In the rush to adopt the latest AI tools and maximize efficiency and output, employers may be overlooking the one factor that gives them a competitive edge: people.

“It’s the unpredictable, varied creativity of humans that actually allows one business to leapfrog over another,” said Ken Matos, director of market insights at HR analytics platform HiBob, during a From Day One webinar. “When you’re people-first, you’re really looking for ways to get the right people to advance your business strategy most effectively.”

A “people-first” culture, as Matos describes it, is one grounded in the belief that it’s people, not processes, not technology, that makes a business successful. 

That means designing the right roles for the organization, then ensuring the right people are in those roles. When employees feel well-matched, supported, and recognized, Matos says, “you get increases in creativity, novel ideas, and their ability to adapt and learn. That’s really valuable when you’re in a growth phase.”

Flashpoint, a cyber threat intelligence platform, learned this firsthand. Several years ago, the company enjoyed a hiring surge. Headcount was growing at a steady clip and business was booming. But Lane McFarland, Flashpoint’s senior director of talent management, eventually hit pause. He began to question whether the pace of hiring was tracking closely enough with the company’s long-term goals.

“We have a very complex and unique organization,” McFarland said. Flashpoint employs threat intelligence analysts from “three-letter” agencies like the CIA and FBI, vulnerability analysts who adopt criminal personas to draw out hackers, as well as accountants, HR partners, and other corporate staff. Each group brings its own professional culture and expectations about the working environment. “We want to make sure that we are matching both what we need and what they need,” said McFarland. “We don’t want to get to a point where it’s not a fit because it’s our fault.”

So, McFarland redefined how Flashpoint approaches hiring, beginning with clear expectations. Job descriptions now outline outcome milestones for the first 30, 60, and 90 days, and checkpoints take place accordingly. Those check-ins aren’t just about evaluating employees, they’re also about ensuring the company is delivering on its side of the relationship.

The company’s needs change, just as employees’ needs do–McFarland knows that. And rarely is someone so mismatched to a role that it can’t work. If a new hire lacks a requisite skill, McFarland can help them get it. If the role isn’t the right fit, he encourages pivots. Sometimes even outside the company.

For some leaders, “people-first” suggests benefits packages and sentiment surveys, but Matos and McFarland encourage HR leaders to think deeper. “I always recommend HR leaders expand the scope of what they think of as well-being,” McFarland said. For him, it’s about whether employees feel fulfilled, valued, and recognized.

Matos puts it this way: “What is a reasonable amount of work to give people before things break down? In an ideal world, we would say, ‘let’s measure their well-being. If their well-being goes down, that’s too much work. That’s not an ROI conversation. That’s an ethical conversation.”

“Engagement is a symptom,” McFarland said. “We need to understand what’s the underlying problem, how we can impact that from an HR perspective, and whether we can expand our view of what HR leaders actually have the power to shape across the business.”

Editor’s note: From Day One thanks our partner, HiBob, for sponsoring this webinar. 

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. She is the host of How to Be Anything, the podcast about people with unusual jobs.

(Photo by courtneyk/iStock)