our leaders even set goals around having them consistently.”Reimer said one simple question can open the door to deeper connection: “How are you doing?” He said good leadership today means seeing employees as whole people, not just roles. F5 operates with a hybrid model: 60% of the workforce has in-office requirements, and 40% are fully remote. Two years ago, they asked employees who live within 30 miles of an office to come in 30 days per quarter on their own schedule. “There was resistance at first,” he said. “But people adapted.”Journalist Diana Opong moderated the discussion about "The Connection Solution: Bringing Workers Together for Well-Being and Innovation"They strive to make office time worthwhile, emphasizing collaborations and building relationships, but Reimer also says that they work to ensure virtual connection also happens with those who are not in office. “We’re still learning how to run inclusive meetings and foster that shorthand communication online.”Online connection has value, too, says Jones. Noom offers anonymous online “circles” around topics like weight loss or chronic conditions. “They’re not tied to work or home life,” she said. “But they give people a safe space to share and support each other.”You May Already Have What You NeedCompanies often overlook the tools they already have. “Take stock,” said Wolf. “What’s in your benefits plan? Who on staff could volunteer? What support are you already paying for but not using?”Orford says his team found new value by combing through contracts. “When we switched 401(k) vendors, we found benefits we weren’t using that were free,” he said. They were marketed and employees are using them. Technology can also support well-being and connection. “AI can offload mundane tasks and improve efficiency,” said Jones. She described how Noom uses AI for food logging and body scanning, and how vendors can help employees understand health risks. “When used responsibly, this tech can be incredibly impactful,” she added.Connection isn’t just a perk. It’s essential to engagement, innovation, and retention. “People are craving connection in new ways,” said Wolf. That shift opens new doors for benefits design and employee engagement. In a world where work is increasingly fragmented, the companies that thrive will be those that treat connection not as an afterthought, but as a foundation.Lisa Jaffe is a freelance writer who lives in Seattle with her son and a very needy rescue dog named Ellie Bee. She enjoys reading, long walks on the beach, and trying to get better at ceramics.(Photos by Josh Larson for From Day One)

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Shaping Benefits to Be Competitive Everywhere in the World

BY Carrie Snider April 30, 2025

Benefits used to be pretty cut and dry, but the modern workforce has realized something about themselves. They want a holistic approach that touches every part of their well-being.“You really have to give employees a plethora and a full program of benefits,” said Diane Young, head of global benefits at Teradata. Young spoke during a fireside chat at From Day One’s Boston half-day benefits conference, interviewed by Callum Borchers, Wall Street Journal columnist on careers and work lives.These offerings should include physical, emotional, and social needs. Not only that, but each person is unique in what they need in each of those areas. “You could have somebody that you’re hiring who’s 21 years old or who’s 63 years old. What’s important to one person is going to be very different for somebody else,” she said. Benefits like well-being days, flexible time off, and birthday holidays are also ways to make employees feel valued and excited about joining a company, says Young. “It’s really meeting everybody where they are in their career and their stage of life.”Where You Work MattersOne thing the pandemic did was propel virtual and hybrid work into overdrive. The result? Much of the workforce now prefers virtual work. As such, flexible work arrangements are no longer just “nice to have”—they’re becoming a major competitive advantage.Diane Young, head of global benefits at Teradata, was interviewed“The best bang for the buck right now is definitely virtual work,” Young said. “If you’re giving the company and the employees the opportunity to work virtually, you can really hire the best talent. You’re not stuck to one location.” Especially for a company looking to compete worldwide, it’s a huge benefit.While many companies are pushing employees to return to the office, those that continue to offer virtual options stand out to potential employees. “For those companies that say you can work virtually flexibly, anywhere you want, it’s going to be a huge differentiator.” Still, there can be benefits from in-person, so she suggested that companies make sure they work around that to include the benefit of mentorship.“When you’re young in your career, it’s sometimes nice to have somebody sitting right next to you,” Young said. “You really have to have an open door if you’re working virtually.”Minimum Global Standards With operations in more than three dozen countries, Teradata uses global minimum standards to ensure consistency and fairness across markets.“A global minimum standard is basically saying, what do we stand for as a company, and what’s the minimum that we want to give to all employees?” Young said. “It is a guiding light. It helps us design benefits. It helps me say yes to benefits—and it also helps me say no.”One example is life insurance, which can vary wildly across the globe. Young said they used to offer life insurance benefits based on the country. But it can be complicated and inconsistent with that approach. “Let’s have a level playing field,” she said.Young highlighted the importance of balancing local regulations and competitive expectations while holding to company values: “I keep saying we’re one company—a whole employee in one company.”Culture Is Crucial for BenefitsEven the best-designed benefits package can fail without a strong, supportive culture behind it. Teradata has an unlimited paid time off policy, but it takes nurturing for that to work. “We have a culture of trust at our company, and because of that, we trust our employees. We trust them to take their time and not abuse it,” Young said. One key to it working? Leadership plays a key role. “If you see everybody working 60 hours a week and nobody’s taking a vacation, it’s not going to work.” Culture also matters when it comes to personal, meaningful benefits like pet bereavement leave. Even with unlimited PTO, recognizing a pet’s death explicitly in policy sends a message of empathy and care—qualities increasingly important to workers. They also offer the day off for an employee’s birthday.As Young emphasized, “It’s about designing benefits for the whole employee—and creating a place where people want to stay and grow.”Carrie Snider is a Phoenix-based journalist and marketing copywriter.(Photos by Rick Friedman for From Day One)

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How Microsoft Innovates: An Inside Look at the Culture Behind Some of the Biggest Breakthroughs

BY Katie Chambers April 29, 2025

Contrary to popular belief, “innovation” is not synonymous with “invention.” Instead, innovation is all the hard work that comes after invention to bring that idea to life. Tech giant Microsoft has long thrived on this energetic cultivation.  Two veteran Microsoft engineers and entrepreneurs are offering a rare inside look at how one of the world’s most influential companies unlocks human creativity and collaboration. JoAnn Garbin, former director of Innovations at Microsoft and now founding partner of Regenerous Labs, and Dean Carignan, partner program manager in the Office of the Chief Scientist at Microsoft, co-authored The Insider’s Guide to Innovation at Microsoft. In a fireside chat at From Day One’s Seattle conference, they shared key lessons for anyone looking to thrive in an era defined by rapid change and innovation.The Joy of Innovation Despite living in unusual times, with the future of work seemingly powered by AI, Garbin and Carignan found throughlines about innovation that can help workers across a variety of eras and job descriptions. “We felt like there were core lessons that transcend time and technology and industry and role. It doesn’t matter if you’re in HR or in engineering or research, there are practices that everybody could benefit from,” Garbin said. One of these universal truths they discovered about innovation is team dynamics. “We discovered this incredible joy and collegiality in the teams that were innovating,” Carignan said. “And so that was our motivation: to make people better innovators so they could be productive, but also so they could be happier.” Innovation, Garbin says, is a fundamental human need. “We are builders. Since the dawn of humanity, we’ve been creating things. And up until the computer age, we were still creators and builders,” she said. But with today’s technological advances, we don’t all always get to participate in innovation in quite the same way. And whereas most businesses are “zero sum” and looking to be cost effective, Carignan says, innovators instead have a positive sum mentality in generating new and exciting things for their constituents.A Method to the Madness “Part of Microsoft’s secret sauce is that it has embraced innovation,” said moderator Cathy Duchamp, assistant managing editor at the Puget Sound Business Journal. And that innovation, the co-authors say, is “loopy.” Playing off the notion that tech creators may get pegged as “mad scientists,” they explored the loopiness of the innovation process. “There are all sorts of patterns in the innovation process itself that are iterative. You discover, you design, develop, you learn, you fail, you iterate,” Garbin said.But that’s not to say there is no structure in place. “There is a method to the madness. If there isn’t a method, you can’t teach it to people, and you can’t bring in new people and get them into the process effectively. So, you have to make it a structured, standard process,” Garbin said. Fortunately, the linear notion of work is highly familiar to those in the corporate world. HR leaders need to look for innovators who understand how to bridge the gap.“The best innovators that we found understood, ‘I’m in an environment that wants predictability and linearity. It’s my job to explain why things are going to be loopy and prepare the people I’m working with and anticipate when it might loop back and when it’s going to loop forward,’” Carignan said. “And so fitting innovation into a corporate structure, or any company structure, is hard and it requires a certain profile of person.”Building a Culture of Innovation Garbin and Carignan signed copies of their book for attendees Innovation cannot, and should not, be limited to creative or technological pursuits alone. “We found that the best innovators at Microsoft were thinking way beyond the technology,” Carignan said. “They would innovate their business model, their culture, their processes. And it’s that holistic approach to innovation that really leads to breakthroughs.” The co-authors call this systemic creativity “architectural innovation.” Carnigan shares an HR-specific example from Bing, Microsoft’s search engine. “Bing does the candidate-driven loop. They basically leave time in a recruiting loop for the candidate to reach out to people, connect, follow up, schedule a coffee, and they look at how [the candidates] use that time and whether they’re actually using it to learn, engage, and build relationships,” he said. “It’s a good indicator of whether or not they’re going to be innovative when they hire in.”Another Microsoft example: gaming arm Xbox hires for “culture adds” rather than “culture fits,” Carnigan said, acknowledging that each new hire will fundamentally change the organization’s DNA–and that’s OK. “Adding to it is way better than fitting into it,” he said. Xbox manages its culture the way it manages a product. “They say culture is something we need to proactively shape and create, so they have reviews, metrics, and targets. It's not as definable as a product, but they've invested in a team that takes it seriously and whose sole job is to think about where the culture is today and where we need to go with it,” Carnigan said.Best Practices for InnovationPeople are essential to innovation. In the innovation loop of “discover, design, develop,” the most successful organizations have people who take part in more than one part of the process. The co-authors identified different work personalities, such as pioneers, developers, settlers, and town planners. But a group’s ability to innovate is dependent, Carignan says, on another category: boundary crossers. “The discipline is different from the role,” Garbin said. “The trick is to connect all these people together.”  Failure is key to a healthy innovative process, Carignan says, citing Microsoft’s failure to jump on the search engine bandwagon fast enough, leaving room for Google to take the lead. Learning from those mistakes, the team has taken on an early adopter approach when it comes to AI, establishing themselves as leaders on the cutting edge. The co-authors also described the concept of “re-hiring the team” at Xbox when there is a major business or technological shift. “They map [the change] down to every individual job description, and managers are then charged with going and having the conversation: ‘How do the new requirements of the organization map to your interest, background, skills, and passions?’ The vast majority see this as an opportunity to learn and grow, and become even more connected to the organization because they’ve been re-hired,” Carignan said. Ultimately, we are all innovators. “Innovation is everywhere,” Duchamp said, in all departments and across all roles. “90% of the money invested in innovation goes to technology,” Garbin said. “But 90% of the value created comes from everything around the technology: the business model and the people systems. So, the companies that figure out [how] to innovate with everyone, and bring all the roles, all the disciplines, all the parts of the business together, they’re the ones that really achieve monumental success.”Katie Chambers is a freelance writer and award-winning communications executive with a lifelong commitment to supporting artists and advocating for inclusion. Her work has been seen in HuffPost and several printed essay collections, among others, and she has appeared on Cheddar News, iWomanTV, On New Jersey, and CBS New York.(Photos by Josh Larson for From Day One)

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Creating an Employee Experience That’s a Magnet for Today’s Workforce

BY Jennifer Yoshikoshi April 25, 2025

According to a Gallup study, organizations that have a strategic plan for employee development saw an 11% increase in profitability and were twice as likely to retain employees. “One of the most important factors in creating a high-performance workplace is instilling a high-development culture,” the study said.Across industries, companies are always aiming to increase fulfillment and sparking new initiatives to develop an effective work culture.  During a panel at From Day One’s Silicon Valley conference, leaders discussed how their companies are driving engagement, what challenges their organizations face and how employers can create more trust.Driving Engagement Oracle is committed to a culture around a growth mindset and “building that throughout the vein of the organization,” said Sid Deka, vice president of human resources. The company encourages continuous learning and provides employees with a safe space to experiment and drive innovation.Deka adds that by offering learning opportunities for employees of all levels to grow increases the feeling of trust that is developed within the company. It’s important for people to have authentic conversations with managers to plan out ways to improve and explore options for more opportunities, he says.Velocity Global’s Chief HR Officer Carol MacKinlay ties fulfillment in her organization back to empathy. She points out that it's important to remember that the team is human and leaders must be mindful about ensuring their employees are having the best experience while they’re at work.As companies implement new initiatives, transparency at all levels is necessary, says Sid Nayar, vice president of HR strategy, operations, analytics and talent at Freshworks. He also called for the necessity to have business leaders to own company shifts and transformations so “the onus is also on them to cascade it down.”Subadhra Sriram, Independent Journalist, Workforce Expert, right, moderated the discussion MacKinlay says the company is also investing in the growth and development of employees while they are with them. “There may be people here who have career paths that are outside the company, and that's okay. So we're going to develop you. We’re going to grow you. We’re going to tell you what you’re doing well, we’re going to get you to the next place,” she said.Velocity calls these employees “boomerang employees.” Although they may leave the company, there is an incentive plan to bring them back. Challenges in ManagementFreshworks is the first India-based SaaS company that was started from a small city in India and has grown to be successful. Nayar says that because of the company’s background, many of its first employees came from humble beginnings but since the company completed its initial public offering the leadership has shifted. Now, all senior executives are in the United States.“Our biggest challenge is defining who we are now.” Nayar said. “It was a company that about 10 years ago, was the people who had a chip on their shoulder. They were not tier one at your school. They came from humble backgrounds, built this company and made this a global brand.”Freshworks is currently working on how to develop the sense of belonging and identity for those workers as the company has gone globally successful.Kelly McMahon, vice president of organizational effectiveness at Equinix, says accountability, in a sense of pushing for strategic thinking, is a struggle that the company is currently trying to manage. She believes that when employees become accustomed to merely completing day to day assigned tasks, it impedes the company’s pace of work.“I think what we’re trying to sort of engender is a little bit more of a risk tolerance around experimentation,” said McMahon. “Let's put out a perspective and see what the response is, versus trying to build consensus.”Larger companies such as Oracle are seeing challenges with managing and strategizing engagement for multigenerational, multicultural and multiregional employees. Deka says the work environment is three dimensional and pushes the company to think of how to best engage with a diverse group of people in various ways.“Simplicity is the ultimate form of sophistication,” said MacKinlay, a quote she once heard from Velocity’s CEO. She’s referring to the company’s pursuit to simplify communication between leadership and employees. MacKinlay says 90% of her job is spent on communication issues and addressing challenges around communication is best done through providing clear and concise ideas.Building TrustCompanies are seeing that investing in building leadership skills in frontline managers is important to ensuring that down the hierarchy, employees are feeling engaged and trust is being built.Velocity is currently holding roundtables with all employees in small groups to obtain actual feedback on the programs they are implementing. The employee success team is holding 20 sessions around the world with different groups in various languages. “What it does is build trust and it builds a bond to be able to have the faces of the people who can actually affect change for the employees,” said MacKinley. From these meetings, the company is learning about whether their offered benefits match employee needs and if there are any “glaring things that the company has missed,” she said.Velocity is also kicking off an initiative that encourages employees to give anonymous constructive criticism. The idea behind this is to give people a chance to have an outlet to report issues in the workplace and push for others around them to improve.McMahon emphasized the need to invest in employee experiences the same way that companies do for customers.“Organizations who do this really well, map the employee life cycle, prospect to alumni, and then within that say, what are the moments that matter and how are we going to invest in repeatable, scalable, predictable experiences for employees that you know are going to meet their needs,” said McMahon.Jennifer Yoshikoshi is a local news and education reporter based in the San Francisco Bay Area.(Photos by David Coe for From Day One)

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How Leaders Can Personalize Employee Recognition and Rewards

BY Carrie Snider April 24, 2025

While data is a powerful tool for driving engagement, it’s most effective when paired with genuine human connection. Fleur Tang, vice president of human resources in biosciences at BD, highlighted the value of combining analytics with direct employee interactions to create a more complete picture of the workplace experience.“ In order to really understand associates’ needs, one big part is to really get quantitative feedback,” she said during a panel discussion at From Day One’s Silicon Valley conference. “But we are so very big on gemba—meaning that you go to where work happens.” By spending time with employees where they work, managers can uncover insights that surveys alone can’t provide.Employee expectations are shifting rapidly—so how can companies keep up? Has the role of recognition and rewards in the workplace ever been more vital and complex? Tang and four other panelists explored how companies can empower managers to lead with empathy, purpose, and personalization. Moderated by David Thigpen of UC Berkeley, the discussion illuminated the evolving responsibilities of today’s people leaders and offered actionable insights for organizations of all sizes.Recognition efforts, Tang says, must align with company culture and be rooted in purpose. “Let’s be clear about the behaviors we are trying to recognize. That should be absolutely aligned with the culture we are creating for the organization.” It’s not just about the reward—it’s about reinforcing the right behaviors and supporting long-term engagement and retention.Tang also emphasized the growing complexity of middle management. “I think middle-level people managers have the most difficult role nowadays,” she said. These managers must navigate top-down mandates while keeping their teams engaged and productive. That’s why BD has made a conscious effort to support mid-level leaders through initiatives like “second circle meetings,” where leaders one level below the executive team receive direct communication and context from the company president.Purpose, Recognition, and Well-BeingCertainly, effective recognition requires data—but not just from a single point in time, says panelist Florencia Porcaro, senior human resources director at Google.“Data is the guiding principle by which we make decisions,” she said. Google uses a variety of touchpoints—including annual, weekly, and initiative-specific surveys—to track the evolving needs of employees throughout their life cycle. “A single employee may have different needs at different times,” Porcaro noted, emphasizing the importance of understanding those shifts in order to personalize support.The panelists spoke about "Employee Recognition and Rewards: How Managers Can Be Empowered."That personalization takes many forms. For instance, Google’s annual benefits selection period allows employees to reassess their priorities and choose options that best match their current life stage. “It’s a moment to figure out what’s changing in my life, what I value more now,” Porcaro said. The company also offers funding to help make those choices more accessible, empowering employees to tailor their benefits in a way that supports well-being and engagement.Today’s managers face unprecedented challenges, from geopolitical shifts to navigating the AI era, all while being expected to coach, support, and scale teams effectively. Despite the growing demands, Porcaro noted that employees increasingly seek more than just monetary rewards—they want growth, fulfillment, and visibility.“We do things like design recognition programs tied to organizational OKRs,” she said. Top contributors have opportunities to present their work directly to vice presidents in open-floor sessions. “It creates experiences where employees feel seen, valued, and that their work is adding up to something bigger.”That sense of care and intentionality became even more evident during Covid, when Google rapidly mobilized to send Covid tests to employees’ homes. “That speaks loudly about a company thinking about the well-being and needs of a community.”Personalized ManagementWhat does employee recognition and rewards look like at a smaller company? Panelist Abhishek Budhraja, talent business partner (engineering) at Groq, says the company’s approach is to rely heavily on managers to meet each person’s unique needs.“Most people join startups because they believe in the mission—so the real magic happens when we align individual preferences, learning goals, and personal needs with the company’s direction,” he said.Budhraja emphasized the importance of recognizing employees as multi-faceted. “Take me—I’m a millennial, but also a parent and an immigrant. You can’t just look at one label and assume it tells the whole story. That’s why it’s in a company’s best interest to offer autonomy and flexibility, guided by empathetic managers who help individuals find what works best for them.”While tools and offerings have evolved, the fundamentals of good management remain the same. “Empathy, perceptiveness, and helping people feel connected to a greater purpose are still core,” he said. “Those are timeless.”He’s also seen how people’s choices can surprise you. “I’ve had employees turn down promotions because they weren’t right for their life stage. Or at Uber, we’d give two types of offers—one with more equity, one with more cash—and you couldn’t predict what people would choose. That’s why understanding where someone is coming from—and giving them a choice—is so critical.”The Affordability GapOne of the most persistent—and often misunderstood—challenges in employee benefits is the affordability gap: employees want to engage in benefit programs but simply can’t afford to participate.Panelist Aaron Shapiro, founder of Carver Edison, sees this gap firsthand in his work with companies of all sizes, from biotech startups to Fortune 500 firms.“A lot of times, lower-income employees get written off as not being interested in programs because they’re focused on other issues,” he said. “What we found in our data says that is not true at all.” Shapiro says participation drops when payroll deductions make programs inaccessible to those who need them most.This affordability barrier has a direct impact on retention. Many employees are seeking only modest increases in pay, but without support, even small gaps can lead to turnover.“Seventy-eight percent of people looking for a new job right now are primarily interested in just making more money,” Shapiro said, citing recent Federal Reserve data. “The answer was basically a 10% raise on average.” While that increase may not seem significant on an individual level, it adds up quickly for employers—and makes the case for more creative compensation strategies.Carver Edison addresses this gap through its product, Cashless Participation, which allows employees at public companies to join stock plans without upfront payroll deductions.“Last year that delivered about a seven-and-a-half percent raise to the average employee using our product,” Shapiro shared. “And what we found is that not only did 18-month retention rates go up by about 50%, but also click-through rates on simple things like emails were up 500%.” That kind of impact on both financial wellness and engagement shows what’s possible when companies think beyond the traditional benefits model.Customizing BenefitsAs companies work to improve employee engagement and retention, one truth remains clear: there is no one-size-fits-all solution. Customization is key.Panelist Jeff Hermosillo, northern California health solutions practice leader at Aon, emphasized that understanding employee needs starts with asking the right questions—and then placing the answers in context.“You survey, and you get as much information as you can,” he said. “But then you benchmark. Maybe you’re a tech company and want to know how you stack up. What your employees say matters, but context, comparing across companies or industries, helps you make sense of everything.”Aon’s employee sentiment study sheds light on generational preferences. “We tallied information across four generations and asked, ‘What are the most valued benefits?’” he said/ “Gen Z put health insurance first, followed by work-life balance, time off, career development, and retirement. Baby boomers, on the other hand, ranked retirement highest—and work-life balance came in fifth.”While preferences may differ, Hermosillo says there’s usually a shared core of value. “Even though baby boomers ranked health care third, they still care about it,” he said. “So you look to optimize the areas of common ground, then ideally provide some customization so people can choose what matters at their stage in life.”That personalization also extends to how rewards and recognition are delivered. “It’s like throwing a party—someone’s not going to like the meal or the venue,” Hermosillo said. “It’s the same thing with recognition programs. People have different preferences, and that’s okay. The key is understanding who you’re working with and having some flexibility.”Among the panelists, one thing was clear: the most effective recognition and rewards strategies are rooted in flexibility, empathy, and a deep understanding of employee needs. Whether it’s closing the affordability gap, personalizing benefits, or empowering middle managers with better tools and support, companies must move beyond one-size-fits-all solutions. By equipping managers to recognize their teams in ways that are timely, meaningful, and aligned with company values, organizations can foster a culture where employees feel truly seen, supported, and inspired to stay.Carrie Snider is a Phoenix-based journalist and marketing copywriter.(Photos by David Coe for From Day One)

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How Employers Are Strengthening Support for Employee Mental Health and Well-Being

BY Carrie Snider April 16, 2025

Burnout has become a critical issue in healthcare, especially for providers treating chronic pain. The emotional and physical demands of patient care, combined with mounting workplace stressors, are pushing many to the brink of exhaustion. Experts say the solution lies in a holistic approach—one that recognizes the deep connection between physical pain, mental health, and organizational culture.Across industries, employee mental health remains fragile. In a post-pandemic world where wellness is a top priority, companies are grappling with a key question: how can they offer support that’s truly meaningful?At From Day One’s Silicon Valley conference, a panel of experts explored the evolving landscape of employee mental health and wellness. Moderated by Michal Lev-Ram, contributing editor-at-large at Fortune, the discussion covered the role of technology, personalized wellness initiatives, and global strategies for cultivating well-being at work.“Pain is never just physical,” said panelist Claire Morrow, senior manager, PT consultants at Hinge Health. “It’s influenced by psychological and social factors, and that applies to providers just as much as patients.” Healthcare workers who spend their days managing patients’ pain often struggle with their own, leading to a cycle of stress, fatigue, and burnout.Toxic workplace culture only makes it worse. Studies show that negative workplace relationships can delay pain recovery and contribute to emotional exhaustion, Morrow says. A lack of support from leadership or colleagues can push already overburdened providers to their breaking point.“A healthy work environment isn’t just nice to have—it’s essential for both patient care and provider well-being,” she said. “When providers are burned out, it directly impacts the quality of care they can give.”Thankfully, the rise of telehealth and flexible digital platforms is reshaping healthcare delivery, giving providers more control over their schedules. At Hinge Health, physical therapists can work remotely, reducing the stress of long commutes and rigid clinical hours.“Giving providers flexibility in their work helps prevent burnout and ensures they can keep delivering high-quality care,” she said. As healthcare continues to evolve, industry leaders are pushing for solutions that protect both patients and providers. The fight against burnout isn’t just about reducing stress, but about ensuring the future of quality care.Technology’s Role in Mental Health SolutionsTechnology has its place—it should enhance, not replace, human support. AI-driven tools provide employees with a confidential, accessible entry point to mental health care, especially for those hesitant about traditional therapy. Platforms like Unmind’s AI-powered system guide employees toward self-care and offer a seamless transition to professional support when necessary.Despite advancements, burnout remains high, a result of high-performance cultures that overlook well-being. Advanced analytics allow companies to measure burnout’s impact on productivity and healthcare costs, demonstrating mental health as a business priority. “The business case for mental health is clearer than ever,” said panelist Matt Jackson, GM, VP of Americas at Unmind. “When companies invest in prevention, they see reduced absenteeism, increased engagement, and ultimately, better business outcomes.”The U.S. healthcare system prioritizes treatment over prevention, but employers can lead the shift toward proactive mental health strategies. “The future of workplace mental health isn’t about reacting to problems—it’s about using technology to prevent them before they start,” Jackson said. Preventative tools offer real-time support and data-driven insights to address mental health challenges before they escalate.By integrating AI solutions, companies can scale mental health care, reduce costs, and build a resilient workforce. “Digital tools give employees the autonomy to access support on their own terms while ensuring organizations can offer consistent, scalable care,” he said. These tools also help foster a psychologically safe environment, equipping leaders with the resources to prevent burnout and enhance employee well-being.Global Approaches to Wellness As companies adapt post-pandemic, Enphase Energy has focused on helping employees prioritize self-care and family care in a world still adjusting. Panelist Vivian Hung, head of total rewards at Enphase said that “Post-Covid, everyone’s mental head space and self-care prioritization has shifted, and that extends to how they care for their family and how they care for themselves after they leave work.”To accommodate its global workforce, Enphase tailors wellness programs to meet regional and cultural needs. This includes offering fertility health benefits globally while also ensuring inclusivity for employees in different life stages. Executive panelists spoke about "Enhancing Employee Mental Health and Wellness Support" “I don’t have 100% of my workforce thinking about family formation,” Hung said. “So how do I take care of the rest of the population?” The company offers a wide range of benefits to ensure that every employee’s needs are met, irrespective of location.In addition, Enphase maintains a strong focus on work-life balance, particularly through its implementation of blackout meeting periods. They employ a blackout period to be respectful of local time zones. This ensures employees aren’t burdened with after-hours work, promoting true disconnection from work, she says. Financial wellness is another key pillar at Enphase, recognizing that financial stress is a global issue that impacts overall well-being. The company provides educational resources to help employees understand their total compensation, easing financial concerns and strengthening their connection to benefits.Fostering Meaningful ConversationsHuman connection is key to building a supportive work environment. Since each employee’s experience is shaped by their location, culture, and personal circumstances, companies must take a flexible, personalized approach to wellness. In short, panelist JoAnn Taylor, CHRO at Rakuten, says organizations must meet their people where they are. “We try to make sure that we know what’s going on, and we can be agile so we can react quickly to make sure that our employees have the support in place that they can access when they need it in confidentiality,” she said. This adaptability allows companies to offer tailored solutions, ensuring that employees feel understood and supported.While digital wellness tools play a role in wellness programs, the human element is just as crucial. “Having one meaningful conversation a day raises all the good hormones, and that builds your inner strength, so you can be more agile when things start to come at you,” Taylor said. In today’s hybrid work environment, balancing flexibility with meeting business needs is essential. That’s why they introduced Wellness Fridays, where employees get the afternoon off to recharge.As the panelists pointed out, with the right tools and a focus on human connection, companies can create a resilient, engaged workforce capable of thriving in today’s challenging landscape. By embracing flexibility, integrating preventative mental health tools, and fostering personal connections, companies can create a resilient workforce equipped to thrive in today’s dynamic work environment.Carrie Snider is a Phoenix-based journalist and marketing copywriter.(Photos by David Coe for From Day One)

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The Debate Over RTO and WFH: What the Research Really Shows

BY Katie Chambers April 15, 2025

Despite headlines over the last year touting the full RTO of major corporations like J.P. Morgan Chase and Amazon, Nicholas Bloom the foremost expert on remote work and professor of economics at Stanford University, says the RTO trend seems to have already passed. Citing a recent study of more than 1,000 companies, he said “we asked them about their return to office plans, looking ahead a year, and 85% of them said they have no plans to change.”“The big data I’ve seen suggests there is not a major return to the office. I don’t think there’s going to be much major change outside of the government sector,” said Bloom. Some companies have been tying bonuses to office attendance to incentivize employees to come in, which Bloom finds ineffective. “There are only so many dollars you can give [an employee] for a bonus,” he said. “If you start to take away some of that from performance and put it onto days in the office, you’re just giving her less bonus for performance. You’re basically saying, as a business to a manager, ‘We care less about performance.’”And still, latest headlines regarding return to office are contradictory. “One will say that being in the office full time will make your workers more productive, and then the next day you might see one that says being hybrid or fully remote will make your workers more productive. What is the actual answer?” asked moderator Katherine Bindley, technology reporter at the Wall Street Journal during a fireside chat at From Day One’s Silicon Valley conference.As more large employers enforce a return to office, Bloom shared insights on what the latest research shows about productivity, employee engagement, and other factors that companies need to take into account when developing their policies. For employers insisting on RTO, what can they do to make the arrangement more effective? And for those offering flexible arrangements, what approaches provide the best results?We all want to know: which is the more effective strategy, RTO (return to office) or WFH (work from home)? “It really depends on the task,” Bloom said. Certain duties like call center work benefit from the quiet of home. Generally, Bloom and his student researchers have found that a hybrid model is optimal.A recent two-year study on the company Trip.com did an A/B test of their workers, with half working from home two days per week and the other half in the office full time. The study showed no demonstrable effect on performance.“[In interviews] they’d say there’s a huge benefit of coming into the office. It’s great for mentoring, it’s better for innovation, it’s better for building culture,” Bloom said. “But by the time you’ve gone three days a week in the office, it’s not obvious that days four and five are useful.”In fact, spending the other two days at home allowed for deep work and an additional 90-minutes of working time. And the employees who were allowed to work part-time from home were 35% less likely to quit. “The Trip.com CEO and the board said this is massively profitable, because every person that quits costs us something like $30,000  to $50,000,” Bloom said. It can be hard to measure performance among certain professions–even more so when employees are working from home and you can’t physically see or hear what they are doing, says Bloom. But it’s crucial for employers to figure out how to gauge results to allow employees this highly sought-after benefit. “Make sure you have good performance evaluations,” Bloom said, suggesting complex metrics and sliding scales based on each role.How to Enforce RTOBloom cautions against using RTO as a method of downsizing, referring to Amazon and even DOGE as guilty of versions of this, essentially making work so uncomfortable through RTO and other mandates that people quit. But organizations that do really need a full RTO need to roll it out in a way that is both enforceable and attractive. Companies that announce RTO, he says, see an uptick in “card swipes and Wi-Fi logins” at the office at first, but after the initial mandate, compliance starts to slip. Buy-in from managers is key, as they set the tone for their teams. “What’s happening is this very weak enforcement. In order to enforce, you have to have a strong mandate and incentives,” he said. Bindley also notes the importance of having the actual space to bring back workers, especially after so many companies downsized their spaces during the pandemic. “You have to have enough desks,” she said. Nicholas Bloom, William D. Eberle professor in economics and foremost expert on remote work, was interviewed during the fireside chat The Best Model of Hybrid With hybrid schedules, it can be hard to coordinate workers, Bindley says. You don’t want a situation where people head to the office just to be on Zoom with colleagues at home. “The most common model is three days in the office: Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday,” Bloom said. “There’s no exact science on which days, but you want to coordinate two or three days.” People still work on Fridays, but most do it from home, Bloom says. In fact, the London Underground has even made Friday an off-peak travel day due to the change in work-styles.And with coordination must come enforcement. “There’s an old Roman saying that a good law is an easy to enforce law,” Bloom said. Allowing employees to work from home means “treating employees more like an adult,” Bloom said. It means you trust them, knowing that even though they might be technically working fewer hours as they pick up their kids or go to the dentist, they will still make it up on the other end to get everything done. Workers end up less stressed, and more personally and professionally productive, when they are trusted to manage their own time. Looking ahead, WFH is the way of the future, Bloom says. And we’ve been moving toward it for years, with the advent of personal computers in the 1980s, inexpensive Wi-Fi phone calls in the 2000s, and the like. Innovations like Google’s Starliner project and other technological advances will make remote work that much easier.And perhaps most importantly, it’s what the next generation wants. “If you look at the people that are against working from home, they tend to be 50 plus. As time goes on, those folks tend to drift out,” Bloom said. “If you look at leaders in [their 30s-40s], they’re much more balanced on this. Those folks, in 10 years, are going to be the CEOs of the future.” Katie Chambers is a freelance writer and award-winning communications executive with a lifelong commitment to supporting artists and advocating for inclusion. Her work has been seen in HuffPost and several printed essay collections, among others, and she has appeared on Cheddar News, iWomanTV, On New Jersey, and CBS New York.(Photos by David Coe for From Day One)

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Change Is Hard. What HR Leaders Can Do to Make it Easier and More Successful

BY Jessica Swenson April 10, 2025

One of the most significant and foundational opportunities HR leaders have is to empower frontline and middle managers through scalable tools, resources, and information, says Steve Arntz of Campfire. Leaders at this level may not have influenced the decision-making, but they do need to be able to effectively articulate the plans and guide team members through the process. “Middle managers are often the ones delivering the change, but they’re not the ones who have to make the decision,” said Arntz. “So what tools and resources can we give them to help them have honest, consistent conversations?”Change initiatives can leave employees feeling frustrated and overwhelmed. A cross-industry executive panel at From Day One’s Salt Lake City conference discussed how HR leaders can help streamline change in their organizations and improve the employee experience. The conversation was moderated by KSL-TV anchor Lori Prichard.It can also be helpful to reiterate what is not changing, says Amanda Harper, the global head of growth learning experience and performance for Square. “Talking to my team about what’s not changing in those times of great change has been really helpful,” she said. “We can anchor to those [core values] to say, ‘Here’s the stuff that stays the same.’”Panelists agreed with Marcus Cazier, bioMérieux’s senior director of L&D for the Americas, that HR can leverage their C-suite relationships to advocate for frontline employees. “HR is a great advocate for the front line to the C-suite,” he said. “You have access to more senior business leaders so you can help communicate the reality back up the ladder.”With 86% of HR leaders reporting directly to their CEOs, according to The Talent Strategy Group’s 2023 HR Operating Model Report, Harper also emphasized that those in the room should use their seat at the table wisely: “We’re there in most cases, so it’s up to us to use our voice at that table.”Nate Beck, SVP of learning experience and design for Zions Bancorporation, says that HR leaders cannot just tell the C-suite what they want to hear; they need to be confident in communicating hard truths.For leaders without a seat at the C-level table, Cazier recommends boosting visibility and building trust by bringing data and strategic plans to help executives meet their priorities. Clear alignment with their goals will position you as an asset and illustrate your investment in the company. The ability to bring forward an authentic perspective from frontline employees can help build credibility. By proving with data that you have a purpose in that space, and use your strengths to influence and drive success. To advocate for business partners and frontline teams in the C-suite, it is also vital for HR to build trust with those teams, says Beck. Simply spending time with your partners to understand their daily workflow and the impacts of change can help build relationships and demonstrate that you’re there to help them thrive, says Cazier. It’s important for listeners to have hard conversations that support individuals and help align them with the organization’s strategic direction. The panelists also agreed on the importance of building a culture of accountability. Rather than employees first hearing about a change from HR, Harper likes to see leaders champion changes before rollout. Arntz urges people not to let business partners “hide behind HR.” They should communicate expectations to their team members and work through the performance management process before any handoff to HR.Relationships can also be leveraged to encourage bottom-up change. “Don’t wait for the C-suite to come to you,” said Beck. “Advocate for your team from the start—you’re a part of every change that happens in the organization.”Panelists spoke about leading through change at From Day One's SLC conference Cazier emphasized encouraging senior leaders to take an iterative approach to shaping change strategies: “Stress test it with team members. Run it by them. Get their feedback,” he said.Another opportunity lies in reviewing performance management processes, said Arntz. “Your performance management process sits at the center of all of it,” he said. “We take that for granted. We teach some behaviors and reward completely different ones—and that creates a system with no safety.”Change Management vs. Transition ManagementBeck takes a proactive approach to making change better for everyone around him. One key step is reframing “change management” as “transition management.” “Change is about the event—flip a switch, it happens. But people are not the same way,” he said. “Transition management is about navigating the ebb and flow of people’s feelings during a transition.”Change has a collective impact, but senior leaders do not always have the capacity to look at change from an individual perspective, says Arntz. Recognizing and leveraging team member strengths can help orient the rest of the team. In these situations, Arntz identifies and empowers results-oriented, relationship-oriented, and process-oriented people to support their team members during the appropriate phases of change.Harper recommends implementing feedback loops and modeling a solutions-oriented approach. “If you have feedback loops in place, knowing how to correlate that data to what matters to the executive suite is really important,” she said.Navigating Unpopular MandatesHR leaders also have a role to play in return-to-office mandates. “If the decision is based on real estate commitments, don’t pretend it’s for productivity,” said Arntz. “Just be authentic with your message.”Similarly, leaders must communicate clearly about emerging technologies like AI. “AI can’t take judgment from us—it needs us to operate it,” said Arntz. Harper added: “HR is in a unique position to prepare organizations to use AI in a way that enables our workforce, rather than replaces it.”Beck encourages a practical, human-centered approach: “Let AI do the good things, so we can focus on the best things,” he said. Meanwhile, Cazier noted that AI implementation presents an opportunity for HR to support not just tools, but people: “There’s plenty for us to do—not just help write emails or generate e-learnings, but also to help people navigate the changes hitting their world.”Jessica Swenson is a freelance writer based in the Midwest. Learn more about her at jmswensonllc.com.(Photos by Sean Ryan for From Day One)

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Enhancing Efficiency, Inclusivity, and Personalization: How AI is Transforming Talent Acquisition

BY Carrie Snider April 02, 2025

Hiring the right talent has never been more challenging—or more crucial. Organizations must be efficient, but not to the detriment of it becoming a transaction. While AI is helping companies transform recruitment, how can they harness its power without letting the process become robotic?At From Day One’s Salt Lake City conference, a panel of experts discussed how to achieve a human-tech balance. Moderated by Melanie Jones, editor in chief of Utah Business, the conversation explored AI’s role in recruiting, the skills gap in today’s workforce, and strategies for creating a more efficient, engaging hiring experience.Artificial intelligence may be streamlining high-volume hiring by automating sourcing, scheduling, and selection processes. However, the key to success lies in balancing AI’s efficiency with the human touch that ensures a personalized candidate experience.“For us, AI helps with sourcing and scheduling, particularly for entry-level and high-volume hiring,” said panelist Danielle McCaffrey, senior director of talent acquisition at Alorica. AI can minimize front-end work to help them narrow down candidate pools while also making sure that they don’t miss any of them, she says. But what of recruiters?Rather than replacing recruiters, AI is shifting their roles. Since automation takes over repetitive tasks, recruiters can focus on higher-value activities such as interviewing, networking, and refining candidate assessments. “In high-volume recruiting, we tend to get too transactional, but AI helps us move beyond that to create more meaningful conversations with candidates,” McCaffrey said.For companies looking to implement AI, McCaffrey suggested first conducting a time and motion study to assess which tasks are truly repeatable and suitable for automation. “That can give you a good starting point,” she said, reinforcing the need to approach AI integration strategically while keeping the human element at the core of hiring decisions.Future Workforce and AdaptabilityWith technology shaping the workforce, adaptability is key, says Breanna Johnson, recruiting team lead at Zions Bancorporation.  “The first implementers of technology are going to be the people coming out of high school and college,” Johnson said. As this young workforce applies for entry-level roles, the landscape will continue to shift. “Just like customer service phone positions were once the standard, and now chat support has grown, new roles will emerge. We need employees who are flexible and leaders with vision to direct those paths.”Despite AI’s advantages, there’s a growing skills gap in the workforce, says Johnson. “We’re seeing a lack of communication skills, especially among individuals who completed their education remotely during Covid. Many recruiters and organizations have noted this as a significant issue, particularly for roles requiring customer interaction. We may need to adjust our training to focus on customer service and communication.”Panelists shared insights on the topic "Making Talent Acquisition More Efficient, Inclusive, and Personalized"That’s why recruiters at Zions Bancorporation are continuously upskilling. “Our team has been attending seminars and lectures to enhance their knowledge,” Johnson said. “We want our recruiters to take the reins of AI technology, not just replace parts of their work but use it to create real value for hiring managers and candidates. In the next three to five years, as AI becomes even more prevalent, our team needs to be prepared.”Everyone has to start someone with the adoption of new technology, says Johnson. “Everyone right now is in the early stages of AI exploration. Even if you feel behind, researching and implementing AI today is the next best step. Look at your core recruiting components—whether it’s Workday, Taleo, or another system—and ensure any new tools integrate well. Vendors may promise the stars and moon, but will it actually work with your system?”Holistic Hiring ApproachThe key to making talent acquisition better is to look at it holistically, said panelist Jay Hart, global head of talent management at Varex Imaging Corporation. “We want to use technology to simplify some of those easily repeatable tasks, maybe the lower value-add activities, but we still need to use human judgment to evaluate and make decisions,” he said. This balance allows companies to leverage technology to improve efficiencies without losing the crucial insight that human evaluation provides.The key is to use technology for the right reasons, and to never let it replace human judgment. “I can’t rely on the way we used to do it, where a recruiter screens a resume, hands it to a hiring manager, who spends 30 seconds on the resume... I’ve got to have skills assessments, a personality profile, and a structured interview process with an unbiased ranking system.” This ensures that each candidate is thoroughly evaluated, minimizing the risk of overlooking potential talent due to a lack of personalization or bias. With this approach, companies can spend time on what’s really important. Enhancing Candidate ExperienceImproving the candidate experience is essential to attracting and retaining top talent, says panelist Julie Cox, senior director of talent acquisition and global mobility at Lamb Weston. So whatever tech you’re looking at possibly implementing, make sure it enhances the experience, she says. Lamb Weston uses several tools, including a CRM tool to streamline candidate sourcing. This automation simplifies the search process, allowing teams to focus on higher-value tasks, like engaging with candidates personally, Cox says.Lamb Weston has shifted its approach to employee feedback by moving away from infrequent surveys to “pulsing” surveys that are quick and easy to answer. What they’ve discovered is that the younger workforce craves professional development—specifically feedback. Responding to this call can help engage the workforce.Microlearning is another innovative approach that the company promotes to enhance employee development. “We were able to say, we want to do two to three-minute microlearning modules,” Cox said. This approach fosters quick learning and offers employees easy access to reference materials.Cox’s team also revamped the company’s career site to make the application process smoother for candidates. “We added 18 additional pages that provide the candidate with a lot of self-service tools. We worked really hard to make sure the candidate could quickly and easily apply to a job at Lamb Weston.” This focus on simplicity and accessibility is key to improving the overall candidate experience.Strategic and Flexible RecruitingPanelist Erin Kap, director of talent acquisition at Intermountain Health, is focusing on enhancing the skills of the recruiting teams post-Covid. “I think we’ve all come out of Covid and what that did for recruiting teams. It was go, go, go at a breakneck pace, trying to fill things and trying to get them back to just the human experience.”AI can help with processes, but it can’t judge character and behavior. To make this transition smooth, the team has initiated a “huge upskilling project” to support their recruiters in continuously developing their skills. At the same time, it’s important to trial and error your way through your methods.“We’ve had experiences where we’ve implemented tools that didn’t work and candidates were averse to so we saw, like, large drop off rates, and that was important for us to be able to recognize and get rid of what’s not serving your business, like what she’s saying. If it’s not serving you, then get rid of it and figure something else out.”As companies utilize AI more and more, Kap suggested they take recruiters along the way. That way, they can be part of the implementation and better adapt to how things are changing. To foster engagement, Kap’s team has worked on creating personalized development plans for recruiters. “We sat down as a team, knowing what we’re implementing, what we’ve already done, said, like, what are really those major skills of the future, and why are they so important? And then we’ve evaluated our team to say they’re doing the evaluation too, to see, like, where am I really at? And creating development plans around that.”By strategically integrating AI, continuously upskilling recruiters, and prioritizing the candidate experience, companies can create a hiring process that is both efficient and deeply personal. Flexibility is key. And in the end, successful talent acquisition isn’t just about filling roles—it’s about building strong, engaged teams for the future.Carrie Snider is a Phoenix-based journalist and marketing copywriter.(Photos by Sean Ryan for From Day One)

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Enhancing Employee Mental Health and Wellness Support

BY Tabitha Cabrera April 01, 2025

In 2024 the World Health Organization released a report about Mental Health at Work estimating that globally, $1 trillion is lost in productivity each year due to depression and anxiety. Preventing mental health conditions at work is about managing psychosocial risks in the workplace, the study reports.Business leaders should invest resources in training management to not only try and recognize the struggles that employees face but to ask the right questions to provide important resources to employees within their organization. A panel discussion at From Day One’s Salt Lake City conference addressed this very topic. Leigh Stenby, Mountain States health solutions practice leader at AON, highlighted the spectrum and impact mental health can have within an organization. “It’s important to provide yourself, your colleagues and those that you work with resources, training, and access to tools to help folks, because you really never know what they’re going through,” she said.Stenby, shared the story of a client “who was a smart, young, dynamic woman, and we were doing amazing work together, and she ended up having a very severe mental health episode.” Mental health struggles reach a far and wide range of people in different aspects of their life, which can include, situational mental health, such as the loss of a family member, financial stress, or divorce or can be a lifelong battle that some employees may face managing depression and anxiety. Mike Brandt, VP of HR operations, employee and labor relations of L3 Harris Technologies agreed, highlighting how the company creates options inclusive of all. “So as we think about the support networks that our employees have, whether they’re single parents, whether they have family in town or not, whether they have any other network that can help them with their responsibilities outside of work,” he said. The company focuses on providing support for a wide range of employees and also ensuring they know the resources available, and that they are using them.Connie Washington, VP of people and DEI at Progressive Leasing, provides insight into the responsibility of employers. “There’s so much that people are dealing with, and they don’t leave it home. It shows up at work, whether we like it or not. And so, it’s our responsibility, responsibility as leaders and organizations to determine ways that we can support them through the challenges that they face. They’re our most important and valuable asset of an organization,” she said. Sometimes support looks like giving people time and flexibility to focus on things outside of work. AON provides “two global well-being days per year to our employees, and they’re set days, but they don’t align with any other national or religious holidays, and so they are intended for employees to use for their own self care and their own well-being, the whole company shuts down for that day,” said Stenby. Beth Taylor, assistant editor at Utah Business, moderated the panel discussionDallen Allred, co-founder and CEO of Tava Health, emphasizes the importance of a top-down approach to well-being. “I think one of the things that companies can do is demonstrate more vulnerability as leaders,” Allred said.Ryan Schatzer, VP of people services & experience at Intermountain Health agreed: “Frontline managers are so pivotal for the mental well-being of the workforce.” Resources for managers can include Mental Health First Aid, which is a one-day certification course. When employees feel like there is a culture of openness and an ability to be vulnerable without judgement regarding productivity, missed work, or any other number of factors important to employers they may be able to find what they are needing to make their way through whatever mental health struggle the employee is facing. Schatzer shared an impactful story regarding an employee who was struggling with thoughts of suicide and how important it was for the manager to ask the right questions and provide support in that situation. He goes on to highlight the gravity of providing services, support, and openness within an organization, “How do we support the team and families that have gone through or experienced suicide, but on the prevention piece, create a culture, again, a culture of openness.” Finding a way to see the employee sitting in front of you asking for help, either through their words or action, and having the proper training to either ask the right questions or direct the employee to the support they are needing, can greatly impact the workplace but most importantly the individual. Tabitha Cabrera, Esq. is a writer and attorney, who has a series of inclusive children's books, called Spectacular Spectrum Books.(Photos by Sean Ryan for From Day One)

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How Employees Can Navigate Digital Transformation While Being Heard, Seen, and Valued

BY Jennifer Yoshikoshi March 28, 2025

Extra Space Storage is a self-storage company that has over 4,000 facilities across the United States and employs 8,000 workers. The company has also only had three CEOs since 1977. At From Day One’s Salt Lake City conference, Whitney Harper, SVP of people at Extra Space Storage spoke with moderator Robert Gehrke, a reporter for The Salt Lake Tribune about how the company’s leadership and culture has fostered a work environment that embraces inclusivity, thoughtfulness and has adapted to artificial intelligence.As the nation faces a tumultuous time in politics, the news can be overwhelming and distracting for everyone, especially in the workplace. In order to make sure employees are seen, heard and focused, leaders can incorporate informal and formal strategies, says Harper.Surveys are a common way to check in with team members and get a “pulse check” on engagement, says Harper. Meetings can also give companies insight on how employees feel and what their concerns are.Informally, having conversations while running into people at the office can be a great way to casually connect with others and hear their thoughts. Extra Space Storage has developed a culture of having stairwell chats, while people run into workers from different departments between building floors. Harper also encourages asking the questions of “what’s on your mind?”, “what are you stressed about?” and “what can we help answer?”Showing employees that they are valued is another strategy to creating a thoughtful work environment. “When you have team members that hit a significant milestone, you want to make sure that you are also adequately or appropriately showing up and recognizing and reinforcing and creating kind of that calmness,” said Harper. Extra Space Storage celebrates employee milestones through bonuses. Although they used to send gifts, they found that extra cash was better received by workers. Diversity, equity and inclusion has been a hot topic in the news since the beginning of Trump’s second term. Extra Space Storage has remained committed to DEI efforts since the Black Lives Matters movement following George Floyd’s murder in 2020. The company has adjusted its DEI language to shift more toward inclusion and values because it felt that it more strongly aligned with its authentic self. Balancing the Use of AIWith thousands of employees and a commitment to helping everyone who needs human resource assistance, Harper is a regular user of artificial intelligence programs such as ChatGPT and Galileo, but she emphasizes to “never let AI be the driver.”Harper said AI has helped the company analyze data from employee engagement surveys and produce reports to share with senior leadership with indications that it was AI generated. This data contains a lot of sensitive information and so Harper clarified that she works closely with the cybersecurity team to ensure that these tools are safe. Whitney Harper, SVP of people at Extra Space Storage, was interviewed by Robert Gehrke, reporter at the Salt Lake Tribune during the fireside chatThe company also uses AI in learning and development. It recently launched a new learning management system called Axonify. “Axonify does trainings, but also does daily quizzes, so it can be testing the individual and also asks the individual, what's your confidence level on your answer to this,” Harper said. The AI training system learns about the individual employee the more they use it and helps them advance their skills in a way that is suited for them.Culture From the Top DownExtra Space Storage serves millions of customers with its storage facilities, but how do they transfer its inclusive work culture down to the members of the public?Harper says its unique company culture and business model all stems from the foundation of the company and its mission to maintain a “win-win relationship.” The founder of Extra Space Storage, Kenneth M. Wooley has always worked under the win-win relationship mindset even prior to the creation of the company, says Harper. “If you’re going to go into business with Ken Woolley, he's never going to do a deal that’s not a win-win with you,” she said. This reputation has continued with its second and third CEO.The win-win relationship is now serving its customers through rate adjustments especially when the company acknowledges that rate increases can be stressful. “We empower our team members to do rate adjustments,” she said. “They are empowered to do that so that they can say, ‘I know this customer, I can empathize. I see what’s going on with them. This is not a good time for you to have a rate increase. Let me make that adjustment for you.’”When the company’s culture is embraced by leaders, team members and third party owners, the positive impact of it “cascades throughout the whole organization,” Harper said.Jennifer Yoshikoshi is a local news and education reporter based in the San Francisco Bay Area.(Photos by Sean Ryan for From Day One)

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How to Be Clear About Business Principles So Both the Company and Workers Can Thrive

BY Katie Chambers March 28, 2025

Justin Sibley, CEO of POWDR, has moved through diverse work environments, from HR roles in Silicon Valley to the more “laidback” culture of a leading outdoor recreation brand. Each experience contributed to a smart, intuitive, and flexible management style, one that has become a particular asset at his organization based in the beautiful mountains of Utah. When employees understand what sustains their business and the purpose of its policies, they’re in a better position to help all the corporate functions work well together. Sibley, the CEO of the adventure-lifestyle company POWDR, owner of Snowbird and many other resorts, illuminated how this principle influences hiring, education, corporate culture, and dealing with new challenges during a fireside chat at From Day One’s Salt Lake City conference.The Value of TransparencyOne of the keys to clarity is transparency: being honest and open with your employees about what is going on at the business—both the good and the bad. “There’s a lot of dialogue around being authentic. And if you’re in any business long enough, you’re going to have speed bumps, you’re going to have issues that come up, and you’ve got to figure out the best way to get through that,” Sibley said. If that is the first time you decide to be open with employees, Sibley says, you could get burned. “A lot of companies get accused of not following their corporate values when they have to make tough decisions, [such as] not pursue a great opportunity, cut back on expenses, or even [have] layoffs.”Staying open with employees from the outset can help them better understand the how and the why behind painful decisions. “There’s a lot of pressure for people, when they're developing their mission, vision, values, and culture, to present it in this altruistic way,” Sibley said. At POWDR, Sibley and his team aim to “balance the objective with the subjective,” instilling a welcoming community-centric culture while also not shying away from a focus on sales, profits, and longevity. This requires buy-in from HR. “It’s important the HR team understands what we’re doing and why, [so] that when they’re onboarding people, they can support the same thing,” Sibley said. “The HR team is part of developing that authenticity around, ‘Hey, we're in this business because we love it, but we're also in this business to stay in this business.”Reimagining the Hiring ProcessMany of us have a mental image of what kind of person might work at an adventure-lifestyle company like POWDR. “Historically, the outdoor rec industry used to hire people who could display as much passion as possible for a powder day,” said moderator Lauren Gustus, executive editor of the Salt Lake Tribune. But Sibley is changing that. When he first arrived, he found a staff that was full of “really great mountain bikers or skiers,” but was finding it challenging to reach the next level in departments like tech, finance, and infrastructure.So, he prioritized hiring employees who displayed just as much passion in their vocabulary and body language during an interview about their work skills as they do for the great outdoors. “The outdoor industry is just like every other industry. We have complicated problems we need to solve, and we have opportunities that we need to grab on to, and it takes that functional skill set to do it,” Sibley said. This all comes back to a continued conversation with HR about values: “What are we doing, why are we doing it, what kinds of skill sets do we need. It’s just part of the conversation, not an event. It’s what we talk about on a regular basis.” Navigating Modern ChallengesHaving a strong set of values and a focus on organizational growth and success is particularly helpful as POWDR navigates the unique challenges of the current moment, including the impact of climate change on the outdoor adventure industry and how recent immigration reform efforts might impact the availability of seasonal workers, many of whom rely on H-2B and J-1 visas. Sibley wishes the reform conversation in Congress would touch on things like stability, lifting the caps on how long foreign workers can stay, or making the hiring timeline more flexible. Currently those visa candidates must be hired in January, when businesses like POWDR are already well into their core season.His organization is taking a proactive approach. “We’ve hired somebody who has deep experience with working in D.C. with our government and has those relationships, and we've worked on  getting in front of the Department of the Interior [and] whoever we need to get in front of to make that happen,” Sibley said. He urges that corporations can’t rely on trade associations alone to advocate for governmental changes for their industries. “When we came through COVID, I realized that we need to take responsibility for ourselves on that front, and make sure we have those relationships and that we're speaking to our representatives directly.” He says HR teams can add value to this process by hosting lunch-and-learns with local reps to familiarize them with business initiatives. Expanding on a National Level With government relationships top of mind, POWDR is now breaking into a new area: national parks. This expansion includes running Stovepipe Wells in Death Valley and the lodge inside Zion National Park, taking over admin, hospitality, and HR from the Park Service, bringing their luxury adventure hospitality brand to established government properties. “We took everything that we consider to be our core competencies, hospitality, food and beverage, hotel management, retail rentals, helping each place be the best version of itself, and we don’t try to homogenize anything,” Sibley said.Even though Sibley acknowledges this side of the business does not have the highest margins, it still provides a valuable opportunity for the staff within POWDR, even boosting retention. Among its 8,000 employees, about 6,000 are seasonal. At the parks, Sibley is finding that people who want to enjoy “gap year” style jobs but keep it for longer can simply shift from working at his ski resorts during the snow season and move on to, say, Zion National Park in the warmer weather. “There’s tremendous employee synergy in having these off-season businesses where we have housing available for people. It’s seamless for them to move from place to place. And kids in their early 20s, they love it.” POWDR looks forward to bidding on additional national park opportunities in the future. Ultimately, company culture must come from the top. “It’s my job to set the tone, hire the team, and make sure people have the tools. My focus is on making sure that [the mission] is well-known. We work hard with the HR and tech teams to make sure that we have scalable ways to disseminate that to the farthest reaches of the organization,” Sibley said. Part of the culture includes communicating actively with all employees, meeting them where they are, whether they communicate via company email or WhatsApp. “But my job is to make sure that I’m living the culture that I say I want,” he said. “And then to make sure that I’m fighting for the resources with the board to make sure we have all the tools to get it done.”Katie Chambers is a freelance writer and award-winning communications executive with a lifelong commitment to supporting artists and advocating for inclusion. Her work has been seen in HuffPost and several printed essay collections, among others, and she has appeared on Cheddar News, iWomanTV, On New Jersey, and CBS New York.(Photo by Sean Ryan for From Day One)

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Fostering Connection for Workplace Well-Being and Innovation

BY Carrie Snider March 27, 2025

Workplace mental health is in crisis. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 76% of U.S. workers report experiencing at least one symptom of a mental health condition, and 84% say their workplace has contributed to their struggles. As such, employees are demanding change—81% say they will seek workplaces that actively support mental well-being in the future.At From Day One’s Houston conference, TV host, producer, and journalist Dee Brown moderated a panel of experts. As she highlighted these statistics, their discussion maintained that to foster well-being and drive innovation, organizations must create environments where employees feel valued, heard, and safe.Building Psychological SafetyPanelist Jonathan Thorp, chief learning officer at Quantum Connections, highlighted that addressing workplace culture requires understanding employees on a deep level. “A lot of people mistake culture as being this single thing, this entity that you can measure and perfect,” he said. “But culture operates on several levels: the values a company aspires to, the actual behaviors and routines in the workplace, and, most importantly, the underlying beliefs of employees.” Companies must actively engage with employees to uncover these beliefs, Thorp says. “You’ve got no way to learn what those underlying beliefs are unless you talk to them, unless you ask them, and unless you actually build a genuine conversation—leaving that person feeling seen and heard.”Panelists spoke about "The Connection Solution: Bringing Workers Together for Well-Being and Innovation"The key to building psychological safety is not just assuming a workplace culture is effective but continuously measuring and reinforcing it. In Google’s Project Aristotle, he says, which sought to determine what makes the most effective teams, they were hoping to find that there was one Ivy League hero demographic that they could hire. “But what they actually found was that psychological safety was the number one factor,” Thorp said.Creating an environment where employees feel safe to speak up, share ideas, and engage meaningfully with leadership isn’t something that happens by chance—it must be intentionally cultivated and maintained. “You have to work at it, and as soon as you have it, even for an instant, you have to work hard to keep it, because it is perishable.”Data-Driven DecisionsSupporting employees, particularly in high-stress environments like behavioral health, is critical. “Charlie Health is uniquely positioned because we’re in the behavioral health space,” said panelist Christine Ko, chief people officer at Charlie Health. “With nearly 90% of our workforce being clinicians who work with high-need clients in crisis, we have to take a much more active approach to preventative care.”This means prioritizing real-time data collection to anticipate and address burnout before it escalates, she says. But Ko acknowledged the complexity of workplace well-being, particularly when multiple challenges overlap. “You have overarching burnout issues in behavioral health, then you add workplace culture challenges—like isolation and lack of connection—and then you layer on a remote, distributed workforce,” she said. “Suddenly, you have a very complex set of issues to solve in a workplace setting.”Charlie Health takes a hands-on approach, integrating traditional Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs) with embedded support in daily workflows. “It’s about teaching our employees to fish,” she added. “We want to give them the tools they need and empower them to use those tools when necessary.”Truly listening requires collecting information, but really analyzing it so they can best use it. “We do quarterly pulse surveys at the organizational level, but that’s just a starting point,” Ko said. “After that, we do deep dives with each team because we have such a diverse workforce—some hourly, some salaried, some in healthcare, some in corporate roles. The needs of each group are different, and we have to understand those unique challenges.”Building trust is essential in making this process successful. “That’s why we’re upfront: We want to hear from you because what you tell us matters. And we’re going to use that information to prioritize initiatives that will have the biggest impact on you.”Sustainable change begins with leadership, says Ko. By investing in leadership training and support, Charlie Health ensures managers are equipped to provide personalized, day-to-day coaching. “If we get leadership right, we can create solutions that truly support our workforce in the long run.”Connection and PurposeLeaders should make sure they are aligning employees with the company’s mission to foster a sense of connection and purpose, says panelist Terry Stringer, head of ethics office, integrity policy and operations at HP Inc. Because of psychological safety challenges employees face, HP implemented a peer-support initiative designed to offer employees a trusted avenue to discuss concerns, which in turn encouraged them to engage more openly and feel safer in their roles. “They should feel comfortable speaking up without fear of repercussions,” Stringer said. HP developed a mental health initiative where executive leaders publicly discussed their personal mental health challenges, sparking meaningful conversations throughout the company. “This openness led to employees seeking resources and HR stepping in to provide more support,” Stringer said. The company also focuses on gathering feedback through various surveys to continuously evaluate the program’s impact and make necessary adjustments. The goal is not just to measure the program’s success, she explained, but to improve the overall work environment and employee experience.It all comes down to balancing the company’s goals with the well-being of employees. “We’re a business, but we care about you as a person. We need you to be well in order for us to succeed,” she said. Use AI to Enhance WellnessAI is one tool that leaders can use to boost connectivity, according to panelist Selena Young, head of HR business partnering at Seadrill. The company uses AI tools to improve wellness among its largely offshore workforce. “Being on a rig for months, disconnected from the world, can be very challenging,” she said. To address this, Seadrill implemented an AI-based platform that provides personalized real-time nudges to employees, encouraging behavior changes that positively impact their mental wellness.The AI tool monitors employee activity, such as time spent on computers and email response times, and tailors its nudges accordingly. This approach complements, rather than replaces, human connection by fostering important conversations and encouraging leaders to think outside the box and engage authentically with employees.Young also stressed the role of leaders in shaping company culture. “Culture is defined by what is supported, rewarded, and tolerated,” she said, pointing out the disconnect when leaders promote wellness initiatives but fail to model the behaviors themselves, like taking time off. She emphasized that true cultural change begins with leaders modeling vulnerability, asking their team members, “What do you need from me?”One of the key challenges Seadrill has tackled is absenteeism, especially when employees struggle with mental health issues but don’t feel comfortable discussing it. To combat the stigma, Seadrill introduced flexible paid time off (PTO) days for mental health, giving employees the freedom to take time off without explanation. This approach encourages employees to prioritize their well-being and ensures they have the trust and support of their leaders.“We as leaders go first,” Young concluded, highlighting the importance of leading by example in creating a culture of wellness and open communication.Complimentary Mental Health ServicesAt SICK Sensor Intelligence, they offer complimentary mental health services—not just to employees but also to their immediate families. This initiative has brought tremendous results, including fewer employee relations events and increased loyalty. “It’s been a really good investment,” said panelist Elise Furlan, president and chief people & legal officer at SICK. Of course, not all of the positive outcomes can be directly attributed to the program, she added, but it’s definitely helped.Despite it being one of the most prevalent health crises in America, mental health is still a taboo topic. That’s why companies must create a workplace culture where mental health is addressed proactively. Effective employee listening tools are also a key part of this strategy. Furlan advocates for anonymous, repeatable, and robust listening platforms to gather employee feedback. “Employee listening is a cornerstone,” she stated, acknowledging the challenges of navigating a post-Covid, socially driven, and artificial society.Furlan’s company has also implemented OKRs (Objectives and Key Results) to track progress and ensure that qualitative issues, such as culture and mental health, are not overlooked. She mentioned that focus groups are often used to deepen the understanding of qualitative topics within the organization.Community within a company is vital for people to feel connected. “I think so much of what we talk about is the isolation issue—the degree of connectivity to the workplace,” she said. Generational differences also affect how people connect. For example, younger employees may prefer texting or digital engagement over traditional in-person events.Companies should not chase after trends but instead build consistency in the resources they offer, she says. “Use your resources to build your brand,” she said, stressing the need for year-over-year presence to build momentum and effectiveness.Fostering a culture of connection, support, and well-being is essential for the health and success of both employees and organizations. As organizations move forward, the message is clear: when organizations prioritize their employees' mental health and well-being, they not only cultivate a supportive environment but also drive innovation, loyalty, and long-term success.Carrie Snider is a Phoenix-based journalist and marketing copywriter.(Photos by Annie Mulligan for From Day One)

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The Connection Solution: Bringing Workers Together for Development and Insight

BY Emily McCrary-Ruiz-Esparza March 24, 2025

“For a long time, employers have thought that loneliness wasn’t their problem to solve,” said Adrienne Prentice, founder and CEO of coaching platform Keep Company. “I would challenge everyone to say, ‘maybe we’re not paying enough attention,’ because loneliness is not only impacting the health of our individual team members, it’s impacting organizational health as well.”In 2023, then-U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy warned of the public health crisis spurred by loneliness and cited a study that estimates that stress-related absenteeism attributed to loneliness costs employers $154 billion every year.Prentice was part of an expert panel during From Day One’s Washington, D.C. conference, on a new era of investing in humans. She and her fellow panelists believe employers can help alleviate the pain of loneliness. “A major ill of our society right now is our lack of community and connection,” Prentice said. “Church membership is down, we don’t know our neighbors. We’re not connected to each other. I think work has the opportunity to be the last frontier.” If connections are built in the workplace, employers can begin to close the gap.Forming Connections by Learning Together “The first time you learn something, it’s likely by observing the behavior of someone else. Your friend, your parents, your brother, your sister–whoever it might have been–demonstrate some behavior that you wanted to adopt in your own life,” said Victor Arguelles, the VP of global learning and development for Marriott International.This can be replicated in the workplace. When we observe how others work, think, reason, and problem-solve, we’re able to learn at a faster rate. Learning new skills and competencies both unites workers and levels the playing field, Arguelles said. “We know that people learn better when they learn from each other, when they find community, and where they can fail or succeed together.”Think beyond individuals or single teams and cast a wider net across the organization, said Matt Waesche, the chief learning officer at defence contractor BAE Systems. “Curate a group of people from all different parts of the company–people that wouldn’t normally find themselves in the same room. You can have legal sitting with engineers sitting with general managers that run a craft trade with someone that might run a very technical type of work.” The diversity of expertise, experience, and thought can yield novel results for both skill-building and community.“You have your people system and you have your work system, and if you want to improve your results, you really have to optimize both,” said Shannon Arvizu, sociologist and founder of Epic Teams, an organizational competency consultancy. She recommends peer coaching for this. Rather than hiring a third-party coach that produces a 20-page report on what a team lacks, “bring the team together to ask questions and co-create an action plan–teach everyone to be a coach.”Uniting Workers In PersonCompanies are calling workers back to the office, but poor planning has made for very public fumbles, like employees arriving to find insufficient parking and no desk to set their computer.  Others have been ordered back to the office only to dial into Zoom calls for hours at a time or sit in an empty office, without managers or senior leaders.Journalist and From Day One contributing editor, Emily McCrary-Ruiz-Esparza, moderated the panel about "The Connection Solution: Bringing Workers Together for Development and Insight"If you’re going to require workers to be in the office, panelists agreed, then make that time count. Ensure there are enough people in the workplace to make it a social occasion, and pull unique groups together to learn and grow together. This is especially important for young workers, many of whom graduated from college amid Covid lockdowns. They’re lacking workplace experience and hungry for interpersonal interaction.At mortgage lender Fannie Mae, VP and head of learning Michael Trusty gathers interns and campus hires for dedicated, in-person learning programs. It’s expensive, he said, but entirely worth it. If the company wants to retain those employees, then they have to create social networks. “One of my favorite metrics–and I bring this into conversations with our senior leaders–is when I go through the cafeteria, how many of our early career professionals are sitting together? It’s great to see it. People from data science with people from finance with people from business–they’re creating their communities.”Trusty also facilitates employee connections around the organization’s mission of housing affordability, connecting people outside the office. He takes finance professionals into middle and high schools to teach financial literacy. This kind of volunteerism–which the company encourages with paid time off–is a means of building camaraderie among workers.Learning opportunities can be interpersonal, not just professional. Arvizu described a relationship building exercise called the “journey line.”It goes like this: Give everyone a piece of paper and have them draw a line down the middle. Then ask, ‘what experiences have shaped who you are?’ If they’re positive and affirming, put them above the line. If they’re challenging, put them below the line. “No matter who you are, how old you are, or what background you come from, everybody will have a zigzag line,” she said. “Give folks the opportunity to share their stories and acknowledge them for their stories.”Emily McCrary-Ruiz-Esparza is an independent journalist and From Day One contributing editor who writes about business and the world of work. Her work has appeared in the Economist, the BBC, The Washington Post, Inc., and Business Insider, among others. She is the recipient of a Virginia Press Association award for business and financial journalism.(Photos by Justin Feltman for From Day One)