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#WorkTrends: The Journey to a Great Employer Brand

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#WorkTrends host Meghan M. Biro sat down with employer brand expert Susan LaMotte to talk about the power of great employer brands — and why every organization needs to assess whether their own employer brand conveys the essence or the eh of the company. Susan, the Founder and CEO of exaqueo, has worked with an incredible range of organizations, from chicken dinners (Boston Market) to communications (T-Mobile) to education (Princeton University) to the empire-sized CVS Health. With all, though, she guides companies to get to their heart and soul. Anything less isn’t going to attract talent or engage employees, she noted.

Companies spend incredible energy and people power on marketing, but CMOs and their teams are focused on customers, Susan said. And forging a great employer brand takes focusing on employees — but using some of the same strategies: research and more research. Learning everything about employee’s values, needs, behaviors, life in and outside of the workforce is all a part of it, and so is enlisting everyone, every stakeholder, to be part of the effort. And the most important part of the employer brand? “Consistency,” Susan said. “On the marketing side, we look at the attributes of a product and then we settle on the strongest ones that are most important to our customers to build our brand on. We should do the same thing on the employer brand side as well.”

“You hear that, everybody?” Meghan said. “That is absolutely the word of the day.” 

The two discussed the importance of listening — how it’s too easy for executives to overlook complaints or concerns from employees. They talked about candidate experience as well — and agreed that the candidate experience, in fact, is part of the employer brand. “We’ve got this continuous sense that everybody is connected to the lifecycle, the brand, the outcome, the rest of the world,” Meghan said, underscoring that brand meaning isn’t static, but dynamic. It’s every interaction, Susan concurred, even from the first time a candidate hears your brand name: That initial contact “gives them a perspective,” she said. “You’re branding from the first moment.” And as leaders, she added, “that’s what we have to pay attention to.”

Listen to the full conversation and see our questions for the upcoming #WorkTrends Twitter Chat. And don’t forget to subscribe, so you don’t miss an episode. 

Twitter Chat Questions

Q1: Why aren’t some brands better at discovering their employer brand?  #WorkTrends
Q2: What strategies can help organizations better create their employer brand? #WorkTrends
Q3: How can leaders shape a powerful, authentic employer brand? #WorkTrends

Find Susan LaMotte on Linkedin and Twitter

Photo: Utsav Srestha

#WorkTrends: Email Still Matters: Etiquette for Today’s Users

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Here’s a term for you: email brick. It’s that dense blob of text in an email that starts at the top and doesn’t come up for air until the end. No line breaks, paragraphs or bullet points, and often, no readers. We tend to avoid reading those emails, eyeing them warily and opting to get back to them later. Much of the time, we don’t. 

When #WorkTrends host Meghan M. Biro got to talking with email etiquette expert Bruce Mayhew, it was soon apparent that we’re emailing each other all wrong. Bruce is President of Bruce Mayhew Consulting (BMC), a corporate trainer, executive coach, expert on productivity and generational differences, and passionate advocate of emailing better.

90% of our communication is done by email, and the email brick is just one of many sins we commit. Others include incoherent subject lines, putting the main idea down at the end of the message and, on the receiving end, answering emails too quickly. On that last point, Meghan asked for a best practice. “I could spend three hours a day in constant communication back and forth, just trying to do the right thing and respond,” she said.

Don’t do it, Bruce answered. “If you train your audience that you respond to an email in 10 minutes,” they will start expecting it every time. “You end up playing Whac-A-Mole with your inbox.” Our time management gets derailed along with other priorities, too.

Problem is, we learned to write and then learned how to email, he noted, and these are very different forms. He shared three simple tips for writing emails worth opening: put your main point in the first sentence, use bullet points, and write a clear subject line with enough information to indicate exactly what’s going on in the message. 5-7 words usually does the trick he said. Don’t start with “Hey, quick question.”

The underlying reason to clean up our emails isn’t just housekeeping, it’s trust. Sending emails that hit the sweet spot boost personal credibility, he said. They set up a positive feedback loop faster than you can say dopamine high. The next time we see an email from the conscientious sender, we open it. We look forward to it, thinking this person knows what they’re talking about — which goes miles in improving that relationship. 

“Email still counts, and it’s the way we’re all communicating,” Meghan reminded the audience. Time to practice those bullet points.

Listen to the full conversation and see our questions for the upcoming #WorkTrends Twitter Chat. And don’t forget to subscribe, so you don’t miss an episode. 

Twitter Chat Questions

Q1: Why are we failing at email etiquette? #WorkTrends
Q2: What techniques can help us write better email? #WorkTrends
Q3: How can leaders help employees get better at emailing? #WorkTrends

Find Bruce Mayhew on Linkedin and Twitter

Photo: Miguel A. Amutio

#WorkTrends: Acing the Metrics: Reading the Data on Engagement

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Sometimes a #WorkTrends episode answers a trending question so clearly it’s as if we never have to ask the question again. That’s what happened when Meghan M. Biro sat down with Leila Zayed of Best Companies Group to talk about measuring engagement. The January 31, 2020, #WorkTrends podcast quickly went from whether or not we should measure engagement to the best strategies and benchmarks for understanding your workforce like never before. 

Leila works with companies of all shapes, sizes and industries to survey their employees on engagement, and pointed out that you can’t tell if your employees are engaged if you don’t know what engagement is — and once you know what it is, you can’t find out if you’ve got it if you don’t know how to take measurements. Engagement, Meghan and Leila agreed, has to do with not only being satisfied with your employer, but really looking forward to going to work — with having a sense of meaning, purpose, and pride. “They feel you’ve created an environment where they can do their best, they’re willing to give extra efforts to see you succeed, and they plan on staying a while,” Leila added. Another sign of engagement they both agreed on: employees will recommend your brand to a loved one.

Meghan noted that Leila’s approach — measuring two sets of demographics — made far more sense than an all-in-one-bucket approach. Personal demographics include our individual identities and perspectives; workplace demographics are out of employees’ control, like department, brand and locations. The question came up about whether small companies can survey engagement effectively: “Talk to us about how this approach can work for organizations of any size,” Meghan said. 

Actually, Leila offered, it can, even with a company of 15 employees. 

Whatever the size, she said, the key is going outside your own company to compare yourself to other companies in the industry — or you won’t really know how you’re doing. And the more companies doing these engagement surveys, the more data we’re getting, and the more specific the benchmarks get. 

Listen to the full conversation and see our questions for the upcoming #WorkTrends Twitter Chat. And don’t forget to subscribe, so you don’t miss an episode. 

Twitter Chat Questions

Q1: Why aren’t we better at measuring engagement? #WorkTrends
Q2: What measurements work for assessing engagement? #WorkTrends
Q3: What strategies can help organizations better measure engagement? #WorkTrends

Find Leila Zayed on Linkedin and Twitter

Photo: Kevin Ku

#WorkTrends: The Human Impact of Data Literacy

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Jordan Morrow joined Meghan M. Biro for this #WorkTrends podcast sponsored by Qlik. The topic: data literacy. It may sound simple enough, but it’s far from it.

Meghan notes that 60% to 73% of all enterprise data is never analyzed. “Data remains a value that’s trapped by our own lack of understanding,” she said as she introduced Jordan. As global head of Data Literacy at Qlik and Chair of the Advisory Board for the Data Literacy Project, Jordan has long been involved in studying data literacy and had a lot to say about why we aren’t using data the way we could — or should.

Citing recent findings from a Qlik/Accenture report on the human impact of data literacy, Jordan explained why organizations around the globe miss countless opportunities because their employees aren’t trained to better use data. The report found that just 21% of the global working population are fully confident in their data literacy skills. In other words, the data on data literacy is pretty clear. There’s a huge productivity gap caused by our lack of data literacy.

In part, Jordan pointed out, we don’t know how to use data because we either think it needs to be isolated from any human experience, or we’d rather just go with the human experience and leave out the data. The truth is, we need both, he said. “To realize true potential with data, you need to combine the human element with the data and technology element.” 

“We’ve got a long way to go,” Meghan said, and asked Jordan if our current state of data illiteracy surprises him. He said it doesn’t. He’s been watching this evolution for years, and he believes that we’re way behind in terms of how we educate our young talent, not to mention students in schools. And of course, both agreed that data literacy should be taught in schools.

In general, we need to stop worrying about people making mistakes as they learn to use data. Curiosity, creativity and critical thinking all have to be developed from a young age, Jordan said, and then we’ll be on our way.

“Let them muddy the puddle,” he says. It’s all part of embracing technology, embracing change, and becoming comfortable with this new way of approaching information. And it will certainly get us to the future of work faster.

What’s at stake?
[23:19] Data and analytics is not going to slow down. So companies that want to succeed in the future have to embrace data literacy. They have to, so you have to have those skills.

Listen to the full conversation. And don’t forget to subscribe to the #WorkTrends podcast, so you don’t miss an episode!

 

You can find Jordan Morrow on Linkedin and Twitter

Photo: Jakob Owens

#WorkTrends: The Empathy Gap

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Dr. Gleb Tsipursky, CEO of Disaster Avoidance Experts, joined host Meghan M. Biro for the January 17, 2020 #WorkTrends podcast. The topic:  Disasters of the workplace kind.

Dr. Tsipursky is a consultant, cognitive neuroscientist and expert on behavioral economics. Noting that we’re still suffering from an epidemic of disengagement, he pointed to one glaring omission in workplace culture: empathy. Empathy is critical to a successful workforce, Meghan agreed — while noting that disengagement is absolutely a disaster in the workplace.

Gleb’s take on the lack of empathy is that it stems from something deep-seated in all of us: cognitive bias.

“The empathy gap is one of the biggest cognitive biases out there and one of the worst causes of employee disengagement,” he said, noting that research shows that 80% to 90% of our decisions are determined by our emotions. “But if you look at HR material, if you look at internal communication, it’s very rational, very logical.”

Meghan concurred. “Why are HR leaders not able to deal with employee emotions in an effective way? Where’s this disconnect?” she asked.

Gleb said that two disconnects are at work:
First, the false perception that work doesn’t involve emotions and the workplace isn’t a place for feelings. And second, there’s general discomfort among many of us in dealing with emotions.

“There’s no ’emotional unit,'” He explained. “Even though emotions are incredibly important, HR professionals aren’t comfortable with things they can’t quantify.”

Gleb recounted some examples he’s encountered as a consultant where focusing on emotions makes a key difference in performance as well as engagement. “Even engineers have emotions,” he joked. But it’s a good point. There’s a lot we can all do to improve how we deal with the “feeling” side of work life. Ultimately, that’s how we’ll all get more work done.  

Listen to the full conversation. And don’t forget to subscribe to the #WorkTrends podcast, so you don’t miss an episode!

Key takeaway: [05:16] Even though emotions are incredibly important, HR professionals aren’t comfortable with things they can’t quantify.

Find Gleb Tsipursky on Linkedin and Twitter

 

#WorkTrends: Why Employee Engagement is a Joke

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Mark Babbitt, President of WorqIQ, joined #WorkTrends host Meghan M. Biro on January 10, 2020 to discuss key issues surrounding employee engagement.

Meghan introduced the topic by noting that only half of all employees feel like they have a career. Mark expanded on this fact, suggesting that we’ve turned employee engagement from a good idea into a joke because engagement levels remain the same as they were in the 1980s. “With eight million blog posts and hundreds of experts on this subject, why have we not fixed anything?” he asked.

Mark is a colleague of Meghan’s and a longtime friend of TalentCulture. He’s also the president of WorqIQ, a community and change management consultancy, and CEO and founder of YouTern, a career site for college students and young professionals.

Mark’s upcoming book is Good Comes First: How Companies Can Create an Uncompromising Company Culture in a Confrontational World. And he’s one of Inc.’s Top 100 Leadership Speakers. Which means he’s been tracking the story of employee engagement for a long time.

“The data proves that employee engagement is a myth,” he said. “We have spent 30-plus years discussing this. Organizations and governments have spent billions of dollars on ’employee engagement’ and we have had zero impact. Every poll out there tells us that we haven’t moved the needle one bit. That employees are either disengaged or actively disengaged.” The two set-out to uncover what might actually undo the impasse. What they found is changing the game entirely.

Random Acts of Leadership

The problem is that we can’t manipulate engagement, Mark said, “Engagement is a human process.” Meghan suggested a shift to thinking about experience — so long as it’s really about people. True, Mark noted. Experience has to be a factor from the employee’s perspective. Without being able to determine and report their own experience and weigh-in on the impact of leadership, organizational values, benefits and more, an employee has no voice. This means employee/employer relationship isn’t really a mutually beneficial relationship, it’s really only unilateral management. 

What would shift the balance? “Random Acts of Leadership,” as Mark puts it. In other words, leaders actually need to walk up to employees and ask real questions, like “What are you working on today? How can I help? What resources can I push in your direction? What are your obstacles to success?” Conversations like this move the needle far more than any tools, he said. Also it helps when leaders sit down for a cup of coffee with people in intimate settings. It’s important to be real and be human.

Workplace Intelligence

Beyond simply improving employee experience, it’s important to achieve workplace intelligence, according to Mark. But Meghan cautioned, “Let’s just make sure it’s not just another buzzword.” Mark agreed, and explained that it’s a tangible stack of 5 workplace factors:

  • The most dominant leadership style that people deal with every day
  • The organization’s culture and climate
  • Purpose-driven performance
  • Employee engagement/experience, but entirely redefined
  • A sense of community

All of these define a workplace that attracts people, Mark said. “When I go to work today I feel like this is where I belong.”

Next, Meghan asked Mark to share his predictions on the future of work — a signature question on #WorkTrends — he got serious. He said he things the future depends on a new breed of leader: More compassionate, less command-and-control.

“Leaders will realize that employees recognize the need to take time for ourselves, our children, our elderly parents. It’s going to be so retro that it will almost seem revolutionary.”

Listen to the full conversation. And don’t forget to subscribe to the #WorkTrends podcast series so you don’t miss an episode!

Transcript Excerpt:

[04:34} They didn’t have leaders that cared. They didn’t build mutually beneficial relationships with employees. They just started manipulating. They got this little software program that said, “Oh it’s Becky’s five year anniversary. Go say congratulations.”

Mark Babbitt on Linkedin and Twitter

Photo: Kobu Agency

#WorkTrends: Insider Secrets to Making Great Hires

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Our guest on #WorkTrends this week is Chad Fife is the VP of Marketing for Talview. He’s an entrepreneur and global marketing leader in Ed tech, HR software, and SaaS, with experience building $10M-260M businesses and bringing innovative products and programs to market with early adopters. 

Chad’s got a unique perspective: he’s a hiring insider who’s fluent in tech as well as marketing — but he’s never lost his passion for finding standout talent. We discussed how to make hires that thrive and help your company thrive — and how to engage the new generation coming into the workplace right now. He shared a few stories of his own on hiring successes and not-so-successes, and two must-know hiring secrets as well.

Listen to the full conversation or read the recap below. And don’t forget to subscribe, so you never miss an episode. 

[06:52] 72% of job seekers say they need to understand a company’s work culture before accepting an offer

[10:45] I think the second reason why you need to hire someone with passion over skill, is because they have something called the R Word. They’re going to have resilience. 

(23:45) With video interviews, there’s a way to change an algorithm that’s so much easier than changing a person’s mindset that’s been in a job hiring people for 20 or 30 or 10 years. 

Talview’s Chad Fife talked to us about what factors really work for hiring today — and weighed in on the endless debate between hiring for skills and hiring for passion. Spoiler alert: his very astute response on this may close the book on that question for good. As VP of Marketing for Talview, he’s been involved in the intersection of tech, marketing and hiring for long enough to qualify for true insider status in our book. Here’s what he had to say:

High-Pressure Hiring

The hiring climate is tougher than ever — the tech sector leads industries as far as turnover rate at 13.2%, and among employees age 25 or less, the general turnover rate is 8%. So we need to hire more and we need to hire better — and that means leveraging all the innovations we can. Further, a lot of teams are becoming remote: and Chad himself is managing a substantial one via a combination of digital tools and understanding how best to adapt to different communication styles. He also spoke candidly about his own hiring process: he just made a remote hire that is really changing how he thinks about proximity versus excellence. He goes with the best now, not the nearest. 

The R-Word

Talking about passion over skill, Chad advocates for passion, citing the R-Word — resilience — a quality today’s workforce needs to have plenty of.  “I love more tactile definition of this word, which is able to recoil or spring back into shape after bending, stretching or being compressed,” Chad said. “We don’t think of our work life like that, bringing it back into shape, but every time there’s a deadline, every time we have a conversation with our boss, every time we have a customer that says they’re thinking about leaving you … every time you look at your whatever goal paradigm you have, OKR’s, KPI’s, whatever … you need to be able to bounce back the next day, the next week, the next hour.”

Real-Life True Tales

Sharing examples of what makes a good hire, Chad explained the value in hiring someone because they’re clearly passionate about their work, and hiring someone based on a clear picture of who they are. And that picture is gleaned from a whole range of different channels, using skills and behavioral digital assessments, and getting a sense of who they are from social media. Even Twitter can convey potential fit, he explained: “I could tell just by looking at their social media, just the presence they had, tweets, what they talked about. I could tell they would fit our company.” Another indispensable tool for the global, remote age of hiring: video. Creating job preview videos not only gives potential candidates a great feel for the job, it may also separate the wheat from the chaff by clarifying exactly what the job entails. And that is going to make everyone’s lives easier, not least of all for the hiring team.

There’s a lot of great intel in this podcast with Chad that I think you’ll really enjoy. It’s a great way to kick off the new year. 

Resources Mentioned in this #WorkTrends Episode

Chad Fife on Linkedin and Twitter

Photo by Ian Schneider on Unsplash

#WorkTrends: Solving a 7 Trillion Dollar Problem

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Our guest on #WorkTrends today is Calvin Hsu, the VP of Product Marketing at Citrix. A self-described right-brain technologist, he’s passionate about aligning people, technology and business to deliver an amazing employee experience. The key is a digital work environment that’s streamlined, engaging and — behind the scenes — secure. 

Listen to the full conversation or read the recap below. And don’t forget to subscribe, so you never miss an episode. 

[04:15] We don’t need to fix the individual application’s relationship to the person, we need to fix the person’s relationship to all of their applications.

[07:38] There’s definitely this gap in the industry between the people who make the technology and the people who tell other people what it does and why they want it. 

[15:39] You need to be able to have a broad system that’s collecting accurate information about your behavior and that really does understand you.

[20:55] The person is still the center of creativity and innovation and how the work gets done, but they could be leveraging technology in a more personal way.

Today, we’re talking to Calvin Hsu from Citrix about bringing together technology, people and business to fix a very expensive problem: $7 trillion in lost output. Hsu is the VP of Product Marketing at Citrix, and is part of an exciting new kind of digital workspace and a transformed employee experience. The company just announced they’ve added new features within the Citrix® Workspace™ — such as the intelligent feed and personalized workflows. So it’s a great time to have this conversation. 

If you happened to catch Hsu’s presentation at the recent Citrix Synergy event, you know he’s deeply involved — you might even say obsessed — with providing organizations with a digital workspace that does away with the hyper-siloed, apps-by-the-dozen experience in favor of one that’s seamless, aligned with business objectives and more secure. Hsu is a technologist with a difference: he started out as an English major, of all things, and has never lost his love of story. And if there’s a story to his work at Citrix, it’s a through-line of creativity, but with a clear belief that if you’re not aligned with business objectives, the innovation isn’t doing what it should.  

Application Overload

Hsu pointed out that spending $7 trillion on applications that actually thwart engagement experience and output is nobody’s fault. “When we drop a number like that, everyone covers their mouth and says, ‘Oh geez, did I do that?’’ But it’s more the natural outcome of how we’ve built technology for decades — application by application, upgrade by upgrade. This siloed thinking has resulted in employees using some 30 or 40 different applications and digital tools on any given day, and without question, that can be exhausting. On any given day, the average employee spends nearly 65% of their time on busy work and in meetings, 20% searching for information and just 15% doing what they want and are paid to do.

People Are the Center of Experience

Hsu discussed the need to shift from a jigsaw puzzle of applications to a cohesive workspace — and how a discussion with a customer made him think about how we use technology.  “He was one of the earlier customers … deploying enterprise applications and really actively measuring people’s satisfaction and how much they would recommend it to their coworkers,” Hsu recalled. When the subject of metrics came up, the customer said he wouldn’t use them, as he knew his employees would hate it. Putting people and focusing on experience is vital — but it also changes the game in terms of tech.

Getting Security Right

Of course with countless users on a digital platform, security is tantamount. But security needs to smarten up, Hsu said. He brought up credit card fraud protection — in which the credit card company collects data about your habits and behaviors, and then mistakenly decides that if you’re in a new country or buying something different, something must be wrong. The company puts a hold on the card based on this false positive, and the customer is furious. It’s critical that security measures applied to digital workspaces be based on broader and smarter criteria. And that’s just as important in terms of delivering a seamless experience as the rest of the platform.

In my conversation with Hsu we covered so much ground, including his take on the future of work. The future of work needs less digital noise and no more meaningless tasks —and that’s what’s happening now, as he pointed out. This is an intelligent digital workspace that really provides employees with the personalized experience they need to be their most productive and do the work that matters. That’s what we all want, I’d say. I think you’ll find Hsu’s perspective just as interesting as I did.

Resources Mentioned in this Episode:

Calvin Hsu on Linkedin and Twitter

This episode is sponsored by Citrix.

Photo by Florian Krumm on Unsplash

#WorkTrends: Harnessing Technology to Lead, Innovate, and Win

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For all our best intentions and aspirations to better harness tech, we’re not always following through. A recent report by Ceridian found that while companies are adopting tech to take actions that will ensure long-term success, half of those surveyed say they struggle with “rapid tech development.” In some cases, the questions simple simply what to use and how to use it. And a successful model and a roadmap can certainly help. 

Our guest on #WorkTrends this week is definitely a man with a plan: Patrick Antrim, the Founder and CEO of Multifamily Leadership, LLC, is a former ballplayer for the NY Yankees who switched careers and brought the team’s invaluable wisdom with him. He’s passionate about giving businesses both the means and approach to win using technology as an integral part of the overall strategy.  We discussed the unprecedented disruptions and change happening in business today, and how leaders can deploy technology to engage employees and customers, and build a culture of innovation and feedback that gets you to the front of the pack. 

Listen to the full conversation or read the recap below. And don’t forget to subscribe, so you never miss an episode. 

[04:48] The consumers that are buying and interacting with our business, they’re expecting things at such a fast pace.
05:33] What’s important about the Airbnb model is that it’s the seamless experience, all from an app.
[08:24] the Yankees do a great job of understanding how to build a culture, how to build a legacy, how to keep that legacy
[19:45] if you’re asking for innovation in your business you really need people to take risks

The Future of Work Really is Right Now

Patrick Antrim, the CEO of multifamilyleadership.com, happens to be a good friend of our community, and I’m thrilled to have him back. Organizations now are trying to figure out how to take the leap with technology to meet new employee and customer expectations. Gen Z coming into the workplace means some 61 million new hires who are used to functioning via digital tools and mobile. Organizations who aren’t up on tech are justifiably nervous about attracting and engaging them. It’s no longer a question of when the workplace transforms. It’s now. So how can companies “futureproof” themselves?

Disruptions to One Industry Spread to Others

The multifamily rental industry has undergone incredible upheaval due to Airbnb. The Airbnb model provides a seamless experience, all in one single app. It’s also one of the world’s largest hoteliers, but it doesn’t own any real estate, as Patrick pointed out. “The business model that people are operating in is fundamentally changing,” he said. Another profound disruption: Uber, which has turned the taxi industry upside down. “What’s important about that process is the customer expectation of how things are going to talk to each other,” Patrick notes — from strangers making transactions to payment, underwriting and access. “It’s really the seamless process that customers of tomorrow appreciate — a technology that makes life easier for them,” Patrick said. But many industries are innovating and changing processes to meet this new reality head on. They’re not waiting for their own industry version of Airbnb to innovate now.

An iPhone Approach to Onboarding and HR Processes

People expect a seamless experience — and outside of your business they usually have one. Consider the iPhone, Patrick said: “We buy an iPhone, we open the box, and it works — we don’t need to have a webinar on it. We don’t need to have somebody to meet with us to talk to us about how it works.” That same intuitive approach should influence how companies refine their onboarding and HR processes, particularly as the next generation come into legacy organizations and face legacy processes. Having to log into 15 different applications, let alone download a PDF form, sign it, scan it and email it back is cumbersome, and can create damaging friction and disengagement.

Leading by Audio Text

But improving employee experience via tech doesn’t have to be overcomplicated. Patrick listed simple but  effective tools, including one he uses constantly — audio texts. As he explained, “If you can just hold the record button down and say, hey, here’s a great idea I had, and I’d love for you to be involved in helping us make this thing happen. What are your thoughts?” Then, he continued, send a text with an audio attachment. “It’s great because it’s not a voicemail. You don’t have to log in,” he added. Another strategy that’s simply a matter of common sense: if you’re not great at technology, bring in a company that is, and has already spent the time and energy finding the right approach so you don’t have to. You don’t have to reinvent the wheel to reinvent your employee and customer experience, in other words. It’s all at our fingertips right now.

Resources Mentioned in this Episode:

Patick Antrim on Linkedin and Twitter
Patrick Antrim’s organization, Multifamily Leadership

Photo by William Iven on Unsplash

#WorkTrends: The Importance of Second Chances

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Our guest on #WorkTrends this week is Michelle Cirocco, the Chief Responsibility Officer of the sales and marketing technology firm Televerde. She is responsible for extending Televerde’s business model to disempowered populations. We discussed criminal reform and its impact on the workforce, eliminating bias in the hiring process, and how organizations can connect with, and potentially hire, individuals with criminal records.  

Listen to the full conversation or read the recap below. And don’t forget to subscribe, so you never miss an episode. 

[2:33] We were founded 25 years ago based on the idea that by providing women in prison with jobs, training, and education while they were incarcerated 
[7:42] There’s 70 million people in our country that have a criminal record
[09:49] There is a big movement for organizations to take a pledge. It’s called the Getting Talent Back to Work pledge, and it’s a very simple, easy thing for anybody who is involved in talent acquisition to do. 

Today, we’re talking to Televerde’s Michelle Cirocco about how we can extend diversity and inclusion to everyone. Michelle Cirocco is the Chief Responsibility Officer of Televerde, a business-to-business marketing and sales outsourcing firm. This is Michelle’s story.

An Unusual Business Model 

To an outsider, Televerde sounds like a typical business-to-business demand generation firm. They provide sales and marketing support for small businesses to some of the largest technology firms in the world. What sets Televerde apart is its approach to staffing. Televerde’s leaders founded the organization the idea of giving incarcerated women with jobs, training, and education. At the end of their sentence, Televerde helps the women reacclimate by employing them at their organization or helping them find work through a job placement program. 

A Second Chance 

Twenty years ago, after she served six years in prison, Televerde hired Michelle. She was their fortieth employee. Televerde has worked with more than 3,000 incarcerated women over their twenty-five years in business. In their Phoenix, Arizona, corporate headquarters, forty percent of the employees started their career while incarcerated. Televerde offers these women a chance at a career without facing bias because of their past.  

The Conversation Around Diversity and Inclusion

According to Michelle, “We face what’s going to be one of the biggest talent gaps ever in the history of the world.” The number of available jobs outnumbers the workforce by more than one million people. So, organizations need to consider new options to fill the talent gaps.  

Untapped Resources 

Michelle says more than 70 million people in the United States have a criminal record. Criminal records indicates a conviction of some type of a misdemeanor or a felony. A criminal record might immediately remove a candidate from the recruitment process. If organizations want to fill empty jobs, they need to rethink the way they hire. As Baby Boomers retire, the talent pool shrinks and recruiters have fewer viable candidates. 

Give Qualified Candidates a Chance

The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) created a toolkit of resources and research for HR professionals. SHRM launched the Getting Talent Back to Work Pledge. Organizations that take this promise say they will give all qualified candidates a chance at employment. 

The first step to eliminating bias, Michelle says, is to “ban the box.” The concept is simple. Recruiters do not ask potential employees if they have been convicted of a felony until later in the hiring process. That way, individuals can make it through the first round of recruitment without being immediately disqualified.  

I think you’ll be fascinated my Michelle’s take on diversity, inclusion, and this untapped workforce. 

Resources Mentioned in this #WorkTrends Episode

Michelle Cirocco on Linkedin and Twitter
SHRM’s Getting Talent Back to Work pledge

Photo by Tim Mossholder on Unsplash

#WorkTrends: Taking Stock of the Global State of Work

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Our guest on #WorkTrends today is Mr. Hung Lee, the co-founder and CEO of the recruiting firm Workshape.io. He’s also the founder of the mega-newsletter, Recruiting BrainFood. We discussed the global state of recruiting and the workplace, how the upheaval of Brexit will affect European and British tech firms and workers, and my new favorite subject — the passion economy.   

Listen to the full conversation or read the recap below. And don’t forget to subscribe, so you never miss an episode. 

[02:44] Brainfood is a once a week curated newsletter I send out to a global audience. 
[03:29] It’s very clear that there are some universal challenges that all of us are facing.
[04:46] With Brexit, obviously it’s a hugely divisive issue, you know, people are losing friends, family, et cetera, as a result of all of this.
[09:56] A lot of the criticism that I’m seeing from recruiters about technology stems from an overestimation of the capability of the tech.

Today, we’re talking to Mr. Hung Lee about the global state of work. Hung Lee is the co-founder and CEO of the recruiting firm Workshape.io, but you may be more familiar with him as the founder of the weekly newsletter, Recruiting Brainfood.

Challenges in Global Recruiting

Hung wears a lot of hats at Workshape, from business ops to customer success and user support to making the tea. He’s definitely one to roll up his sleeves and get his hands dirty. But that’s also a reflection of his global, democratized perspective on the challenges we all face in HR. He’s based in London but says that given the fact that many organizations are global, we’re sharing the same issues — whether you’re in New York, Kiev, or Melbourne. People everywhere are struggling to interact with the highly skilled, he says. We’re talking about the in-demand talent, the ones who have digital skills, software skills, and data science types.

Realistic Expectations for Tech

Emerging tech in HR can cause controversy. We saw it recently in a story about HireVue, which has its own AI system that analyzes candidates’ facial expressions, word choices, etc. As Hung notes, “I think people are genuinely quite disturbed at automated decision making.” So, a lot of the criticism that I’m seeing from recruiters about technology stems really from an overestimation of the capability of the tech.” Setting realistic expectations will help in the acceptance of new HR tech, he believes.

The Impact of Brexit on Recruiting

The European Union and Britain are certainly at a crossroads, and Brexit has thrown everything off balance. Hung confirms that Brexit’s a hugely divisive issue: People are losing friends and family as a result, he says. It may also cut off recruiters in London from highly-skilled talent sources throughout the European Union. And this could have a crippling effect on a lot of tech firms in the UK.

The Explosion of the Passion Economy

I asked Hung to look into his crystal ball and give me his thoughts on the future of work. One of his predictions is the growth of the Passion Economy. “You’re going to see people that are very passionate about certain topics and produce some type of content, where their passion really is their competitive advantage and build a clear following doing it,” he says. 

We’ve all seen it: those creating online communities around their particular passion. They’re everywhere — on YouTube, Twitter, LinkedIn. Hung describes this as the Tim Ferris or Joe Rogan business model. And, he predicts, the Passion Economy is only going to keep growing.

I think you’ll find Hung’s take on the global state of work as interesting as I did.

Resources Mentioned in this Episode:
Hung Lee on Linkedin and Twitter
Hung Lee’s Newsletter, Recruiting Brainfood

Photo by Natasha Connell on Unsplash

#WorkTrends: Ageism and Its Impact on the Modern Worker

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Good news for employees, but kind of concerning for employers. In the coming months, the Supreme Court could make it easier for federal employees to prove that they were discriminated against on the basis of age. I saw some fascinating research in Forbes recently that shows ageism starts as early as the age of forty-two. Forty-two?

We deal with isms today in the workplace, but we don’t tend to focus enough on ageism. Not only that, I think a lot of us don’t even know exactly what it is. Here’s what it is, a brutal truth, as our guest, Vinay Singh, says in his new book, “Your Future in Pieces. The Brutal Truth: How Ageism and Inequality are Destroying America.”

I’m delighted to have Vinay as our guest today, he’s not only an expert on ageism, but he’s also experienced it firsthand, and alarmingly, says, “Today’s workers feel the brunt of it younger than ever.” So let’s get into the realities of ageism and how we can undo this vexing problem, remove the bias, and hopefully protect our employees. The shelf life of a robot is one thing, but the shelf life of a human is an entirely different topic.

Listen to the full conversation or read the recap below. And don’t forget to subscribe, so you never miss an episode. 

[00:32] America is at a crossroads.
[06:42] Do you think ageism is on the rise because there’s a divide between the tech-savvy and the tech-nervous?
[07:43] Everybody is constantly using technology.
[09:14] It’s a huge impact.

It’s illegal to discriminate against people based on their age.

Most of us understand that it’s against the law to discriminate against someone based on the number of years they’ve spent on this planet, but as my guest tells us, “Here’s the brutal truth: ageism exists and we’re all feeling its impact earlier than ever. Essentially it’s one of those isms we just aren’t talking about enough.”

Vinay Singh is a human capital and workforce development strategist and advocacy professional, and author of a new book, “Your Future in Pieces. The Brutal Truth: How Ageism and Inequality are Destroying America.” His passion comes from both his professional life and personal experience. And he’s got a lot to tell us.

America is at a crossroads today

“We’ve got four generations in the workforce and too many employers and executives who are buying into false beliefs and biases.” The data around age discrimination is alarming. Research published by Hiscox shows that 21% of US workers age forty and older have experienced discrimination in the workplace due to their age, and respondents stated they believe they’re most likely to experience it at age fifty-one. Moreover, workers over the age of forty are perceived by their younger counterparts to be resistant to change and learning new skills, difficult to manage, and don’t understand technology.

Is Ageism on the Rise Because Older People Have an Aversion to Tech?

Is there a real divide between the tech-savvy and tech-nervous? Not so, according to Singh.” “We’re all technical. We all know how to use smartphones. Grandparents know how to use technology just like young people do.”

The impact of age discrimination on the economy

The impact on the economy is vast. According to Hiscox, ageism is creating a range of hazards for employers, including discrimination lawsuits, demotivated employees, and the lost opportunity costs associated with devaluing older workers. All of this hurts the bottom line, which, in turn, hurts the economy.

A new career forged from personal experience

In my conversation with Singh, he dove into his own experience with age discrimination, which started when he was about forty-three and working in a recruiting agency. It continued when he was looking for a new position and was told repeatedly that he was overqualified. Suffice to say this is happening to thousands of others, according to Singh. The next step, naturally, was to write a book.

How to retool and reinvent yourself after age discrimination

It’s not like age discrimination is going to stop overnight. We clearly have a long way to go. So what does someone who has experienced ageism do? Singh emphasizes the value of focusing on your LinkedIn profile. “That’s the business social media. That’s where employers are going to first and foremost to hire you,” he says. “Maybe HR looks at the other things, the other social media later on, but they are looking at your LinkedIn profile.”

He also recommends using the right industry buzzwords, keywords that convey your skills, creating an obvious digital presence, a professional photo for your avatar, and a compelling image for your banner. Why the banner image? It helps draw attention to your profile and shows you’re paying attention. Singh also recommends creating a vanity URL that’s catchy and tells people what you do. His is Vinay People Strategist, by the way.

One more tip from this veteran: stay in school, get those certifications, be as multi-disciplined as possible, and try to stay cutting edge. “And always be thinking this way, “ he said. “because if you’re not, your competition is.”

Well worth a listen, no matter what your age.

Resources Mentioned in this Episode:
Vinay Singh on Linkedin and Twitter
Vinay Singh’s new book: “Your Future in Pieces. The Brutal Truth: How Ageism and Inequality are Destroying America.”
How to reach Vinay Singh: Vinay12 at opt online dot net.

Photo by Rajshri Bharath KS on Unsplash

#WorkTrends: What Will Change at Work in 2019?

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Happy New Year! I hope that your holidays provided you the recharge you needed to get 2019 off to a great start.

It’s the “new” in “new year” that we’re talking about this week on #WorkTrends. We’re all wondering how 2019 is going to be different from 2018, and I’m not talking about the new coffee machine your boss has surprised you with.

marylene delbourg delphisThis week we speak with Marylene Delbourg-Delphis, a Silicon Valley entrepreneur and the author of “Everybody Wants to Love Their Job,” about how work is going to change in 2019. Her answer? It’s not going to — unless you do something about it.

It wasn’t the answer I was expecting, but our conversation was a powerful reminder that the future of work isn’t defined by our fancy tools; it’s defined by the people who use them.

Listen to the full conversation or read the recap below. Subscribe so you never miss an episode.

So What’s the Future of Work?

The way Delbourg-Delphis sees it, the future of work comes down to one word: automation. And while that word itself can scare people, she doesn’t see things in such apocalyptic terms. “Many jobs can be mapped onto new jobs. So the future is not doomsday,” she says.

Of course, there’s another change coming as well. Baby boomers are aging out of the workplace, and millennials have taken their place as the largest cohort, with Generation Z not too far behind. Soon the workplace will be filled with young, techno-savvy whippersnappers who can’t imagine life without smartphones and hashtags. The office will never look the same.

Or will it?

Change Isn’t a Given

Assuming that work itself will magically transform because of technology and generational change is a mistake, Delbourg-Delphis says. She admits that sounds counter-intuitive. “It’s logical to believe that [work] will change,” she says. “Digital transformation is already here for us as consumers.” But she says there’s something standing in the way of true change at work: the way things have always been done. “We should not underestimate the status quo,” Delbourg-Delphis says.

The status quo, she notes, has little to do with workplace demographics, because the issue is structural. Despite the fact that the U.S. has transitioned to a service economy, organizations still operate on a hierarchical model that dates back to an industrial economy. This model can isolate leaders from their employees, and it can lead to stale thinking that discourages innovation and disruption.

To Delbourg-Delphis, change has only one source. “Companies don’t innovate,” she says. “People do.”

The Key to Change

What companies must do, Delbourg-Delphis says, is think about their employees’ engagement — and make sure they love their jobs. It sounds like common sense, but the stakes are quite high. Delbourg-Delphis’ research shows that if employees are unhappy, productivity drops by 30 percent.

She says engagement has three categories. Maintaining these, she believes, is essential to creating an organization that is both positive and dynamic.

The first is personal engagement. Making sure employees are motivated is about more than just giving them prime desk space. “It’s very important for employees to have skill variety, task identity, task significance, autonomy and feedback,” she says. Failure to give employees any of these risks alienating them from the organization.

Second is interpersonal engagement, or team engagement. Employees often work in teams, and part of the way employees define their roles at an organization is by their interactions with peers. Clear lines of communication within a team, as well as with other teams, is paramount to creating the respect and trust employees need to feel toward one another.

Finally, there’s collective and societal engagement. You may know this by another term — culture — but Delbourg-Delphis defines culture differently than others do. Culture, she says, has nothing to do with a company’s so-called values. In fact, culture has little to do with management at all. “A culture,” she explains, “is what employees feel.” If employees aren’t free to express their emotions, a company’s culture can quickly turn toxic.

The Growing Role of HR

If people are key to driving innovation and change across an organization, then there’s perhaps no greater piece to ensuring transformation than HR, she says. “In the future I see a much, much bigger role for HR,” Delbourg-Delphis says. “HR should be in charge of the health of the human infrastructure just as the CTO is in charge of the technology infrastructure. They are the human infrastructure designers.”

This means that the key to driving innovation across an organization is for HR to ensure that employees are both happy and productive. So while your fancy new enterprise software may be great, HR should be ensuring that these tools are put to use in ways that enhance the three categories of employee engagement. Making sure these tools bring employees closer to the organization is key to driving success.

But HR also needs to remember that it has a responsibility to grow and challenge itself. Delbourg-Delphis says the most important skill an HR practitioner can have now is “an endless ability to learn.” She suggests delving into organizational psychology. “Academia has created a phenomenal body of research that we can leverage literally every day,” she says.

As we’ve discussed, the stakes are high. Keeping your employees happy is about more than just a pleasant workplace. It’s the key to driving change itself. It’s a fascinating, practical way to think about a word we often define far too loosely, and maybe it’s a New Year’s resolution for all of us in HR.

Resources Mentioned in This Episode

#WorkTrends Recap: Unleashing the Power of Your People

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What’s going on in HR tech around the world? What are global leaders doing to unleash the full potential of their people?

When I’m thinking about big-picture questions affecting senior leaders, I know who to turn to: my friend China Gorman. You probably know her as the former COO and interim CEO at SHRM, or as the former CEO of Great Places to Work. These days, China’s spending her days helping smaller companies liberate their power. One of those companies is UNLEASH. UNLEASH puts on the event formerly known as HR Tech World. This year is their second year in Vegas, and as managing director of UNLEASH America, China and the team are in preparations to bring some of the most innovative business leaders in the world together at the Aria on May 15 and 16.

I talked to China and Bri Vellis, chief marketing officer of UNLEASH, about what people-management trends they’re seeing across the world, and how they’re bringing those themes to UNLEASH America in Vegas.

What You Learn from Working at a Global Company

Bri has an up-close view of how people work differently around the world. She recently moved from San Francisco to Budapest, where UNLEASH is based. Plus, when she was in the U.S., she worked for a German company where she could immerse herself in different cultures and conversations about HR tech.

“People get into their geography bubbles,” she says. But everyone can really learn from other cultures — Americans could learn from Brits, Brits could learn from Germans, and so on.

“I always hear how Americans don’t want to work so many hours. Especially in the tech industry. They wish they worked more like Europeans,” she says. “Europeans are just more cognizant of their time. Americans can learn from that.”

China has run global organizations, and she says she’s always struck more by different cultures’ similarities than their differences. “I am always astonished by how alike we are, and how, at the end of the day, people are people. People in organizations have similar wants and needs, and are motivated by similar kinds of things. I am always reassured, I am always motivated, and always reminded that our similarities are always far more than our differences. No matter where you go around the world.”

What’s Happening in HR Tech Around the World

So, what new developments are happening in HR technology, and where are the current centers of innovation in the industry? China is excited by the startups that are popping up to help leaders manage emerging challenges.

“People in HR, and leaders in particular, have lots of challenges in terms of managing different generations in the workplace. In being more global. Having different laws, different customs, different languages.”

The HR tech community is responding with solutions, she says. “The creativity, the focus, and frankly the amount of investment going into the HR tech startup world is astonishing.” She points to regional hotspots like Toronto, Tel Aviv, Budapest and Berlin.

China is encouraged by what she sees. “What I take from this is that, as we head into an organizational world of artificial intelligence and robotics, the focus on people is actually growing, not diminishing.”

While some jobs might be done by robots in the future, China sees organizational leaders who want to get a handle on people talent: How do we get it? Where are the best people? How do we deploy talent? How do we engage and develop them? How do we make sure we have the kinds of people and skills where we need them, when we need them?

The answer, she says, is technology. “Technology becomes sort of the great liberator and educator, and profit enhancer. I really believe this in my heart, that leaders are not making decisions to replace people with technology just because it is cheaper, just because it is new. I talk to leaders not about the price of people, but … how do we use people? How do we unleash the people part of our workforce so that we keep moving forward to a better world?

“I really think leaders and technology are trying to do the same thing. They are trying to make the world a better place, for the greater good.”

Because there’s so much startup activity in HR tech, UNLEASH has added a startup and innovation group as a core element of their upcoming event.

What to Expect from UNLEASH America

“The name change from HR Tech World to UNLEASH is really about expanding the focus from being an HR tech conference — the best one in the world — to really unleashing the power of people and the future of work through technology,” China says. “We are expanding our remit. We are really getting into the heart of the matter, which is, ‘How do we use technology in an HR application to really unleash the potential of our people in an organization?’

“It’s not going to be like any HR tech conference you’ve ever been to,” she says. UNLEASH will bring together not just HR leaders, but leaders of every stripe. China says attendees can expect “real-world stories from real-world leaders, from organizations we all know. This is going to be the event to be at.”

During our conversation, Bri and China announced a major keynote: Mo Gawdat, chief business officer at Google X, will be doing his first public address outside the world of Google X. Other speakers include leaders from Johnson & Johnson, Cisco, GE Digital and Microsoft.

I can’t wait to be a part of all of these interesting conversations! You can find out more about UNLEASH America and how to join us in Vegas by visiting http://www.unleashgroup.io/america/index or following the #UNLEASH18 conversation on Twitter.

#WorkTrends Recap: Pacing for Growth

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What’s your big plan for your business or team in 2018? We all want to stretch, improve and grow, but sometimes figuring out exactly how to scale your work is a challenge. I know I’m still figuring this out as an entrepreneur, and we have a lot of TalentCulture community members who are in the same boat.

Earlier this month I talked to Alison Eyring, founder and CEO of Organisation Solutions and author of “Pacing for Growth: Why Intelligent Restraint Drives Long-Term Success.” Alison has been helping organizations grow for the past 30 years. She has also learned lessons about growth through her experiences as an endurance athlete. She’s done marathons, ultra-marathons, triathlons and Ironman competitions.

What business lessons can you learn from competing as an athlete? Here’s what I learned from my chat with Alison.

Push for Growth, but Recognize Your Boundaries

“If you look at the body, it teaches us that there are certain things we can do to build capacity — to go faster and go further. As leaders we have to push, but also understand that there are some real limits, and work to build capacity,” she says.

She introduced me to the idea of “intelligent restraint” — stretching yourself and pushing for growth, but not so far that you go past your limits.

“If we’re not pushing, if there’s no edge, if we’re not pushing people outside of their comfort zone, they’re not changing. They’re not growing, and the business isn’t changing and growing. You push yourself and you push your business to go as fast and far as you can but then no further until you have the capacity to sustain it.”

Focus on Specific Goals

Just growing for the sake of growth isn’t all that meaningful. I’ve talked to a lot of entrepreneurs and business owners who are working to create focus in 2018. Alison agreed that sometimes the best way to scale is to focus: “It’s about saying ‘let’s get really focused on what is profitable, what is meaningful, what is going to bring me to work every morning.’ ”

Start with People

So many organizations think about goals but make their people plan last. That’s backward, Alison says. “When I think about scaling for growth, it’s a lot about people.”

I often see that small businesses have a hard time scaling because leaders can’t delegate tasks to others on the team. But big, growing businesses face people challenges too. “We work with some high-tech companies that are growing so fast, and their managers have very little experience. They start a job, and within six months the job is bigger. You think about in a situation like that, those people have to grow really fast, and they’ve got to be able to grow their people even faster,” she says.

The key to developing a team all comes back to having a solid routine, she says. It’s about having good one-on-ones with people on a regular basis. “Whether it’s over the phone or face-to-face, it’s about carving out a space to understand how to help that person perform and how to help them transform for the future. Having that routine is critical.”

Pay Attention to Developing Remote Workers

So many organizations are staffed by workers who aren’t sitting in the same office every day. I’ve worked remotely for years, and a lot of the organizations I work with rely on remote teams. Alison says that developing those remote workers and moving everyone forward together is a challenge.

“Remoteness is both a blessing and a curse. The curse of it is that when we work independently, there’s not others necessarily who are observing us and connecting with us in a way that they can maybe give us feedback and help us and support us as much as we might get if we are co-located in a normal office environment. We’ve got to really think more proactively. If we can learn how to coach people without seeing them then we become even stronger as leaders.”

Alison says she has people working together from five continents, and she’s focused on helping them stay connected on a human level. “We have people who have never met each other. One of the things that I’ve been really trying to think about is how do we build spirit in our company. When people are physically dispersed, it’s easy for the interactions to become very transactional. It’s about the work we have to get done. Often it’s very hard to get a holistic picture of the challenges the person faces. What are the barriers? How are they feeling? Part of what we need to do as leaders is create psychological safety. We have to provide support. When we do that, we can accelerate development.

“I think that technology can help us. Sometimes it can make it very dehumanized, but other times it can really help us bring spirit through connecting us. People in our group love posting pictures and sharing and having baby pictures. I think that human connection is really important.”

I could talk about remote work and the challenges it brings all day! Thanks to Alison for sharing her expertise with us. Check out her book to learn more.

Stay tuned for more inspiration on the #WorkTrends podcast, every Wednesday: http://bit.ly/2DjCkja.

#WorkTrends Recap: How to Live with More Intention in 2018

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Happy New Year! Looking ahead at 2018, our team is inspired to take a step back and double-check our intentions for our work.

In December, I talked to Paul Cummings on the #WorkTrends podcast, and I’m still thinking about the strategies and tips he shared for living a more intentional life.

If you have a big idea for 2018, or just want to reset your day, try out Paul’s tips.

Build Your Intention. Ask Yourself These Questions

Ask yourself: “What do I really want?”
The answer might be very simple. Paul says that when he asked himself this question years ago, the answer was “I want to leave it better than I found it.”

Then ask: “How?” and “Who?”
Paul wanted to improve the world around him by teaching, and he wanted to work with anyone who was seeking a more compelling journey.

And finally: “What will I do?”
It’s important that the “what” of Paul’s business didn’t come first. He started with his goals and his intentions, and then figured out how to make it happen and what nuts and bolts he needed to gather in order to build his business. In the end he landed on building a better learning management system, which led him to checking off all the boxes above.

Push Out Negative Influence

Paul shared an idea that I really love — inside every negative circumstance is the seed of something good. Instead of focusing on something bad, you just have to change the questions you ask about it. If you’re feeling stressed by a negative person at work, or bogged down by an overwhelming problem, ask yourself questions like “What can I do differently next time to make it better?” “What do I need to do less of to have more of what I want?” “What can I do to make this moment better?”

“You can’t imprison yourself in negative circumstances,” Paul says. “I think outlook has a lot to do with output.”

It’s important to keep your outlook clear and positive by limiting the impact of negative people. “Be careful about who you put in your circle. If you invite people who have a negative outlook then you’re going to get exposed to that.”

Amen! I’m a huge proponent of watching who’s around you and what energy they bring. Guard yourself against the negative and look for the windows of positivity and growth instead.

Start Every Day with Intention

Setting goals is the first step to building an intentional life. But instead of thinking about goal-setting as a one-time event, Paul explained that we have the chance to set mini-goals and set ourselves up for success every morning.

A morning routine is about getting disciplined. “I think the best way for people to get unstuck is to make sure they start every day with something that’s positive that can be repeated, that can be developed into a winning habit pattern for themselves,” he says.

“I think that goal-setting has been misunderstood for a long time. A goal is not a wish. It’s a commitment with a deadline. So many people talk about, ‘I know I should do that. I know I should do this,’ and they should, should, should, so they should all over themselves,” he says.

Instead, start your morning with statements like “I am” and “I will.”

“I will be the most enthusiastic person today.”
“I will be open-minded to ideas, and to conversations with other people.”
“I will operate today with self-discipline.”

Lose the Baggage

Looking ahead to a new year, I’m working on cutting ties to the baggage that brings me down. We all struggle with it, so I asked Paul how he leaves the bad stuff behind and moves forward.

His insight? “When you look back with regret, you look forward with worry and you destroy all your present moments.” Instead of fretting over the past, he’s learned to ask “What’s the lesson? How do I turn it into a stepping stone?” And instead of looking at the situation as baggage, he tries to turn it into an accelerant.

“I try to make it fuel for future fire.”

Embrace Every Day

Finally, Paul says he tries to embrace and use every single day. “I look at every day as if it’s the only one I have,” he says. He knows he can find promising minutes and moments in the day today — and tomorrow he’ll re-commit himself to embracing the day again.

At the end of the day he asks himself a few positive questions:
“What did I learn today?”
“What did I give today?”
“What impact do I want to have tomorrow, and how do I best achieve that?”

Thanks, Paul! I’m personally inspired to follow your advice to make 2018 my best year ever.

Stay tuned for more inspiration on the #WorkTrends podcast, every Wednesday: http://bit.ly/2DjCkja.

Pay Equity: A New Requirement for HR

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The laws regarding pay equity are changing. In seven jurisdictions, there are new laws on the books regarding pay equity, including California, New York City, Oregon, Puerto Rico, and Massachusetts. Each has new laws prohibiting employers from asking a candidate’s salary history. There are more than a dozen other pay equity laws under consideration, and it’s going to be a very key focus for lawmakers — and therefore HR and the world of work — in 2018.

Navigating change

Employers are going to have to address this issue, starting now — regardless of your company’s position, or whether you’ve created a policy to deal with pay equity or not. The winds of change are upon us and it’s critical to start revising your hiring practices now. Or you may wind up breaking the law.

It’s not just laws that factor in, however. You’ll also want to be on the forefront of this transformation as an employer. In terms of attracting the best talent, it’s no surprise that it’s a best practice to demonstrate a progressive, well-thought out approach to pay equity. To not be clear about supporting pay equity is to possibly convey a retrogressive stance on fair and equitable hiring. At a time when pay equity is on the radar and in the news, to not have a policy towards pay equity, law or not, could be the key factor in whether a superbly qualified candidate applies to your organization, or goes elsewhere.

But there are also statistics showing that pay equity drives more profitability — tied into the fact that a well and fairly compensated workforce is a more engaged and productive one, and a more diverse workforce is a more innovative and creative one. A study of nearly a thousand companies on their pay equity positions found that the 51 companies officially committed to gender pay equity as of this past spring generated a 12.5% return to investors. That’s opposed to the rest — who generated a return of only 10.2%. Is it possible that paying women fairly is good business? I dare say it is.

Jumping on the bandwagon

According to the U.S. Census of September 2017, U.S. women still make only 80.5 cents for every dollar that men make. Glassdoor’s salary study in the Spring of last year found that men earn 24.1% higher base pay than women on average. But many organizations are taking the initiative. Among those known for their leading stances on pay equity are Starbucks — whose own study of its male and female employees found they are paid within 99.7% of each other for doing similar work. Gap has been officially paying male and female employees equal pay for equal work since 2014, and was the first Fortune 500 company to do so. Costco and Nike are among companies who are stepping up to do internal studies of their workforce. Tech companies are trying to repair their reputations as part of Silicon-Valley-esque bro-culture by conducting pay equity studies of their own. Will they play a role in changing the tech workplace? Probably.

We’ll see more and more organizations taking long, hard looks at their own compensation structures — and trying to remedy equity within existing employees as well as new ones. The Glassdoor study found that one key remedy for the gender pay gap are employer policies that embrace salary transparency. Albany County just announced it’s giving some employees salary “bumps” to address pay equity — days after passing its own salary history ban. We may see companies evaluating retroactive rebalancing, adding additional work/life balance components to their benefits packages, and setting key targets for increasing diversity and inclusion — as they drive towards better and more equitable pay among all of them. But they can’t do it alone.

Outsourcing Equity

That’s where recruiting and hiring firms come in. When companies outsource their recruiting and hiring to other companies, those companies are also responsible for compliance under the law, if not more so. An outsourcing firm that doesn’t guide its client on issues of compliance may be held liable for that client’s breaking the law. So, it’s incumbent upon firms to really understand the legalities involved in these new pay equity laws. And the firms leading the way with this issue are already setting their own policies. HireRight, for instance, recently announced it was building capabilities into its own hiring and screening tools that enabled its clients to remove salary verification from its screening process. Here at TalentCulture, we just featured a #WorkTrends podcast with HireRight on this topic — and we’re going to dive even deeper with them in a webinar coming up.

The bottom line is that if we’re going to improve the workplace, it can’t be left to legislation. But if there is a wave of legislation happening — and far more to come — it’s vital to understand the laws and compliance. When we combine solid internal policy making on the part of well-meaning companies with legislation, and then we increase the effectiveness by having hiring and screening firms create effective tools for observing best practices, then we’re getting somewhere with pay equity. It’s good news, and it’s about time.

This article was sponsored by HireRight. All opinions are that of TalentCulture and Meghan M. Biro.

Interested in learning more about pay equity?  Join us for “Pay Equity Legislation: 5 Ways to Tackle the Year’s HR Must-Do” lead by Meghan M. Biro.

 

#WorkTrends Recap: The Testimonial Economy

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We used to be swayed by traditional advertising and clever campaigns, but in the social age that has all changed. If you talk about yourself or your company too much, you are labeled a self-promoter or a spammer. It’s time to let other people do the talking for you.

Think about the last time you bought something online. Did you read reviews? Did you research products until you found enough five star reviews that you were satisfied with your selection? This is how customers behave today.

Building “relationships” is no longer enough. Today we are living in the ‘Testimonial Economy,’ where we must earn the trust and respect of our customers and employees. Organizations need to relate to these groups and as our guest, Mark Babbitt stated, “speak to them, not at them.” as this helps them to better identify with the organization and organically become champions of our brands.

This week on #WorkTrends, host Meghan M. Biro and her special guest, Mark Babbitt, CEO at YouTern, discussed the importance of brand evangelism.  .

Here are a few key points Mark shared:

  • Talking about your brand might put a small bump in your sales revenue but it makes a bigger dent in credibility
  • Without social proof, your brand will be in trouble
  • We are now more aware of how to filter out the bad opportunities
  • You need to be checking out what people are saying about your brand every day
  • If you don’t reach out over negative reviews, people are going to assume the reviews are true

Did you miss the show? You can listen to the #WorkTrends podcast on our BlogTalk Radio channel here: http://bit.ly/2tAtPuI

You can also check out the highlights of the conversation from our Storify here:

Didn’t make it to this week’s #WorkTrends show? Don’t worry, you can tune in and participate in the podcast and chat with us every Wednesday from 1-2pm ET (10-11am PT).

Remember, the TalentCulture #WorkTrends conversation continues every day across several social media channels. Stay up-to-date by following our #WorkTrends Twitter stream; pop into our LinkedIn group to interact with other members. Engage with us any time on our social networks, or stay current with trending World of Work topics on our website or through our weekly email newsletter.

Photo Credit: Parkway Dental Care Flickr via Compfight cc

#WorkTrends Preview: The Testimonial Economy

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We used to be swayed by traditional advertising and clever campaigns, but in the social age that has all changed. If you talk about yourself or your company too much you are labeled a self-promoter or a spammer. It’s time to let other people do the talking for you.

The last time you bought something online, did you read the reviews? Did you research the product until you found enough five star reviews to make the purchase? This is how customers behave now and building relationships with your target market is no longer enough.

In the ‘Testimonial Economy,’ a company has to earn the trust and respect of their customers, so they organically become champions of their brands, either personal or organizational.

On Wednesday, July 26, 2017, at 1 pm ET, #WorkTrends host Meghan M. Biro and her special guest, Mark Babbitt, CEO at YouTern will discuss the importance of building your reputation through brand evangelism.

The Testimonial Economy

 #WorkTrends Preview: The Testimonial EconomyJoin Mark and Meghan on our LIVE online podcast Wednesday, July 26 — 1 pm ET / 10 am PT.

Immediately following the podcast, the team invites the TalentCulture community over to the #WorkTrends Twitter stream to continue the discussion. We encourage everyone with a Twitter account to participate as we gather for a live chat, focused on these related questions:

Q1: Why is it difficult for some brands to build relationships with customers? #WorkTrends (Tweet this question)

Q2: How can brands create brand evangelism with employees and customers? #WorkTrends (Tweet this question)

Q3: What do customers need to know about building relationships with brands? #WorkTrends   (Tweet this question)

Don’t want to wait until next Wednesday to join the conversation? You don’t have to. I invite you to check out the #WorkTrends Twitter feed and our TalentCulture World of Work Community LinkedIn group. Share your questions, ideas and opinions with our awesome community.

Photo Credit: Marc_Slavin Flickr via Compfight cc

#WorkTrends Recap: Leverage a Digital Workplace for Better Engagement

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The mobile and digital revolution has changed the traditional workplace as we know it.

The companies that have embraced this change in the digital environment have seen improved productivity, more innovation from their employees, and a cultural alignment in the workplace. The digital workplace helps solve challenges related to communication, collaboration, and employee engagement.

But there are still some organizations who are hesitant to implement digital solutions with a guaranteed ROI on employee engagement. It’s time for those organizations to get over the fear.

This week on #WorkTrends, guest host Cyndy Trivella welcomed Mike Hicks, a recognized leader in the global enterprise software marketing firm Igloo Software, to discuss the advantages of using technology to better engage employees and create a thriving culture.

Igloo Software provides digital workplace solutions that connect leaders and employees, facilitate communication, and improve overall workplace productivity.

Here are a few key points Mike shared:

  • The digital workplace is where the work actually gets done.
  • The four pillars of the digital workplace are communication, collaboration, knowledge management, and culture.
  • Most people are receptive to technology when they have a choice.
  • 95% of candidates in their 20’s and 30’s believe culture is more important than communication.

Did you miss the show? You can listen to the #WorkTrends podcast on our BlogTalk Radio channel here: http://bit.ly/2u7mS6V

You can also check out the highlights of the conversation from our Storify here:

Didn’t make it to this week’s #WorkTrends show? Don’t worry, you can tune in and participate in the podcast and chat with us every Wednesday from 1-2pm ET (10-11am PT).

Remember, the TalentCulture #WorkTrends conversation continues every day across several social media channels. Stay up-to-date by following our #WorkTrends Twitter stream; pop into our LinkedIn group to interact with other members. Engage with us any time on our social networks, or stay current with trending World of Work topics on our website or through our weekly email newsletter.

Photo Credit: Exentriq Flickr via Compfight cc

#WorkTrends Preview: Leverage a Digital Workplace for Better Engagement

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The traditional workplace as we know it has changed. Everything is more global, more mobile and more digital.

The smart companies that have embraced change in this digital environment have improved productivity, innovation and cultural alignment. The digital workplace also helps solve core challenges related to communication, collaboration and employee engagement.

Unfortunately, there are brands that have not adopted the use of technology and with that may have a culture lacking engagement, close collaboration and high levels of productivity.

On Wednesday, July 19, 2017 at 1pm ET, #WorkTrends host Meghan M. Biro and her special guest Mike Hicks, a recognized leader in global enterprise software marketing from Igloo Software will discuss the advantages of using technology to better engage employees and to create a thriving culture.

Leverage a Digital Workplace for Better Engagement

Leverage a Digital Workplace for Better Engagement PromoJoin Mike and Meghan on our LIVE online podcast Wednesday, July 19 — 1 pm ET / 10 am PT.

Immediately following the podcast, the team invites the TalentCulture community over to the #WorkTrends Twitter stream to continue the discussion. We encourage everyone with a Twitter account to participate as we gather for a live chat, focused on these related questions: 

Q1: How can brands leverage tech to enhance their culture? #WorkTrends (Tweet this question)

Q2: How can tech bridge the gap between leadership and employees? #WorkTrends (Tweet this question)

Q3: How can employees adapt to new tools for better engagement? #WorkTrends (Tweet this question)

Don’t want to wait until next Wednesday to join the conversation? You don’t have to. I invite you to check out the #WorkTrends Twitter feed and our TalentCulture World of Work Community LinkedIn group. Share your questions, ideas and opinions with our awesome community.

This #WorkTrends event is sponsored by Igloo Software.

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#WorkTrends Recap: Benefits of Measuring Your Candidate Experience

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The truth is simple: your candidate experience can make or break your hiring process and potentially impact your business.

According to the latest Global Talent Board research, 41% of candidates will take their allegiance, product purchases and brand relationships elsewhere because of it. This directly impacts an organization’s bottom line and reputation.

In other words, a good candidate experience is smart marketing for an organization. A negative candidate experience is like a black eye and may cause the right candidate to turn down the job. Because if management doesn’t care about the recruiting process, what else is falling through the cracks?

This week on #WorkTrends, host Meghan M. Biro welcomed Kevin W. Grossman, Talent Board President of Global Programs discussed the research from the latest Talent Board survey.

Each year, companies who participate in the Candidate Experience Awards and Benchmark program send surveys to hundreds of thousands employment candidates to assess the recruitment process. Kevin has studied the survey results first-hand and knows what it takes set a company apart.

Here are a few key points Kevin shared:

  • 64 percent of candidates who have a great experience will increase the relationship
  • Candidates are the customers. We need to use customer survey methods to improve hiring process
  • You need to collect feedback from candidates whether they got the job or not.

Did you miss the show? You can listen to the #WorkTrends podcast on our BlogTalk Radio channel here:  http://bit.ly/2t3sqRa

You can also check out the highlights of the conversation from our Storify here:

Didn’t make it to this week’s #WorkTrends show? Don’t worry, you can tune in and participate in the podcast and chat with us every Wednesday from 1-2pm ET (10-11am PT).

Remember, the TalentCulture #WorkTrends conversation continues every day across several social media channels. Stay up-to-date by following our #WorkTrends Twitter stream; pop into our LinkedIn group to interact with other members. Engage with us any time on our social networks, or stay current with trending World of Work topics on our website or through our weekly email newsletter

Photo Credit: s.knellesen Flickr via Compfight cc

Benefits of Measuring Your Candidate Experience – #WorkTrends Preview

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Hiring is a fact of business for companies, whether it be a consistent part of their process or an occasional effort. The one thing for certain is that all industries want star candidates to fill vacant positions. However, a disconnect can occur when companies don’t create a great experience for many candidates.

Exactly what is the business impact of a poor candidate experience? According to the latest Global Talent Board research, 41% of your candidates will take their allegiance, product purchases and brand relationships elsewhere because of it. This is big and directly impacts an organization’s bottom line and reputation.

A good candidate experience is smart marketing for an organization. A negative candidate experience may cause the right candidate to turn down the job. If management doesn’t care about the recruiting process, what else is falling through the cracks?

On Wednesday, July 12, 2017 at 1pm ET, #WorkTrends host Meghan M. Biro and her special guest Kevin W. Grossman, Talent Board President of Global Programs will discuss the research from this latest survey and how brands can easily implement alternative ways of engaging job candidates to reinforce a strong candidate experience and support a healthy business bottom line.

Benefits of Measuring Your Candidate Experience

Benefits of Measuring Your Candidate Experience Join Kevin and Meghan on our LIVE online podcast Wednesday, July 12 — 1 pm ET / 10 am PT.

Immediately following the podcast, the team invites the TalentCulture community over to the #WorkTrends Twitter stream to continue the discussion. We encourage everyone with a Twitter account to participate as we gather for a live chat, focused on these related questions:

 Q1: Why should brands care about the candidate experience? #WorkTrends (Tweet this question)

 Q2: What are the benefits of measuring candidate experience? #WorkTrends (Tweet this question)

Q3: How can brands implement candidate feedback for positive change? #WorkTrends  (Tweet this question)

Don’t want to wait until next Wednesday to join the conversation? You don’t have to. Check out the #WorkTrends Twitter feed or join our TalentCulture World of Work Community LinkedIn group. Share your questions, ideas and opinions with our awesome community.

Photo Credit: minecigg Flickr via Compfight cc

#WorkTrends Recap: The Value of Employee Recognition

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Smart companies and leaders are figuring out that rewards and recognition programs have a lasting impact on employees. From a small thank you to quick feedback on a job well done, recognition can improve employee engagement and productivity, as well as help retain top talent. All of which can improve the bottom line.

And yet, not every company has figured out how to incorporate rewards and recognition into their work culture.

This week on #WorkTrends, host Meghan M. Biro welcomed Salvador Barros, CEO of Tap My Back, and Jason Lauritsen, Keynote Speaker and Best-Selling Author, to the podcast to discuss the barriers to adoption and the value of recognition programs.

As CEO of Tap My Back, a tool that helps leaders promote recognition across the organization, Salvador Barros has seen first-hand what recognition can do for employees, leaders and companies. Jason Lauritsen has studied hundreds of workplaces to determine the keys to real employee engagement.

Here are a few key points Salvador and Jason shared:

  • Sustainable employee recognition starts at the top. Leaders need to be an example to the rest of an organization
  • Companies aiming to improve customer experience should first focus on having engaged employees
  • Organizations need to pay more attention to outward facing issues to realize the value of employee engagement.
  • Peer-to-peer feedback is just as valuable as management feedback because your peers see the effort you put into your work, and managers often focus on the results.

Did you miss the show? You can listen to the #WorkTrends podcast on our BlogTalk Radio channel here: http://bit.ly/2tn6mAG

You can also check out the highlights of the conversation from our Storify here:

Didn’t make it to this week’s #WorkTrends show? Don’t worry, you can tune in and participate in the podcast and chat with us every Wednesday from 1-2pm ET (10-11am PT).

Remember, the TalentCulture #WorkTrends conversation continues every day across several social media channels. Stay up-to-date by following our #WorkTrends Twitter stream; pop into our LinkedIn group to interact with other members. Engage with us any time on our social networks, or stay current with trending World of Work topics on our website or through our weekly email newsletter.

Photo Credit: Sydnee Paige Photography Flickr via Compfight cc

#WorkTrends Preview: The Value of Employee Recognition

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Employee Recognition and Rewards are pulling up from the outside and gaining in speed quickly. Companies that are smart are already ahead of the curve and are playing to the strengths of their employees by encouraging feedback and recognition as a form of engagement, both from their peers and from management.

On Wednesday, June 28, 2017, TalentCulture #WorkTrends host, Meghan M. Biro and her special guests Salvador Barros, CEO of Tap My Back, and Jason Lauritsen, Best-Selling Author and Keynote Speaker, will be discussing this timely topic and the myriad ways brands can value their employees through well-developed recognition programs.

The Value of Employee Recognition

The Value of Employee RecognitionJoin Salvador and Jason on our LIVE online podcast Wednesday, June 28 — 1 pm ET / 10 am PT.

Immediately following the podcast, please join the TalentCulture community over on the #WorkTrends Twitter stream to continue the discussion. We encourage everyone with a Twitter account to participate as we gather for a live chat, focused on these related questions:

Q1: How can companies begin a recognition program? #WorkTrends (Tweet this question)

Q2: What can employees do to help support recognition and rewards? #WorkTrends (Tweet this question)

Q3: What are the long-term effects of recognition programs?  #WorkTrends  (Tweet this question)

Don’t want to wait until next Wednesday to join the conversation? You don’t have to. I invite you to check out the #WorkTrends Twitter feed and our TalentCulture World of Work Community LinkedIn group. Share your questions, ideas and opinions with our community.

Photo Credit: seosam2011 Flickr via Compfight cc