The Evolving Benefits Landscape: Personalization, AI, and the New Era of Employee-Centered Strategy
BY Jessica Swenson June 18, 2026Many employers responded to increasingly diverse workforces and the pandemic-era talent landscape by adding niche benefits, only to find that employees either don’t know about them or aren’t using them. Amid continuously mounting financial pressures, those same organizations are now facing a renewed focus on the cost of benefits packages and their administration.“There is more focus from business leaders asking, ‘Do we need to be spending this extra money in these extra ways? Is this the right thing to do for our people?’” said Amy Waickman, global head of benefits at Arup. She suggests evaluating each benefit individually to determine whether it serves a clear purpose, is well-communicated, and is being used. “Because if it’s not, then what’s the value of having it out there?”In conversation with HR Brew reporter Mikaela Cohen at From Day One’s half-day Chicago benefits conference, Waickman discussed strategies to balance budget requirements with an optimized employee benefits experience.Growing legislation regarding pay transparency means that employees can more easily learn about and compare compensation with their peers. As a result, said Waickman, “benefits are going to become an increasing differentiator in total rewards packages.”While budget constraints can force difficult benefits decisions for employers, she recommends taking a structured, cautious approach rather than abruptly pausing or cancelling offerings. Organizations need to know why they’re pausing a benefit and what outcomes they need to see to make a go-forward decision. Communication is also key to keeping employees informed and maintaining trust.Amy Waickman, global head of benefits at Arup, spoke with Mikaela Cohen, reporter at HR Brew, during the fireside chat in Chicago Employers can optimize access to existing benefit programs by helping their teams better navigate their options, she says, especially during times of crisis. The ability to meet employees where they are and fulfill their unique needs simplifies the experience and helps reduce their anxiety. However, she shared that the old model of reaching out to an HR contact for guidance is shifting, as companies are now exploring AI to offer true personalization. She expects it to change how employees interact with their company’s benefits ecosystem—possibly within the next six-to-twelve months.“There’s a change now. In the past, it’s been really difficult to communicate and navigate well at a personal level. Now, with AI, I think there’s going to be an opportunity to help employees navigate that on a personalized, individual basis based on their circumstances,” she said. While AI has transformed the benefits landscape significantly, Waickman noted that it happened a little slower than the industry expected—which she thinks is a good thing. Her HR and benefits team has improved efficiency in some administrative and operational tasks by using AI to compare year-over-year plan documents, automate surface-level invoice checks, or translate foreign-language policies and handbooks.But an element of caution is also warranted. One area of focus for Arup’s leadership team is vendor AI practices. At each contract renewal, the company inquires how employee data is used in vendor systems to determine whether contractual guardrails are needed. “I think there is a danger there of not protecting our employees, and making sure that we’re getting the best outcomes for our people. We don’t want our vendors to be using AI or using data in a way that would inhibit that.”One challenge of integrating AI into HR operations is identifying and measuring ROI. In the planning stages, Waickman quantifies its value through time saved, but in later phases it can be difficult to retroactively confirm those projections.“We can say we’re freeing up X amount of time from our benefit professionals to do these other sorts of activities and things, but is there going to be a way to look back and say actually we did free up [a specific] amount of time, and what does that look like compared to what we expected?”To offset employee uncertainty about the advent of AI and job security, she takes an approach that shows how AI can support and elevate them. “All we can do as leaders is make sure that we are demonstrating clearly the ways that AI can help them become more efficient,” she said, “and then continually give them other opportunities to expand, so that they feel confident around their job security.”Jessica Swenson is a freelance writer and proofreader based in the Midwest. Learn more about her at jmswensonllc.com.(Photos by Josh Larson for From Day One)
Earned Wage Access: Innovative Strategies for Worker Well-Being and Organizational Cost-Effectiveness
BY Ade Akin June 17, 2026There’s an invisible tax draining the budgets of companies that still rely on the traditional two-week pay cycle. The question is, what are these organizations going to do about it? That was the challenge posed by Steve Davis, the national sales manager at FIS, during a thought leadership spotlight at From Day One’s Chicago half-day benefits conference. Davis didn’t mince words during his presentation, pointing out that a staggering 62% of American workers live paycheck to paycheck. He says that this sobering reality isn’t just a personal hardship for employees, but rather a performance, leadership, and budget issue that’s hiding in plain sight. Davis says more than $300 billion is wasted annually replacing workers who left, in part, because an outdated payroll cycle failed to meet their financial needs. The Hidden Crisis in Your Break RoomThe unprecedented number of employees living paycheck to paycheck isn’t the result of bad choices. “Rent didn’t stop going up, fuel costs haven’t stopped going up, groceries haven’t stopped going up, and child care costs today are astronomical,” he said. Wages haven’t kept pace with rising costs of living, leaving two-thirds of the workforce in financial stress. Around 56% of these workers say their financial stress directly hurts their performance at work. And the problem isn’t restricted to lower-wage employees, with 44% of workers who earn over $100,000 annually having little to no money left after paying for their monthly expenses. “Tell me how many of your managers are in that number,” Davis challenged the room.Not a Loan, Not a Payday SchemeSteve Davis, national sales manager at FIS, led the session in Chicago Davis dismantled some of the misconceptions that have hindered the adoption of earned wage access (EWA) for years before exploring solutions. Earned wage access isn’t a loan or payday product, and it isn’t a compliance nightmare to roll out. It’s simply giving employees access to the money they’ve already earned.The mechanics that power EWA are simple: Wages accrue in real time against your payroll system. An employee requests access to a portion, typically capped at 50% of what they’ve earned during that pay period. The funds hit their account, often within minutes. The amount taken is automatically deducted on the next scheduled payday. “No manual work, no HR involvement, no cash flow exposure,” Davis said. The Hard Numbers That Win Over a CFODavis presented a slide he recommends putting in front of any CFO when making a case for EWA. Employers report a 10 to 29% reduction in employee turnover with EWA. He walked through a concrete example using a company with 1,000 employees and 35% annual turnover. With an average replacement cost of $3,500 per hourly worker, that’s $1.225 million in annual turnover costs. A documented 20% reduction saves the company $245,000 at no additional cost to the company, since the benefit itself costs nothing.The savings extend beyond higher retention rates. Employers see a 40% reduction in payroll inquiry calls and emails, significantly slashing the administrative burden of answering questions like, “When do I get paid?” Also, 96% of employers who offer EWA say it helps attract talent, transforming it from a nice-to-have into a competitive necessity.The Human Side of the SpreadsheetDavis also discussed what EWA looks like for employees. Without EWA, a worker who needs $200 before payday has limited options: a payday loan with an APR that can exceed 400%, a high-interest credit card cash advance, or simply missing the bill and incurring a late fee. All of these choices add financial worry to the employee’s mental load while they’re expected to focus on serving customers.With EWA, that same employee opens an app, accesses their own money, and handles the crisis without any debt, interest, or shame. “When an employee looks at their benefits package and sees earned wage access, they see an employer that trusts them with their own money,” Davis said. “That’s not a transactional signal, that’s a relational signal.”Davis also offered practical guidance for evaluating earned wage access vendors. With the market growing at an annual rate of 34.8% and projected to reach $23.6 billion by 2030, he argued that employers should look for four essential qualities. First, the solution should come at no cost to the employer. “In 2026, if a vendor is charging you a per-employee fee, ask them why their competitor isn’t,” he said. Second, it should integrate seamlessly with payroll and human capital management systems, operating behind the scenes without creating additional work for payroll teams while automatically handling deductions. Third, employers should expect measurable outcomes, including dashboards that track adoption rates, indicators of financial stress, and correlations with retention. “If a vendor can’t measure outcomes, they can’t prove value,” Davis noted. Finally, vendors should take full responsibility for compliance, particularly as earned wage access legislation is pending or already enacted in more than 16 states.Davis concluded with a direct challenge for the audience: “Before you leave this conference, identify one person on your leadership team and schedule a 30-minute conversation on EWA. Bring the ROI scenario. The data is in, the technology is mature, and the cost is zero. The only thing standing between your workforce and this benefit is the decision to move.”Editor’s note: From Day One thanks our partner, FIS, for sponsoring this thought leadership spotlight. Ade Akin covers artificial intelligence, workplace wellness, HR trends, and digital health solutions.(Photos by Josh Larson for From Day One)
Getting Buy-In for Your AI Initiatives: Where Technology Supports Human Decisions in Hiring
BY Emily McCrary-Ruiz-Esparza June 16, 2026For HR organizations eager to introduce AI into the hiring processes, the question is: Where to begin?Most companies can’t buy a product off the shelf and roll it out—that’s true even if it doesn’t employ artificial intelligence. There are legal implications, security risks, and feasibility questions to be addressed. There’s also the matter of buy-in from business leaders who hold the purse strings and from the employees expected to use it.“Everybody’s on a different spectrum, from highly regulated to wildly experimental,” said Brenna Lenoir, SVP of marketing and strategy at AI-native skills platform CodeSignal. “When you want to start experimenting with something or conducting a vendor search, first understand legal’s comfort level with risk.” Most legal teams, she says, will raise concerns about ingesting third-party data that hasn’t been validated or checked for quality, disclosure to those interacting with the tools, and the degree of human oversight. When it comes to AI in hiring, “it’s about responsibility, trust, and downstream impact on the talent we bring into the organization,” said Cassandre Joseph, the global head of TA at global pharmaceutical firm Novartis, during a From Day One webinar on how HR can earn buy-in on AI initiatives. To introduce AI, she worked closely with legal and risk partners to ensure “every use case now is evaluated for things like bias, data privacy, and fairness before it scales, ensuring we’re not just moving fast, but that we’re moving responsibly.”Panelists spoke about "Getting Buy-In for Your AI Initiatives: Where Technology Supports Human Decisions in Hiring" in the session moderated by Emily McCrary-Ruiz-Esparza, journalist and From Day One contributing editor (photo by From Day One)Across organizations, business leaders have loved the cost savings that AI affords hiring teams. For instance, Novartis started with high-impact, low-risk experiments, like drafting job descriptions and outreach messages and scheduling interviews. “Very quick wins that you can go back to with the business,” said Joseph. At multinational media company Omnicom, the senior director of HR Allison Roberts said she’s most interested in “efficiency and reduction of the transactional work that recruiters have to do, to help them be more responsive and supportive, and have that custom customer service element improved.”At Unifi, which employs the airport ground employees that load bags and push wheelchairs and refuel aircraft, the business wanted speed and capacity. The company sees more than 100,000 applications and hires tens of thousands of workers every year. And thanks to AI-powered automation that standardizes workflows and evaluation criteria, it now does this with a team of just 18 people. Yet despite heavy automation, “every step is auditable, every step is reportable, and bias mitigation is done on a weekly and monthly basis,” said talent acquisition VP Akshay Loomba. “We don’t leave it as a one-time exercise. There are dedicated team members who are looking at it. We have a dedicated member from the legal team who’s looking at emerging state laws.”But AI isn’t effective as an accessory. “We realized quickly that the access to the AI tools alone doesn’t immediately create the transformation we’re looking for,” said Johanna Bazos, who leads executive recruitment at financial institution BNY. “The real challenge is understanding the workflow integration from a day-to-day perspective and the culture change that needs to happen in order for AI to have an impact.”Recruiters at BNY are spending upwards of 20 hours in AI bootcamps, and “we’re in the process of launching an AI buddy program pairing individuals in the TA organization who are more advanced” to teach skills around prompting and agent creation. Bazos herself is about to begin a 40-hour course on building agents. Once TA teams actually get their hands on these tools, it hasn’t been difficult to get buy-in from the recruiters themselves, said Roberts. “Epecially for the efficiency and the opportunity to fill all of the critical metrics they’re measured on—they’re excited to have a resource to help them meet those objectives.”Editor’s note: From Day One thanks our partner, CodeSignal, 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 tanit boonruen/iStock)
Recognizing and Retaining a Distributed Workforce
BY Jessica Swenson June 15, 2026Tangible recognition of the unique needs employees face on a daily basis is a key to engagement and retention, says Heidi DeSautel, managing director of client delivery at Growth Operators. This can show up as schedule flexibility, location flexibility, and customized benefit programs that enable employees to fulfill familial responsibilities and improve their quality of life in meaningful ways.“We see a lot of generational differences on our team. We really try to be intentional, to meet them where they are, and provide them with support that they value as recognition in our workforce.” she said. “Just really understanding and valuing where they’re at and being intentional about providing that for them, so that they can support our clients the best they can.”Methods to engage and recognize distributed employees were discussed by a panel of leaders at From Day One’s Minneapolis conference. The panel was moderated by Colleen Flaherty Manchester, professor of work and organizations and director of the center for HR and labor studies for Carlson School of Management. Elissa Beach, director of HR for WCG, saw her company embrace fully remote work after the pandemic, including a significant reduction in office space. WCG maintained its strong connections by establishing a cross-functional, multi-level project team that gathered data through employee research, focus groups, and surveys to inform a new strategy and playbook that help teams stay connected.The playbook helps employees and managers identify potential team activities based on time allotments, financial budgets, and specific target categories like communication, collaboration, connection, or community. “We were ultimately recognized for this particular playbook in the remote work excellence category, but we continue to evolve it and add to it over time, and it's been something that all of our employees continue to use daily,” Beach said.The group of leaders spoke about "Recognizing and Retaining a Distributed Workforce" on stage in Minneapolis Other organizations intentionally create connection opportunities through planned in-person and group events. Sherrie Kronforst, VP of HR for Thrivent, discussed the summits, meetings, virtual events, and collaborative technology that her organization uses to maintain strong intercompany relationships. Thrivent also offers a virtual recognition program through a platform called Pathfinders, and provides every employee an annual recognition budget each year. “Anybody can recognize anybody,” Kronforst said, “and every employee gets a budget every year, so they can [give] a social recognition, or a points-based recognition.”Beach acknowledges that employees want to be seen by their broader work community and not just their boss. By shifting employee recognition more heavily to Microsoft Teams channels, she says that WCG has seen broadened engagement and amplified social connection between teams. This helps take the onus off of managers as a single source of recognition and employee celebration. The continuous change and uncertainty in today’s workplace, especially regarding AI and job security, creates a clear need to build and sustain employee resilience. Acknowledging employee fears, creating supportive cultures, and encouraging peer support in collaborative spaces are some simple ways that employers can help teams to build that resilience, says DeSautel. In addition to virtual connection points like Slack, DeSautel says, she sees clients create geographical hubs that enable employees to get together in person. “They try and get them together in person a couple times a year, so that they are able to meet each other and create that personal relationship. I think that’s one of the things that helps employees the most with resilience.”Supporting a healthcare workforce that spans a variety of patient-facing facilities with varying roles, scopes of work, and computer access results in a completely different set of needs. Jen Bailey, VP of total rewards and HR shared services at Allina Health, spoke about the multi-faceted approach Allina takes to equip its leaders to recognize employees in real time. This model includes everything from digital social recognition platforms to in-person leader huddles, group conversations, monetary and non-monetary recognition, and care-on-the-spot acknowledgements.“It’s a really unique blend of trying to provide the leaders with the tools that they need and being able to meet the employees where they're at, so it's always evolving,” Bailey said.To position employees for recognition through development and advancement opportunities, some organizations are focusing on leadership competencies, talent pipeline maximization, and elevated performance appraisal systems. “We’re really looking at that senior leadership group to be the folks who are leading us into the future,” said Kronforst, “so we have recently reset expectations for leaders; we’ve created executive level competencies.”Through this refined performance management program, Thrivent’s leaders are better positioned for the proactive problem-solving and accelerated decision-making that will eliminate bottlenecks and maintain momentum on strategic organizational initiatives. Leaders are also expected to not only reach their goals, but reach them in a way that aligns with the company’s culture and values. “It’s not just the what, but the how,” said Kronforst. “So, making sure that we’re connecting the dots, [looking at] what are we developing and how are we rewarding and recognizing the right behaviors.”Increasing shortages of healthcare workers has caused Bailey and team to think creatively about how to maintain a strong talent pipeline. Allina has built apprentice programs for hard-to-fill clinical positions, creating internal mobility for existing Allina employees while opening up entry-level positions and career advancement options for external candidates.Employees are encouraged to explore new roles within system clinics, hospitals, and specialty sites before Allina seeks external hires. “Making sure that we’re leveraging our internal talent before we go to the external market has been another big piece of that internal growth and recognition,” said Bailey. “So, investing in who and how is going to fill those roles for us, then leveraging that internal talent. How do we ensure that we’re providing those growth opportunities?”For those external hires it does make, Allina launched a new program to improve the experience for first-year employees, which includes an in-house wellbeing navigation program designed in partnership with mental health physicians and EAP partners. Confidential navigators help employees locate and connect with the appropriate resources for their needs. The American Hospital Association has recognized this initiative, says Bailey, and the program’s growth is increasingly driven by word-of-mouth rather than internal marketing efforts, demonstrating the value derived by employees.She framed employee well-being support as a crucial element of HR: “from the retention standpoint, what can we offer as an employee that is unique and special for them, so that they can not only care for the community but for themselves.”Jessica Swenson is a freelance writer, content strategist, and proofreader based in the Midwest. Learn more about her at jmswensonllc.com.(Photos by Josh Larson for From Day One)
Designing Well-Being Strategies for Every Generation at Work
BY Ade Akin June 12, 2026When Ryan Seman sat down for his second therapy session, it wasn’t because he was in crisis, but rather because he wanted to know if the mental health benefit he had just rolled out to thousands of employees at Starkey actually worked.“I just completed my second session just to see what the experience is like,” he said during a panel at From Day One’s Minneapolis conference. “I have to tell you, it’s light years ahead of the traditional EAP programs that maybe we started our careers with.”That willingness to test-drive his own well-being initiative, and to talk about it openly, captured the spirit of a wide-ranging panel discussion titled “Holistic and Inclusive Well-Being Strategies for a Multigenerational Workforce.” The session brought together leaders from total rewards, generalist HR, health innovation, and hearing technology. Moderated by Megan Thompson, special correspondent for PBS News, the conversation moved beyond benefits checklists. It explored how listening, trust, and a fundamental rethinking of health benefits can reshape employee experience.Listening Before LaunchingOrganizations need to understand what their employees actually need for any benefit program to succeed. For Ashley Halvorson, the VP of HR at Thomson Reuters, that starts with a “stacked listening strategies” approach.“We do use the traditional organizational health index survey,” she said, noting that 79% of the company’s 27,000 employees take the survey each year. “But that’s one time a year, right? So we also do a pulse survey pretty much weekly with a very small portion of our employees to just kind of track along with what their needs are as well.”Halvorson also encourages informal touchpoints. “As much as we can get people together in person, whenever we have a leader visit a site, we’ll do a coffee chat, or we call it office hours, and kind of open it up just to whatever people need. Sometimes benefits come up, sometimes not, but usually you can hear a little bit more about what’s stressing them,” she added.Joshua Lemon, the global senior director and head of total rewards at Resideo, takes listening a step further with data. “We actually specifically tried to hone in on the trade-offs that they wanted to make, specifically around their benefits. We did a conjoint study to try to end up digging another layer deeper,” he said. Resideo also created a Total Rewards Insight Team, gathering select managers across the business to relay what they hear from employees, an approach that sometimes highlights needs traditional surveys might miss.Breaking the StigmaSeman, the VP of health and well-being at Starkey, immediately identified a glaring gap when he joined the hearing-aid manufacturer two years ago. “A clearly significant void we had was a mental well-being solution,” he said. “We had a limited service in the U.S. and nothing outside the U.S.” Starkey settled on a global provider after a year-long Request for Proposal (RFP) process. The target engagement rate was 10% in the first year. “We hit that after three months,” Seman said.Panelists spoke about "Holistic and Inclusive Well-Being Strategies for a Multigenerational Workforce" in Minneapolis The success hinged on confronting stigma head-on. “I don’t want my employer to know I went to the EAP; they’re going to know I went, they’re going to wonder why I went, and I don’t want that cloud hanging over me,” Seman added, articulating the unspoken fear many employees share. Starkey’s solution offers both virtual and in-person options.Halvorson emphasized the power of peer influence in driving the adoption of well-being benefits. “One of the things that we found to be really successful is to find those influential people within the business, maybe not even at the leadership level, to try out some of these programs and be able to talk about it themselves from personal experience.” Starkey took that advice literally: ambassadors wear branded shirts with QR codes on the back that link directly to the mental health app. “People are more willing to engage or pick up the phone because they’ve seen proof of concept,” Seman said.A New Paradigm for HealthDr. William Ferro, founder and CEO of Betr Health, brought a provocative diagnosis to the panel. “The CFO is putting a lot of pressure on benefits now to say, 'hey, these costs are growing so high, and essentially, what are we getting for it?'” he said. “HR is saying to the benefits, 'my people are exhausted mentally and physically, none of this stuff seems to be really moving the needle, so there’s a pressure cooker happening.'”For Dr. Ferro, the deeper problem isn’t just which benefits companies offer, it’s the belief system behind them. “If the belief system is that people lack willpower, lack motivation, it’s their age, it’s their genetics, then you’re going to come up with a program and a paradigm that’s going to lead them down the wrong road,” he pointed out. “We’re blaming and shaming people all the time that they’re having issues with their weight, their sleep, their mood, they’re constantly being put on medication after medication. So one day we can retire, they give us the watch, and now we become a professional patient for the rest of our lives.”Ferro advocates a gut-first, food-as-medicine approach through Betr Health, emphasizing that many well-being solutions are “built on the wrong paradigm.” He pointed to stark workforce data: “95% of the people come in with low energy, 78% come up with back pain, neck pain, and joint pain. 65% have sleep issues, digestive issues. So this is your workforce coming in every day.” His recommendation is deceptively simple: “We need to make sure we’re giving them the right input so they can get the right output.” At Resideo, Lemon takes a three-pillar approach that addresses mental health, physical health, and financial well-being simultaneously. “For mental health, we make a resource available that goes deep into the mental wellness space, beyond meditation, but also including access to psychiatrists and therapists,” he said. The company also runs financial workshops and wellness challenges centered around nutrition and physical activity.Focusing on EquityWith a workforce that includes Gen Z to Baby Boomers, the panel wrestled with how to ensure fairness without offering identical benefits to everyone. This can be especially difficult in times of constrained budgets. Every panelist acknowledged the growing tension between ambition and budget regarding well-being benefits. “Financial restraints are a reality for most of us,” Seman said. “Where are you getting optimal engagement with a measurable ROI? Every vendor will tell you they’ve got the greatest ROI. If that were the case, we’d all have 81-point solutions in place. The reality is not everything works for every individual.”“We try to focus on making things equitable, but not equal, necessarily,” Halvorson said. “We have a lot of different benefits across our offerings, and it’s just what people really choose to engage with and interact with.”Lemon emphasizes that a benefit’s value isn’t captured in utilization numbers. “We might still consider a benefit program to be successful because of the way that it ends up making our employees feel about working for our company,” he said. “It might be something that you choose to offer because you want to create an inclusive environment for your employees.”Halvorson described Thomson Reuters’ “work from anywhere” policy, which allows employees to work remotely for four to eight weeks at a stretch. “We don’t say what they have to do, or we don’t constrain it to what they can do while they’re away,” she said. “I’ve seen some new moms say, ‘I got to get out of the Minnesota winter, and I’m going to be down in Florida for two weeks, so that my kids can be outside and on the beach.’ I’ve even seen people say, ‘I don’t want to commute to work in the middle weeks of January.’ We don’t judge how people use it.”For Halvorson, the future of well-being may lie less in adding new benefits and more in personalizing recognition. She shared an emerging conversation at Thomson Reuters: “At times when we have top-performing employees, we give out a cash bonus, or maybe some equity. Would you appreciate it more, though, if we said, " Hey, I know that you’re really into wellness. Maybe I’ll pay for you to go to a wellness retreat for a week instead, or maybe I’ll pay for your gym membership.” The goal, she said, is to signal to employees: “We know them, we value them, and we want to give them a little bit of choice in how they feel recognized and valued.”One unifying message stood out as the panel discussion came to an end: an effective well-being strategy requires listening deeply, challenging old assumptions, and trusting employees to know what they need. Simply rolling out as many benefits as possible isn’t enough. Ade Akin covers artificial intelligence, workplace wellness, HR trends, and digital health solutions.(Photos by Josh Larson for From Day One)
Meet the AI Natives Who Don’t Want to Be
BY Erin Behrens June 09, 2026Just because they’re good at it, doesn’t mean they like it. Growing up with algorithmic feeds and AI-generated content, Gen Z is one of the most AI-fluent generations, but increasingly, they’re the most skeptical of it. It’s a paradox playing out in the workplace, on social media, and even on the stages of this year’s commencement ceremonies, where VIP-speaker references to the promise of AI were met with choruses of boos.Many employers have assumed that because Gen Z grew up alongside these tools, they’re both comfortable and confident using them in professional settings. But the reality is far more complicated, and to understand how Gen Z is actually navigating this moment, From Day One went straight to the source.A Label That Might Not FitFirst, the roots of the label. An AI native “refers to something—usually a product, company or workflow—that was designed from the ground up with AI as a core component, not bolted on later as a mere feature,” according to an IBM explainer. In some cases, Gen Z has been given this title simply due to the timeline of AI’s emergence in the workforce and education. Having been early adopters in terms of their age, they’re generally not getting into a deeper commitment. According to a Gallup poll, “Gen Z’s use of generative AI in everyday life has been largely stable since March 2025. About half (51%) of 14 to 29 year olds continue to say they use AI either daily (22%) or weekly (29%), while 11% report using it monthly, 20% every few months, and 19% say they never use it.” But use doesn’t necessarily equate to trust or excitement. “In most of these cases, Gen Z-ers have become increasingly skeptical, increasingly negative—from a place where even last year, they weren’t particularly positive about it,” Zach Hrynowski, a senior education researcher for Gallup, told the New York Times.Rocki Rockingham, chief HR officer at GE Appliances, notices that younger employees aren’t more trusting of AI than their older counterparts, but on the other hand, they are “more willing to take chances. To try new things, to do things differently,” she said at From Day One’s Miami conference. It’s a distinction worth making at a time when Gen Z’s feelings about the new technology grow more complicated. The Pipeline ProblemRecruiters and hiring managers are increasingly flagging AI fluency as a core qualification in the workforce. It’s no longer a differentiator, but table stakes. An ominous new corporate cliché has even been propagated: AI won’t take your job, but someone who knows how to use it will. Postings that once listed tools like Google Suite and Canva are now leading with ChatGPT and prompt engineering. The message to Gen Z candidates is clear: you were born into this, so you should know it.The expectation of AI fluency creates uneven ground for those early in their careers who may not have hands-on experience with the technology, widening the gap between candidates before they’ve even had a chance to compete. Dani Monaghan, the SVP of global talent enablement at Expedia Group, worries about the access. “If you’re not taught AI at school or in university, and you don’t have the means to access technology, I think the gap is bigger than it will ever be before,” she said at From Day One’s Seattle conference. It’s a gap that’s leaving members of Gen Z increasingly wary. One member of Gen Z, Alec Gautier, a graduate of Marist University’s class of 2023 and now a retention specialist at Saatva, says his attitude toward AI “is one of skepticism.” At root is his distrust of its creators. “I am not inherently opposed to the idea of generative AI, but its current architects and proprietors have, to put it lightly, dubious motives,” he said. This skepticism seems to be a trend, with 14% of Gen Z reporting a decline in excitement in AI since 2025, and 48% believing the risks in the workforce outweigh the benefits, according to Gallup data. Even if Gen Z realizes that AI will have to be part of their working lives, they don’t like the side effects and don’t want to wear the label.Their Role in Leading AI ResistanceWhile Gen Z is being cast as the face of AI prodigy in the workplace, they are also the ones leading the resistance against it, or at least, being the loudest about their unease with it. At graduation ceremonies this spring across the U.S., many graduates hooted at distinguished commencement speakers who spoke of AI, including former Google CEO Eric Schmidt at the University of Arizona. He acknowledged that graduates feared “that the future has already been written, that the machines are coming, that the jobs are evaporating, that the climate is breaking, that politics are fractured, and that you are inheriting a mess that you did not create.” But he told them, essentially, that if they don’t like it, they should just fix it. Alvarado, records management specialist at the Jefferson County Clerk's Office in Watertown, NY, shared her thoughts on the AI boom (photo courtesy of Alvarado)Indeed, students, new graduates, and those early in their careers are experiencing existential concerns about AI’s ethics and its impact on their life and work. They worry about how it affects our ability to connect and be creative, and also the mere amount of “slop” being brought into the world. “AI is just being used way too commonly across all fields, including art, music, fashion, writing, anything that takes a little bit of creativity or brainpower,” Hailey Alvarado, a St. Lawrence University class of 2022 alumna, told From Day One. “When we have an automated intelligence that is programmed to affirm everything we say to it, there is no actual intelligence. It’s just a robot designed to agree with us,” she said.Gen Z also worries about their ability to find early-career roles at a time when entry-level jobs are being stripped away. “Companies are citing A.I. as the reason for mass layoffs; according to the Alliance for Secure A.I., there have been almost 120,000 A.I.-linked job losses in the United States just since last year. Recent college graduates are facing a brutal job market as entry-level positions disappear and A.I. renders the application process inhumanly opaque,” according to the New York Times. And those fortunate enough to get jobs may be arriving just in time to find that “AI is unraveling the social fabric of work,” as Aki Ito, chief correspondent at Business Insider, reported last month. Perhaps most importantly, the generation fears the technology’s environmental impact as its ubiquitous data centers gobble up resources and spew pollution. Having grown up in a world marked by environmental disasters and an escalating climate crisis, Gen Z has long been associated with sustainability activism, and their skepticism of AI is no exception. “While I do have some personal and professional concerns about AI, they are wholly secondary compared to my environmental concerns about the technology,” said Gautier. “The environmental implications of AI I find deeply troubling. The proliferation of data centers and the damage they’ve already done to local ecosystems, public spaces, and fresh-water sources in vulnerable communities is extremely distressing,” he said. The Future of Connection, Creativity, and WorkNo generation can be reduced to a single trait or defining point, but when a crowd of graduates erupts in unanimous boos when their supposed role models mention AI, it’s hard to dismiss it as anything other than a distress signal. Whether it’s a trend, a backlash, or something more lasting, one thing is clear: Gen Z’s relationship with AI is far more portentous than the “AI native” label suggests.The frustration for many isn’t just about the technology itself, but also about what gets lost when we rush to adopt it. Said Alvarado: “We need more true, genuine connections, more creative expression, more critical thinking. Not less. Not from a robot.”Erin Behrens is an associate editor at From Day One.(Featured photo by PeopleImages/iStock)
AI That Actually Works: Orchestrating Content, Context, and Workflows at Scale
BY Ade Akin June 09, 2026Grant Hoffman was trained as a sketch artist before he became an AI solutions architect, and the most valuable lesson he learned during that time had nothing to do with drawing the subject in front of him. “If you are trying to depict something and it never seems to come out right, you draw the negative space around it,” he said during a From Day One webinar. “I don’t draw the camera, I draw the space around the camera, and by doing so, I draw the camera, because my brain has no concept of what the space around the camera is supposed to look like.”Hofmann, now the AI solutions architect at Orange Logic, believes that lesson also applies to enterprise AI projects. Companies often point AI at the tasks it’s needed for, assuming the algorithm will figure out the rest, but the real work lies in mapping the invisible scaffolding around the task: brand rules, legal guardrails, and the tribal knowledge that only lives in the minds of a few seasoned employees. Without that layer of context, AI creates blur instead of drawing the camera.That insight formed the core of the webinar’s conversation. Hoffman was joined by his colleague Misti Vogt, the SVP of engagement at Orange Logic, to lay out a five-step path for moving AI solutions from experiment to infrastructure, grounded in their work with organizations entrusted with managing millions of digital assets. Why Most AI Projects DisappointGrant Hofmann, AI solutions architect at Orange Logic, spoke during the webinar (company photo)Hofmann says the biggest reason some AI initiatives fail is that companies treat AI as a magic bullet when it actually operates on the law of averages.“These foundation models that most of us are building with are built on billions of parameters that represent relationships between a training data set that is mostly a single sum of human knowledge,” he said. “That is an average, and if we’re making assumptions based on the average, we are not capturing the nuance of how you or your organization really think about how to do a task.”That nuance covers everything from tone of voice to rights management. “The way that I ask people to see it is as a magnifying glass,” Hofmann said. “If your process is good and it’s well thought out and it’s well documented, adding a little bit of AI to the mix is going to make it look 10 times more successful. But if your process is shaky, or if it relies on a lot of tribal knowledge, that’s where your hidden 10x can go the opposite direction.” Hofmann called these friction points “qualitative bottlenecks,” tasks where human intuition has always helped create the path. Vogt highlighted the foundational challenge organizations face when creating AI workflows: “The machines can’t be expected to know your brand rules, the governance for your brand, your voice, your rights, your taxonomy. So you have to create an ecosystem and infrastructure where they can easily lean into that information and get what they need when they need it.”Vogt now calls this “enterprise content infrastructure.” Orange Logic has been building such platforms since 1998, and the company was recognized as a Leader by both Gartner and Forrester in 2025, she says.From Record to RevenueVogt described a fundamental shift in content platforms. “Digital asset management has moved from really a system of record into a system of action, which puts us a lot closer to the revenue side of the business,” she said. “What you can do today is start benchmarking, because what’s happening for our customers who are starting to deploy these agents? It doesn’t translate really well, because they didn’t benchmark on the former process.”Hofmann recommends identifying metrics that tie back to dollar-value outcomes: increased output, reduced legal review times, and lower tool bloat. “Cool factor doesn’t really hold water with the guy that signs the checks,” he added. “Before we fully get started, as we are in that scoping stage, we identify the metrics that we want to use in order to report, like, hey, this was really successful.” That discipline also prevents scope creep. “Being able to point to your metric for every new idea and say, 'How is this going to influence my metrics that I’m using to report value?’ Is this a good way to keep things on track?”Teaching Machines Your RulesHofmann offered a low-tech exercise called the “sticky note method” to teach how to extract tribal knowledge within an organization. “Start with a pile of sticky notes next to you. Whether it’s you or whether you’re sitting down with your expert, we watch them, or we do the task ourselves. Every time our eyes start shifting to a different part of the screen, every time we consult a piece of prior knowledge, every single little piece of that gets documented by writing it down on the sticky note.” By the time the task is completed, the team has produced the first drafts of prompts and workflows, while highlighting steps that need a human touch. The method echoes some of the lessons Hofmann learned during his art training. “That sort of assumption engine that makes my day-to-day so fast and easy can get in my way or kill my accuracy,” he said. Vogt agreed: “It forces you out of common thinking. It’s not just fitting AI into current business processes; it’s rethinking the business processes.”Crawl, Walk, RunHofmann and Vogt advocate for a phased approach to AI adoption that unfolds in three stages. The first, "crawl," focuses on using AI as a supportive tool, offering suggestions while humans guide and refine every action. In the "walk" phase, organizations introduce greater rigor by automating complete handoffs between steps and establishing clear benchmarks that make it easier to detect model drift, the point at which AI performance begins to decline. The final stage, "run," is reached when the system has been refined enough to consistently produce the desired output with minimal intervention.Hofmann says that remaining in the crawl or walk phase is perfectly acceptable. “Run is a place that’s earned, not assumed.” Both speakers emphasized the importance of people remaining at the forefront of all AI processes. “Focus on people,” Hofmann said. “It’s not a replacement for humans; it should be an elevator for them.” Vogt recalled telling an employee who feared automation, “If you are able to automate your entire job with agents, you will become the most valuable employee that we have. So, go for it, push the limits, challenge it, test it.”Hofmann ended the conversation with measured optimism. “The bad news is it’s harder than everyone thought it was going to be, but the good news is it’s also way easier than I think we think it is,” he said. “What I find is that AI projects are sort of this cascading explosion of success. It does not take a very long amount of time to go from our first successful AI project to starting to build an operating system that encompasses and enshrouds our business.” The secret to the success Hofmann has enjoyed is doing the human work first, drawing the negative space before you start drawing the camera. Editor’s note: From Day One thanks our partner, Orange Logic, for sponsoring this webinar. Ade Akin covers artificial intelligence, workplace wellness, HR trends, and digital health solutions.(Photo by imaginima/iStock)
Finding True North: How to Lead Organizations Authentically and With Moral Clarity
BY Katie Chambers June 08, 2026What does it mean to be an authentic leader? “I’ve always wondered why that’s a hard question,” said Bill George, author of True North: Leading Authentically in Today’s Workplace, Emerging Leader Edition, and former CEO of Medtronic, during a fireside chat at From Day One’s Minneapolis conference. “I think a lot of people are afraid. They feel like they have to go into the workplace and wear a mask. Being authentic is being genuine; it’s being who you are. You [should] actually constantly grow as a leader. You’re adapting to a situation.”During the session moderated by Kristen Painter, business editor at the Minnesota Star Tribune, George shared practical strategies and techniques for navigating today’s complex world, including advice on personal values, crisis leadership, and self-awareness.What Is a Leader’s True North?In his book, George defines the new true north as a call for leaders to step up in an era of intersecting crises. “It’s easy to follow your true north, follow your values, your purpose, until you get under pressure, and you have to decide between two options,” George said. “And that’s the real test. Where there may be sacrifices you have to make, do you have the moral courage to step up and follow what you believe, or do you back down?”Painter noted one recent crisis: the sudden rollback on corporate DEI pledges. “Do you think moral courage is actually in decline, or has the cost of exercising it simply gone up for leaders?” she asked. George does think leaders are afraid of the current government, so even though they might quietly continue all DEI practices personally within the company, they don’t want it explicitly stated. He cites Costco leader Ron Backer as an ideal example of a leader who stood up for his beliefs in the face of DEI backlash and received an overwhelming 98% vote of support from his shareholders. It’s these moments that matter for an organization. “Do you stand up and be counted? Everyone’s watching you inside the company and outside the company, and they frankly don’t believe anything you say if you don’t stand up under pressure,” George said. Contrary to some belief, having a moral center is actually good for business. “You have to act. Everyone’s so worried about short-term earnings. You better worry about long-term building your organization with the right people.” A leader’s primary obligation, George says, is always to their employees. “Without employees, there’s no support for your customers.” One recent practical, and harrowing, example: Operation Metro Surge, the ICE invasion on Minneapolis. George advised companies to issue statements to their employees. “Our employees’ welfare is the number one thing we have to do, and we have,” he said. “We’ll provide a safe workplace, we’ll provide for your security, and we will do everything to provide for your well-being. And if there are any issues, we will send in our security teams and our lawyers to support you and to help you,” he said. He would have issued a blunt, honest statement like that to employees, and done so quickly. He feels that while some local business owners eventually rose to the moment, they generally waited too long. Why Nuance Is Effective “A lot of leaders snap back to what you’ve identified in this book as sort of a command-and-control style of leadership. I’ll call it an old school way of leading, very top down, very much it leads to micromanagement, which is a disempowering feeling for workers,” Painter said. Engaged leaders, rather than those blanketly issuing orders, are more effective. George cites Corie Barry of Best Buy as an example: during Covid, she closed 1,083 stores and furloughed 82,000 workers, once she could ensure they would be covered by government unemployment benefits. Then she encouraged each local store to convert to a warehouse for online shipping, letting the store decide how best to manage it for their own community. “She gave everyone the authority. So that to me is an engaged leader, an example of how you should lead in a crisis. But she didn’t just hang back in our office and say, ‘you guys handle it.’”Bill George signed complimentary copies of his book True North for session attendees George says one of the toughest problems faced by middle managers is when the top tier of leadership implements a “command-and-control” style, while the manager still wants to lead with morals and heart. “What you have to do is stay true to your values, your purpose, and perform. And if you perform, you’ll be okay, but you still have to be an empowering leader for your people. You can’t just flip [when times get tough],” he said. He encourages organizations to be ruthless when it comes to toxic leaders: move them out before they become too damaging. Middle managers should be empowered as leaders of their portion of the business, to inspire their own teams and take ownership over results. George advises that leaders “have the courage to be the voice of our values, and not to be rules-based, but to be empowering, and to make moves to ensure that we have empowering leaders throughout our organization.” That means going directly to workers to talk one-on-one about problems and work together on solutions, rather than relying on secondhand feedback that may be filtered. The future is less “hero leader” and more “coach.” And coaches care about their people. “Let them be in the part of the organization where they can use their greatest skills. Then align them around your purpose and values,” he said. “This is not soft. Challenge people! Ask them how they can do better. Work with them to solve problems.” Katie Chambers is a freelance writer and award-winning communications executive with a lifelong commitment to supporting artists and advocating for inclusion. Her work has been seen in HuffPost, Top Think, and several printed essay collections, and she has appeared on Cheddar News, iWomanTV, On New Jersey, and CBS New York.(Photos by Josh Larson for From Day One)
Activate Your Human Edge: Leading Brain-Friendly Change in the Age of AI
BY Kristen Kwiatkowski June 04, 2026Recently, a student showed Dossier Harps her resume, saying it was completed using AI. Harps was impressed by the overall inclusions in the resume but noted one serious mistake. In the summary section, the student was said to have 20 years of experience. The problem? The student was only 20 years old. During a thought leadership spotlight at From Day One’s Minneapolis conference, Harps, facilitation manager at LifeLabs Learning, illustrated this story as an example as to how AI needs oversight and guidance for a variety of tasks. “Moments like this remind us that, while AI is powerful, humans still need discernment,” said Harps. “Humans still need judgment, humans still need coaching, and humans still need each other.”Harps also described a recent experience where she was in a pharmacy and customers waiting in a long line started to express discontent with the employees handling the checkout procedure. This made her think of incivility in the workplace, which has increased since 2020. This may be due to many individuals experiencing more stress, uncertainty, and emotional exhaustion which in turn can lead to empathy and patience eroding, says Harps. “So, when people ask me in my work, am I scared of AI, my answer is no,” said Harps. “I am not nervous about AI, I am nervous about incivility.”However, AI can cause discomfort and uncertainty for many individuals. For example, employees who have been doing their job for years without the help of AI and ultimately have to start using AI may feel discomfort and be unsure as to the direction they’re headed. “It could feel really scary, because when the way that we work changes, our sense of confidence, control, and our competence can get disrupted,” she said. Dossier Harps, facilitation manager at LifeLabs Learning, led the thought leadership spotlight in MinneapolisHarps discussed a concept offered by Robert Katz, a leadership researcher, which is a three skills approach to effective leadership which includes technical skills, human skills, and conceptual skills. Technical skills are what you know how to do, human skills are how you work with people, and conceptual skills are how you think strategically. Many organizations are focusing on technical AI skills, which are important, however, there needs to be more focus on human skills and conceptual skills and how they pertain to AI, she says. “We have to have the human skills, such as communicating influentially, understanding how different people learn and process, giving feedback, having courageous conversations when you notice emotional stress or incivility in your teams, building psychological safety and coaching people through uncertainty,” said Harps. “And conceptual skills are about seeing the bigger picture, like pattern recognition, systems thinking, and change implementation,” she continued.As with the seven stages of grief, an adaptation of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross’s five stages of grief, this concept can also apply in similar form to workplace change. Not everyone will be within the same stage and individuals in the workplace may be in different generations, have different ways of learning, and different experiences with technology. Trust is also a major component for organizations to consider. “Companies forget to acknowledge the emotions that build or break trust,” said Harps. “The major tenants of trust are credibility, reliability, and psychological safety and trust becomes especially important during times of uncertainty and change.”The first component of trust is credibility, and individuals want to know if the leader is competent to lead them through change. Next is reliability and can you depend on that person. In addition, psychological safety is also important with trust and individuals want to be able to ask questions and be honest with the leaders in their organizations. “So, once we understand the emotional side of change and the importance of trust, the next question is how do leaders practice this in real life?” said Harps.Being a great leader isn’t just about being a good person and that’s all. A great leader has to be intentional, deliberate, and exhibit mindful behaviors and actions. “Great leadership happens on purpose,” she said.Harps describes a model they teach at LifeLabs Learning called CAMPS, which is based on the concept that the brain constantly scans for threats or rewards. Under the CAMPS model, the features include certainty, autonomy, meaning, progress, and social inclusion. “What I love about this framework is that it reminds us that understanding and addressing the human experience is the greatest differentiator in the age of AI,” said Harps. As individuals navigate AI and uncover how this technology will evolve in the years that follow, keeping one factor in mind along the way is essential. “I do believe that the most underrated leadership skill in the age of AI is the ability to inspire hope.”“People are searching for something deeply human to hold on to, which is truth and hope,” continued Harps. “The truth is things are changing, and things will continue to change, and we have to evolve and change with the times to be prepared for the future of work, but hope says we can learn, we can adapt, we can grow, we can move forward, and that is the real human edge in the age of AI. It’s not just mastering the new technology, but leading people through uncertainty and confusion with compassion, trust, and hope.”Editor’s note: From Day One thanks our partner, LifeLabs Learning, for sponsoring this thought leadership spotlight.Kristen Kwiatkowski is a professional freelance writer covering a wide array of industries, with a focus on food and beverage and business. Her work has been featured in the Bucks County Herald, Eater Philly, Edible Lehigh Valley, Cider Culture, and The Town Dish. (Photos by Josh Larson for From Day One)
Translating Global Strategy Into Local Impact
BY Emily McCrary-Ruiz-Esparza June 03, 2026There’s too much lag between strategy and execution of global campaigns, says Kelly Heilpern, chief strategy officer at Ammunition. Organizations can spend months, or even a year, developing a global strategy based on timely data that’s stale by the time campaigns roll out.“The brands getting it right,” she said, “are the ones who have figured out how to make those decisions faster, without sacrificing strategic integrity,” and that requires collaboration and trust: among marketing, sales, and the agency partner. The challenge is that truly global campaigns require some degree of tailoring to local markets, and effective localization cannot be handed down from on high. Quick decisions have to be made, with local input. During a From Day One webinar on translating global strategy into local impact, Heilpern and her colleagues discussed how they designed and tested a campaign for one of the world’s largest building products manufacturers across five new markets with unique concerns. Bringing DensDeck to EuropeGeorgia Pacific was ready to bring a stalwart product to a new market.DensDeck, a roofboard that acts as a fire-resistant thermal barrier, is common across North America—it’s in everything from “airports to stadiums, hotels, and high rises,” said Mallory Faust, the director of brand strategy for Georgia-Pacific Building Products—but it’s relatively new in Europe. Leaders from Ammunition spoke about "Translating Global Strategy Into Local Impact" (photo by From Day One)Expansion of solar rooftops and data center construction has developers focused on resilience in building design, “putting more pressure on roofing systems to perform better and be more durable,” and opening a huge market opportunity for Georgia Pacific, she says. They chose five geographies: the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, the UK, and Spain. The challenge for Faust is not just introducing a new product within an existing category, “we’re trying to establish the category,” which meant they had to start with education. “We realized pretty quickly that we couldn’t take a North American approach and just drop it into Europe.”Barriers to adoption vary widely by market: Some buyers need technical proof of performance while others are more price sensitive or prefer a reference from someone they trust. So Georgia Pacific and the Ammunition team brought in local stakeholders “from the outset, so they feel like they have ownership and autonomy,” said Renaye Edwards, Ammunition’s global COO and managing director.They gathered a coalition across product, technical, and regional teams for a weeklong intensive planning session. “A lot of different perspectives went into identifying where the opportunities existed, as well as what the barriers to adoption would be within each market,” Faust said.Right away, the collaboration paid off. The first strategy for the UK market was a “Mind the Gap” campaign—the idea being that DensDeck could close the quality “gap” in roofing systems. But in sales conversations, the tagline was being interpreted as not falling through physical gaps during installation. “Testing is such an important part of the process,” Heilpern said. “That would have been a huge miss for us to deploy this campaign that didn’t connect the way we intended it to.”Pitfalls of Localization, and How to Avoid ThemBut how local is too local? After all, time is of the essence. “The overall positioning really shouldn’t change what DensDeck is: a solution that helps protect the contents inside of a building and extend the life of a roof,” said Faust. “But global consistency doesn’t mean that every market should operate the exact same way.”Some tweaks are simple: Images also have to be localized since roofs in Spain look very different than roofs in the Netherlands. Others require a little more research, like which small proof points to play up—mitigating fire risk might perform better in one area while longevity will perform better in another. Localization also costs money, which isn’t always abundant. If the budget is slim, don’t roll it out in every market at once, Edwards said, but “identify those markets where you have the right to win” and you’re past the education stage with your market. “Once you’ve done that,” she added, “you can test and learn very quickly,” proving your strategy before going back to the business for more funds.Winning requires differentiation, which is often made through an emotional appeal. Easier said than done for roofboard, but by no means impossible, said Heilpern. “[Builders] are accountable for the performance of their roof. We can speak to them as consumers who are making very important decisions and make them feel seen, make them feel heard, and make them feel like there’s a product that solves a problem that keeps them up at night.”Editor’s note: From Day One thanks our partner, Ammunition, for sponsoring this thought leadership spotlight. 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 Cecilie_Arcurs/iStock)
Bringing Employees Together at a Time of Rapid Change
BY Ade Akin June 03, 2026Patty Babler, SVP, HR, global employee & labor relations and HR operations at Cargill, opened a fireside chat at From Day One’s Minneapolis conference with a candid assessment of the company’s employee experience. Babler discussed how Cargill is rethinking onboarding as part of a broader effort to better support its 155,000 employees worldwide.“Our onboarding process is complicated, with lots of systems to navigate for a brand-new employee,” she told moderator Allison Kaplan, director of innovation and engagement at the Minnesota Star Tribune. Her frankness set the tone for a wide-ranging discussion that touched on employee experience, AI-powered recruiting, a global portal launch, crisis leadership, and more. Closing the Frontline GapUntil recently, Cargill’s production employees’ top question for HR was how to access time, pay and benefits.“Many of our programs were really focused on our professional workforce,” said Babler. To close that gap, Cargill launched Powered by Plants, an initiative that gathered feedback from frontline workers and turned it into action – creating a work experience based on employees say matters most. It is a multi-year program to improve the end-to-end experience for our plant employees. The results included addressing the pain points and improving the hiring process, automated scheduling, an employee portal for pay and benefits, and a move away from paper forms. Patty Babler, SVP, HR, global employee & labor relations and HR operations at Cargill, left, spoke with moderator Allison Kaplan, director of innovation and engagement at the Minnesota Star TribuneThe most dramatic changes were made in the Talent Acquisition processes. Cargill once took up to two weeks to make job offers, while competitors were hiring on the spot. The company deployed an AI-powered recruiting assistant named Ana to address its slow hiring process and improve candidates’ experience. “We’ve reduced our time to hire from over two weeks to within a day,” Babler said, closing a critical gap in Cargill’s talent pipeline.From Using AI to Doing AIBabler drew a distinction that she repeated throughout the session. “Instead of thinking about using AI, we have to ‘do’ AI.” The difference, she says, is between applying AI to existing processes and rethinking those processes entirely. “It’s really challenging that process mindset we’ve all been used to,” she said. “If we don’t stop ‘using’ and get into ‘doing’ AI, I think we’re going to be behind as HR professionals.”Consider an unlikely candidate for AI: employee relations. Cargill recently built an agent that drafts interview questions, synthesizes case data, analyzes credibility, and sequences events to flag potential problems and creates an investigation summary report for review by the team, saving time.“Our employee relations specialists are able to focus on what matters most, providing proactive employee relations support and consulting,” Babler said. The goal is to free specialists for work that requires human judgment, she says. One Portal to Unify 155,000 EmployeesCargill had a vision of an integrated employee experience for more than a decade, and recently launched its new employee portal, “CargillNow.” recently launched. CargillNow it isn’t only about the HR experience; it’s built on the ServiceNow platform and unifies HR, IT, procurement, and finance resources into a single portal accessible from any device. “We launched a global deployment in four functions for all of our employees,” Babler said. Over 19,000 employees had already accessed the system just after the portal’s launch, and Babler describes the rollout as “really, really smooth.” Babler credits her team for the successful rollout. “I think it’s because of the people and the team we have, and I’m so proud,” she added.Leading Through Crisis, Grounded in ValuesWith operations in 70 countries, Cargill navigates a constant stream of geopolitical, environmental, and local disruptions. Babler described a crisis action network that connects employee relations teams around the world to respond to disruptions such as plant fires, labor disruptions, or natural disasters. Babler says Cargill’s approach is consistent: Put people first, engage managers, and empower local leaders. For example, Cargill deployed on-site employee assistance program sessions, on-line group sessions, and individual support during Operation Metro Surge occurred. “We empower our leaders and are flexible and adaptable based on what our employees need, depending on the situation,” Babler said.Underpinning that flexibility is a set of values Babler says she has found only at Cargill. “We put people first, we reach higher, and we do the right thing,” she said. “No matter where you are in the world, our values come out everywhere.”The Road Ahead: Skills, Speed, and Hyper-PersonalizationLooking forward, Babler pointed to strategic workforce planning as a critical opportunity. “We now can leverage AI to think about where those talent needs are, where we have critical roles,” she said. She advocates for shifting focus from jobs to skills, but technology alone won’t close the expectation gap. Employees, regardless of generation, are demanding a different employee experience. “We’re seeing different expectations from an employee experience perspective,” she said.Her vision involves hyper-personalization that includes using the CargillNow platform to orient new hires before day one, share the company’s story, and accelerate proficiency, providing a more welcoming experience for new employees. “How can we do that in a tech-enabled world that is very personalized? It’s hyper-personalization going forward,” she added.Kaplan closed the session with a question about the future: In a year, with CargillNow humming and AI tools fully embedded, what changes? “I do think we’ll be much more proactive, we’ll have way better insights and perspectives,” she said. “Think about where we were 12 months ago from an AI perspective and where we are today. It’s not getting slower; it will be even faster.”Babler ended the conversation with a saying she often returns to: “If your head and your heart are pointed in the right direction, you never have to worry about your feet.” That grounded mindset may be the most enduring tool of all for a 160-year-old company navigating a revolution in HR. Ade Akin covers artificial intelligence, workplace wellness, HR trends, and digital health solutions.(Photos by Josh Larson for From Day One)
Elevating the Frontline Experience: Engagement, Growth, and Retention
BY Katie Chambers June 02, 2026Creatively engaging frontline workers can strengthen teams, improve retention, and dramatically speed up employee readiness. One recent solution: by pairing new hires with trained peer mentors during their first 90 days, Intermountain Health created a support system that helped employees feel welcomed, build confidence faster, and develop stronger connections across their teams. “In that first year, we were able to reduce time to independent performance by 41% across six departments, so that equated to $1.9 million in productive time that we were able to return to the business,” said Bette Kidane, senior director of learning & development at Intermountain Health, during a panel discussion at From Day One’s May virtual conference.Creating a Supportive Environment for Frontline Workers“Frontline workers power businesses around the world, day in and day out. Without them, we probably wouldn't be able to advance as an organization worldwide,” said Angie Parsons, director of product marketing at LumApps. But they are often at a disadvantage. “Those frontline workers typically don’t have the same tools and technology that the rest of the workforce has.” Equity and inclusion initiatives are key to helping them to feel just as connected as their in-office peers. Access to information and communications tools can impact “safety, productivity, promotion, [and] career growth.” Michelle Anderson, VP of global learning & development at AmTrust Financial Services, says the best way to address those needs is “listening often and responding visibly,” via pulse surveys with public results. Embedding growth opportunities within the flow of work is another way to encourage frontline development, she says, relying on software tools like Viva Learning and Microsoft Teams to push content during work hours. Keeping managers well-trained and consistent can help frontline workers feel secure and supported. “The immediate manager is the world to people,” said Yulia Denisova, VP of talent and development at Fanatics. “That’s the reason why people stay in the organization, and that’s the reason why people decide to leave the organization.” Making those pathways to information and support clear is crucial, both to the workers and to your overall business success. “Many times, frontline workers interact directly with customers, so when they have questions or are unsure about something, knowing where to get those answers quickly and confidently is critical, and that reflects both back to the worker as well as to the customer,” Kidane said. Tackling the Challenges of the Frontline ExperienceFrontline workers can often be harder to acquire and retain because of the unique challenges that come with their positions. One of the biggest roadblocks to retention can be a feeling of disconnection. “It feels like decisions are made to them, so things are happening to them, but they’re not with them. They’re not part of the decision process,” Anderson said. Clear, honest communication can help combat this, often requiring creative solutions to meet frontline workers where they are, in ways that are accessible in their unique position. Anderson’s philosophy is “engage, embed, impact,” meaning any engagement or professional development opportunities should be embedded within an employee’s workday, as they may not be able or willing to seek it out when off the clock. “What systems are they already in? What actions are they already taking? Are there meetings that are already happening that we can embed ourselves into?”Panelists connected virtually to share best practices for supporting the frontline workforce (photo by From Day One)In terms of hiring, frontline workers are often spread across various geographic regions, ages, languages, and demographics—but messaging still must be able to reach and inspire them all. “It’s very important that you are not discriminating against those things and you are as inclusive as possible, and very thoughtful in terms of your learning approach and in terms of your communication approach,” Denisova said. In an organization like Fanatics, which hires a high volume of seasonal workers, having a well-defined, attractive company culture can inspire those employees to keep coming back. Fanatics recently launched its BOLD initiatives, Denisova said: “B stands for Building championship teams, O for being truly obsessed with fans, L for limitless entrepreneurial spirit, and D for determined and relentless mindset. Finding that true differentiator for your company is helpful.” Parsons sees hiring and retention as a cycle with each impacting the other. “If there’s really terrible morale and culture, it’s going to impact [attrition], or the other way around. If the culture is great, then they’re going to want to refer their friends or for their family,” she said. Kidane agrees that word-of-mouth is of utmost importance. “That building the brand of your organization and the culture is paramount to attracting talented workers,” she said. “And when you create a culture of excellence and a culture of caring, and your advertising out in the community reflects that, then people want to come and be a part of it.” Investing in Frontline WorkersDenisova’s team has launched an ambassadorship program at Fanatics that lets frontline workers take on leadership roles to train new hires and teach them how to operate equipment, answer questions, and provide company onboarding. It gives those employees an opportunity to test out if they might be interested in becoming a shift manager down the line. “Those types of initiatives help create a broader engagement and a broader career advancement within the organization,” Denisova said. Sometimes, the best professional development programs are the simplest ones, says moderator Corinne Lestch, journalist and founder of the Off-Site Writing Workshop, citing “the benefits of not overthinking these programs.” For Anderson, it means incorporating growth opportunities in discussions that workers are already having with their managers. “First, reflecting on your own personal goals and values. What do you want to do? What do you like to do? Really getting to know, not what am I doing [now], but what do I enjoy?” Anderson said. “And then helping them build a realistic learning plan and equipping the managers to have regular development conversations with them,” which can help direct them to the in-house learning tools available. “Simplicity is what is going to drive adoption.” Offering mentoring opportunities and ways to engage in in-house networking through employee resource groups are excellent ways to encourage growth within the company. It’s also important to help frontline workers understand how their role impacts the business, to inspire them to want to do more. “Empowering the workers to see how their contributions to the business impact the bottom line can help them see, it’s not just me clocking in and clocking out,” Parsons said. “[This] coupled with performance checks and succession planning can also help inspire them to have those bigger aspirations for long term career growth.” Katie Chambers is a freelance writer and award-winning communications executive with a lifelong commitment to supporting artists and advocating for inclusion. Her work has been seen in HuffPost, Top Think, and several printed essay collections, and she has appeared on Cheddar News, iWomanTV, On New Jersey, and CBS New York.(Photo by NewSaetiew/iStock)
Skills That Stick: How Tech and Tools Are Boosting Learning and Development
BY Grace Turney June 02, 2026When Christine Karel, head of enterprise learning at Ameriprise Financial, joined early conversations around enterprise adoption of Microsoft Copilot, she pushed for learning and development to be included from the outset to ensure the investment translated into real business value. She observed that many AI rollouts are initially centered on technology, risk, and compliance, without a clear strategy for how employees would apply these tools to drive performance and productivity outcomes. Karel emphasized that deploying AI at scale is only part of the equation. Organizations are now focused on closing the gap between access and impact by helping employees build the capability to use AI in meaningful, role-specific ways. When done well, this shift enables faster decision-making, improved productivity, and a stronger return on technology investments“If you launch a massive investment like Copilot across an organization,” said Karel, “how are we, as talent and learning and HR, supporting that initiative?” That question, and the lessons behind it, set the tone for a lively panel discussion at a From Day One’s Minneapolis conference. A panel of leaders dug into how companies are scrambling to build AI fluency among employees, why the pace of change keeps outrunning their strategies, and what it will take for L&D to earn a permanent seat at the table. The panel was moderated by Evan Ramstad, business columnist for the Minnesota Star Tribune.When the Tool Launches Before the TrainingThe story Karel told about Copilot wasn’t unique. Michelle Anderson, VP of global learning & development at AmTrust Financial Services, described almost the same experience. “A couple years ago, we launched Copilot to the entire company without us, they didn’t come to L&D at all, and then they wondered, ‘Well, why did this fall flat? Why isn’t anybody using it?’” The company pulled the tool back and is now building its own internal solution. L&D has a seat at that table now, Anderson says, but only because the first attempt failed.The pattern reveals something important: AI adoption isn’t primarily a technology problem. It’s a learning problem. People arrive with wildly different baselines: some treat AI like Google, others are genuinely uncertain what it can do. And without a deliberate strategy to meet them where they are, even well-funded rollouts stall.Anderson’s team at AmTrust has responded with a framework called Grow, designed to weave learning into employees’ daily workflow rather than tacking it on as a separate task. The system uses job descriptions and self-reported skills to recommend relevant development, surfacing nudges through Microsoft Viva Learning directly inside Teams. Managers are expected to reinforce the habit (a minimum of one hour of learning per month is company policy) because, as Anderson put it, “if your manager doesn’t support something, you’re not going to find the time to do it.”Measuring Comfort, Not Just CompletionOne of the sharper debates among panelists was how, and whether, to assess employees’ comfort with AI tools. Anderson said AmTrust deliberately chose not to survey its workforce on the topic. “We were worried that there would be fear associated with it,” she said. “And I don’t think we’re ready to address that fear yet.”Panelists shared insights on "Skills That Stick: How Tech and Tools Are Boosting Learning and Development" during the discussion in Minneapolis Carita Hibben, VP of HR at C.H. Robinson, took a different approach. About two years into what she described as a comprehensive AI transformation at the logistics company, her team conducted a pulse survey asking employees to rate their comfort with AI in their daily work. Around 73% said they were comfortable—a result Hibben called encouraging, and one that also yielded “actionable insights on areas that we might need to dive deeper into.”C.H. Robinson has also leaned into AI-powered role-play simulations. Using a platform, employees and managers can practice challenging conversations by either playing themselves or switching roles to see the scenario from the other side. The same kind of simulation is used by the company’s sales and account management teams to prepare for difficult customer conversations. Hibben noted that utilization spikes during performance review periods and other high-stakes moments, even without formal requirements to use the tool.AmTrust has built out similar functionality through LinkedIn Learning, with the added ability to create custom simulations tailored to specific roles. The platform scores participants and recommends follow-on coursework based on performance. Anderson’s team is now exploring how to embed those simulations into new-hire programs for claims associates.Closing the Loop at the C-Suite LevelMoses Berkowitz, chief revenue officer at Censia AI, works closely with CHROs, CFOs, and CEOs on workforce strategy. He offered a bird’s-eye view of what’s driving urgency at the top of organizations. “This is a CEO and board-level conversation right now,” he said, “and the conversation in 10 out of 10 rooms is that this is going to have a massive impact on our workforce. Not in a scary way, but jobs are really going to change.”What gives him optimism, Berkowitz said, is that conversations previously happening in silos are now happening in the same room: What skills does the business actually need? What do our employees have? Where’s the gap? That alignment, he says, is the foundation for meaningful progress.Karel echoed that framing, describing how Ameriprise’s AI Leadership Council, originally composed of technology, risk, and compliance leaders, has expanded to include talent, communications, and business unit representatives. The lesson she drew was pointed: you can only get so far with a tool. “The people that run the tool, that think through the tool, and actually work around the tool are really what we need to be thinking about.”Berkowitz added a striking data point from his firm’s work with one of the world’s largest consulting companies: out of 400,000 employees, the single heaviest user of their internal AI tools is the CEO. “That sends a message to everyone that we take this seriously.”The Half-Life ProblemSkills are expiring faster than ever, and AI is accelerating that trend at a remarkable pace. Berkowitz says that the half-life of a skill has collapsed to under five years, and for anything AI-adjacent, it’s compressing even faster.The implications for L&D are significant. Berkowitz described working with a university that invested $250,000 in an AI training program. Six months after launch, the program was obsolete—the underlying technology had moved on. “As the half-life of skills compresses, we need to think about how we build programs differently,” he said.The panelists largely agreed that the answer isn’t to build more programs faster, but to build differently. That formal, comprehensive training curriculum may simply become too time-intensive to justify, says Anderson. “We’re going to have to get to the point where we’re not building big giant formal programs anymore. We’re building more in the flow of work, in the place that they need it.”Karel put it plainly: AI makes it faster and easier to create content, but that won’t solve the structural problem if organizations are building around the wrong model entirely. What will endure, Karel says, are the foundational capabilities: critical thinking, adaptability, ethical judgment. “Those are old skills. If you could just base the foundation on some of those things, those are going to be the things that take you along the way.”The Human Element Doesn’t DisappearAs the conversation turned to productivity, Berkowitz gently pushed back on the framing that tends to dominate headlines. “The topic of productivity, it’s all we want to talk about in the media, and we’re replacing workers, but I think it’s a bit of a red herring.” The more useful question, he says, is how organizations can deliver more value to customers per unit of human capital. He cited the example of bank tellers after ATMs arrived: The work changed, but the role didn’t disappear. Tellers shifted from handling cash to greeting customers, and the experience actually improved.Anderson made a similar case, pointing to research suggesting that some roles could see 40% to 50% productivity gains through automation. But she was quick to add the counterweight: “There has to be a human at the center of it. How do we teach people to be better critical thinkers and thought partners?” She envisions a future where managers become more important, not less, not because AI will replace their authority, but because coaching, psychological safety, and human judgment will matter more as digital tools handle more routine tasks.What L&D Looks Like in Five YearsClosing the session with a rapid-fire look ahead, each panelist offered a vision for where learning and development is headed.Karel predicted that the function will shift its focus from teaching specific topics to shaping workforce design, with learning as one lever among many, grounded in deep knowledge of what skills the business actually needs.Hibben emphasized agility above all else. “What we know is that there’s going to be continuation of skills needed, and those talent practitioners need to be flexible and agile.”Anderson was less focused on where L&D sits in the org chart than on whether it maintains strong partnerships with the business and stays aligned on outcomes.Berkowitz offered a challenging take: the United States spends roughly $150 billion annually on upskilling and reskilling, he says, and he believes that figure still dramatically underestimates what’s needed. “If I were to wave the magic wand, we’re going to invest a lot more in L&D.” The catch is that it will be managed like a business. “We’re going to run it like a P&L.”Anderson’s response was immediate: “I would be okay with that.”Grace Turney is a St. Louis-based writer, artist, and former librarian. See more of her work at graceturney17.wixsite.com/mysite.(Photos by Josh Larson for From Day One)
Turning Executive Potential into Measurable Performance
BY Emily McCrary-Ruiz-Esparza June 01, 2026It’s a common mistake to place the weight of an executive hiring decision on the interview, says Bert Hensley, the CEO of executive search firm Morgan Samuels.Interviewing isn’t inherently wrong, but it is overvalued, he shared during a From Day One webinar on executive recruitment. Naturally, we tend to favor people who resemble us in background, philosophy, working style, and that’s what interviews often reveal, but the C-suite doesn’t benefit from homogeneity. Companies would be well advised to pause and look backward, at the candidate’s career, and forward, at the candidate’s potential.But we’re getting ahead of ourselves. Even before candidates are brought in, the hiring team must be in agreement on what success looks like—in great detail, Hensley says. A CFO candidate must have acquisition experience, sure. But how many deals? Of what size? And in what geographies? And on top of that, when they get to your company, what should they be prepared to accomplish? “Be crystal clear on the specific things this human being has got to get done in the next 24 months for us to say, ‘Wow, they were a great success.’”Bert Hensley, chairman and CEO of Morgan Samuels Company, pictured, spoke with journalist Emily McCrary-Ruiz-Esparza during the webinar (company photo)This becomes a scorecard everyone on the hiring team will use. “Otherwise, you’ll end up hiring people that are eminently well qualified for what they’ve done, but not necessarily what you need,” he said.Candidate evaluation begins with a retrospective look at their career, asking “not just what they’ve done, but how they’ve done it,” Hensley said. And anything on their resume is fair game. He goes back as many as 10 or 15 years to probe at how a candidate reduced turnover or cut costs, asking, “how did you think through the problem? Give me the framework of analysis that you used. What data told you this was a problem?”Unique to the process at Morgan Samuels is the written self-assessment, which was born from an unusual request many years ago. The vice chair of a global banking company asked Hensley to subject candidates to a lengthy, written self-assessment of their accomplishments. Hensley assumed the request would never fly among those making upwards of $2 million per year and working 100-hour weeks. “I was completely shocked at how easy it was to get the candidates to do it,” he said.The self-assessment helps companies avoid arrogant candidates, “which is really just a cover for extreme insecurity,” Hensley said, and can hurt a company. Arrogant people are more likely to conceal problems or fail to disseminate information that should go around, and “if you get a self assessment back and it says, ‘I did this, I did that, I did this,’” then you’re not looking at a team player. “The best leaders are those who talk in terms of ‘we.’”When it’s time to look forward, candidates are handed a real problem to solve using real company financials (under an NDA, of course). The transparency and the accountability benefit both sides. Candidates can’t later plead ignorance about a debt problem or a customer retention issue, and they can start planning their first actions in the role, being very frank about the resources they need.You may be surprised who wobbles at this stage. Hensley said he’s seen heavily credentialed candidates with enviable pedigrees request millions of dollars to build teams “without any proof of concept of how he would gradually grow the sales team.” They ask for blank checks, but won’t bother to make a plan for using the cash. This is what Hensley calls a “presider,” who simply issues orders from a distance. “We’re always looking for world-class operators who will roll up their sleeves and get stuff done.” Executives often fail because they’re not suited to the company culture, he said. It’s worth it to take the time to assess their working style, their leadership style, and even their emotional makeup. “Are they a drill sergeant just barking orders, or are they going to be collaborative? Are they going to inspire your workforce and collaborate with the team?”It’s easy to overvalue great performance in the interview, or even a big stumble, but “your entire decision should not be based on one score. We’re talking about human beings, who are very complex.”Editor’s note: From Day One thanks our partner, Morgan Samuels Company, 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 milorad kravic/iStock)
Tech That Connects: Using Tools to Support Frontline Workers
BY Emily McCrary-Ruiz-Esparza May 28, 2026“In most workplaces, tech fails on the front line, not necessarily because the interface is wrong, but because nobody really engaged with the frontline workers about the problems they’re actually struggling with,” said Anita Jivani, global head of innovation at digital and cloud services firm Avanade. “It’s a design-thinking failure, not necessarily a budget failure.”In fact, small budgets can be “clarifying,” she said during a panel discussion at From Day One’s May virtual conference on frontline workers. Constraints steer the focus toward problems that need solving. “Picking one workflow or one friction point, and then co-designing it with [frontline workers] produces both adoption and relevance.”Jordan Lewis, the senior director of product at workforce management software Deputy, has recently watched companies move away from “top-down implementations where the senior leadership decides on the tool and then rolls it out, and employees have to work with the tools they’re given,” he said.Instead, he pointed out, companies are choosing a consultative approach “where the employees and those frontline workers are actually part of the evaluation process.” Businesses are recognizing collaborating on tools can reinforce engagement and retention—and that’s what they want, especially right now. Emily McCrary-Ruiz-Esparza, journalist and From Day One contributing editor, moderated the session titled, "Tech That Connects: Using Tools to Support Frontline Workers" (photo by From Day One)Good tech also requires good access points. Facilities management provider ABM has a frontline workforce distributed across stadiums, airports, geographies, and buildings, “and oftentimes they don’t have access to meeting rooms or technology or desktops,” said Amber Rabo, the company’s VP of learning and development. In fact, many frontline workers don’t have access to devices of their own, or they may be first-time tech users, and some may be working in multilingual workplaces, so the company came up with its own easy-to-use in-house platform, called ABM Connect, which links frontline workers with operational and enterprise leaders for two-way communication, offers short training sessions, and simplifies log-in with facial recognition.Companies are building better tech for the frontline workforce by listening carefully. In June 2026, pharmaceutical firm Takeda will inaugurate a new CEO, and head of talent intelligence Heather Sepulveda has been taking part in listening tours with the new leader to “understand and hear things firsthand, instead of them funneling up through a game of telephone.”First, everything has to be mobile-friendly, said Sepulveda. She heard “loud and clear” from employees that they were missing out on company-wide announcements and job opportunities due to ineffective tech that wasn’t designed for frontline workers’ needs, working styles, and schedules. “Whatever it will take,” she said, “we have to make it easier for them.”At TeamSense, which uses text messaging to facilitate communication with the front line, VP of product, Alvaro Soto pointed out that “we didn’t choose SMS because it’s clever, we chose it because it works. “Someone on a 5 a.m. shift at a meat packing plant or a manufacturing floor may not have a company email,” said Soto, so TeamSense requires neither app nor log-in credentials, just the ability to text message, and it can currently support more than 30 languages.“We see the adoption of TeamSense become so fast and so powerful because we’re removing all that friction.” Why? Because it’s a tool built specifically for the frontline workforce, first.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 Patamaporn Umnahanant/iStock)
Why Delegation Breaks Down and What It Takes to Build Accountability at Scale
BY Kristen Kwiatkowski May 28, 2026Delegation sits at the center of how managers create clarity, ownership, and accountability in the flow of work. It’s vital that leaders know how to delegate tasks to their team members and do so as often as possible.Kelli Wingo, facilitator at ThinkHuman, shared how to build accountability on the frontline teams by delegating effectively during a thought leadership spotlight at From Day One’s May virtual conference.It’s not uncommon for people to take on tasks they should have delegated, only to have those tasks take longer than expected. As they work through them, they often find themselves thinking about other, more valuable ways they could be spending their time. “As you are learning how to better support and develop frontline workforce and tools, training, investment, and engagement are all great, so keep doing them,” said Wingo. “But tools, training, investment and engagement are only effective if they are in service to how a leader can create accountability in the flow of work.”There are three key things that delegation makes possible for you as a leader. First, you as a leader create a vision for the team. “The second thing is to orchestrate a team that is successful and empowered in achieving its goals,” said Wingo. “When we’re doing what we’re capable of doing, that is so much greater than just doing what we’re told to do,” said Wingo. The third key benefit of delegation is that it enables your team to do more with less.What Prevents Leaders From Delegating?Kelli Wingo, facilitator at ThinkHuman, led the virtual session about delegation and accountability (company photo)Most of us understand the mechanics of delegation and accountability, so what’s holding us back? There are some blocks that prevent individuals from delegating. Some leaders feel they can do the task better themselves. Wingo shared how this mindset can be overcome.“One way of looking at this is it’s an opportunity for growth or care, to invest in your team members,” said Wingo. “If your team members see that you are really invested in their growth, their professional growth, getting them into their stretch zone, then a certain level of respect comes from that,” said Wingo.When leaders want all the shine and recognition, they can begin to see their team’s successes as their own, said Wingo. This is where the leader steps into a coach role and helps their team grow. Leaders also may resist admitting they are wrong, which can become a barrier to effective delegation. This comes back to the importance of responsibility and accountability. Acknowledging and understanding these blocks can help us with a mindset shift. “So we want to go from I can do it faster and better myself, to my job is to help the people around me rise,” said Wingo.The Delegation ProcessThere are a few steps in the delegation process. First, clarify the task that needs to be completed. From a longer list, narrow it down to the top three to five tasks to delegate. As a leader, your role is to set the vision and have your team execute. Next, decide who on your team should own each task. It’s also important to step back and assess whether all tasks are truly necessary or if some have continued simply out of habit or routine.And once you delegate tasks to your team, you don’t want to just hand off the task list and then leave it at that. You want to have specific timelines, check-ins, and other safeguards in place to ensure that your team members execute each task in a proper, timely manner. Editor’s note: From Day One thanks our partner, ThinkHuman, for sponsoring this thought leadership spotlight. Kristen Kwiatkowski is a professional freelance writer covering a wide array of industries, with a focus on food and beverage and business. Her work has been featured in the Bucks County Herald, Eater Philly, Edible Lehigh Valley, Cider Culture, and The Town Dish.(Photo by Cecilie_Arcurs/iStock)
From Advice to Action: How Financial Coaching Drives Impact For Employers
BY Ade Akin May 27, 2026Many of the employees Greg Palmeri talks to have already suffered in silence for years before calling him. “A lot of times people will come to us when their financial situation is so bad that it’s almost too hard to fix,” Palmieri, a senior manager of financial planning at SoFi, said. “You wish you had talked to them a year ago, before they made that big financial decision.” That all-too-common moment of crisis illuminates a yawning gap in workplace benefits. According to WTW’s Global Benefits Attitude Survey, 66% of employees say they want more financial well-being support from their employer, yet only 23% of companies are currently providing it. During a conversation at a From Day One webinar titled “From Advice to Action: How Financial Coaching Drives Impact For Employers,” Palmieri and his colleague, Trevor Smith, SoFi’s business development director, explored how personalized financial coaching can bridge that 43-point gap, moving employees from reactive panic to proactive planning and giving employers a measurable stake in their people’s financial health. The Front Lines of Financial AnxietyWith nearly two decades of experience, Greg Palmieri hears firsthand the financial anxieties employees carry into coaching conversations, often long after the stress has taken root. The questions, he says, shift with economic cycles but often circle back to the same core anxieties.Greg Palmieri, senior manager of financial planning at SoFi, spoke during the webinar (company photo)“When we were in the pandemic era, a lot of people had more time on their hands, and they were more detail-oriented about their finances and wanted a more complex view,” Palmieri said. “Now I find that a lot more people are dealing with debt and trying to juggle that debt—what’s the best way to pay it down? Should they be saving for retirement while paying down debt?”Palmieri says the triggers that prompt employees to finally book an appointment with a financial coach are almost always reactive rather than proactive. A job change, a home purchase, a new child. He notes that people often seek planners “when their financial situation is so bad that it’s almost too hard to fix.” He often wishes they had sought his help earlier. “A lot of people will come to us after the fact. They didn’t really know they could even talk to someone before some of these big financial decisions,” Palmieri added. Three Personas, One ApproachPalmieri described three broad personas that often emerge on planning calls: the worrier, the juggler, and the optimizer. The worrier struggles to make it to their next paycheck. The juggler manages competing priorities, such as student loans, equity compensation, and saving for a home, and does reasonably well, but lacks clarity on what to tackle first. The optimizer has the resources but needs help refining their strategy, particularly around tax-efficient retirement planning.Despite these differences, Palmieri’s approach begins the same way. “The first question I’m really going to ask someone is, what are they looking to accomplish from that call?” he said. “I like to come in with an open mind and try to understand. Basically, people have no clue what they want to accomplish, which is perfectly fine.”That investigative conversation, asking about goals, then about the data behind them, is what Palmieri views as the real craft of financial planning. “Everyone can kind of Google search it, but trying to understand, does this person know their finances? How do they think about money? Tailoring that advice to that person is what separates a good planner from an exceptional planner,” he said. Accountability Over a Sales PitchA recurring concern Smith hears from HR leaders is whether financial planning benefits are simply a vehicle for product sales. SoFi’s model, he emphasizes, is built differently. Planners carry no sales quotas. Their performance scorecard is based on three metrics: appointment availability (50%), Net Promoter Score (30%), and compliance with regulatory standards (20%). “There are no sales goals or anything,” Palmieri said. “They’re 100% salary. They get a bonus, but that bonus is tied to how well SoFi does, not how many products they sell.” This framework appears to be working, says Palmieri. The show rate for scheduled appointments has climbed from roughly 60% in the early years to 80% today, and 25% of all calls are from returning members. “Some people don’t necessarily have a complicated situation. It’s a budgeting or a debt thing, and they want to be held accountable,” Palmieri said. “They want someone to talk to, a nonjudgmental person, understanding, like, hey, your debt was at $8,000 last time we spoke, you’re doing good, you’re at $6,000. Or, wait a second, now we’re at $10,000. What’s going on here?”The Human Element in a Digital AgeDigital tools now handle the first wave of financial curiosity. Smith sees a pattern where younger employees often start their financial planning journey with budgeting apps or AI chats, and eventually graduate to a live planner when they need the high-touch, one-on-one conversations they can’t get from a screen.“AI is an interesting point. I actually help train AI models here at SoFi,” Palmieri said. “But it’s still hard to get actual financial advice. It coaches you, it educates you. What I think a lot of people want is, ‘What should I do?’ They want specific [advice]: pay $5,000 toward your credit card debt, keep $10,000 in savings, contribute 10% toward your 401(k). All the frameworks are online. They want to know exactly what to do and walk away with it.”To address HR leaders weighing the benefits of investing in employee financial wellness, Smith points to a Consumer Financial Protection Bureau finding that such programs can deliver a three-to-one return on investment by reducing stress-related absenteeism and productivity loss. He says the immediate business case lies in the 43-point gap between what employees want and what most companies currently offer. “This is against the backdrop where 88% of folks are worried about basic living expenses, and employees with financial stress are twice as likely to be job searching.”When Greg Palmieri thinks about the return on his work, he doesn’t measure it in balance sheets. He thinks about one member who found her way out of nearly $50,000 in credit card debt, got on track for retirement, and recently bought a home in the Bay Area. “She just says, ‘I couldn’t do that without you,’” Palmieri said. “I can only be there as a sounding board. They’re doing the hard stuff.”Editor’s note: From Day One thanks our partner, SoFi, for sponsoring this webinar.Ade Akin covers artificial intelligence, workplace wellness, HR trends, and digital health solutions.(Photo by CHUBU/iStock)
Bringing Leadership Closer to the Frontline Experience
BY Emily McCrary-Ruiz-Esparza May 27, 2026“Most organizations are trying to solve the right problems,” said Courtney White, the head of HR for the North American agricultural solutions arm of BASF. “It’s just that many start in the wrong place.”For instance, he says, companies might focus on engagement and retention, but those are the reactions from workers to the employee experience—and that’s where companies should start. “People decide pretty quickly if something works, and so the experience has to show up early, not in a promise, but in the reality of what people are living day to day.”White spoke during a fireside chat at From Day One’s May virtual conference on frontline workers, where he spoke about how companies can bring business leaders closer to the frontline experience.The goals of the worker and the goals of the business are not mutually exclusive—they seldom are—and companies lose sight of that. “Workers are trying to build something that works for their life. They want stable schedules, they want steady income,” White said. “Companies are trying to run efficient and reliable operations. Both of these things are correct.”Journalist and From Day One contributing editor, Emily McCrary-Ruiz-Esparza, moderated the session with Courtney White of BASF (photo by From Day One)The problem is that when companies design systems for the business, they often do so in their own favor, and don’t always consider the frontline employee experience. And the result is harmful to both—in productivity, efficiency, engagement, retention, and morale. If leaders were to pause and listen to the concerns of the front line, they would find that their goals are concordant.Both parties must be transparent about what they need. “If the company is worried about reliability, and the workers are worried about maintaining a stable schedule, then transparency between both will hopefully result in fair scheduling practices.”White said that what many frontline workers want, but don’t often get, is autonomy, which is “less about removing structure and more about being thoughtful about where it matters,” he said. “We hold tight in places that probably don’t need it.” For example, matters of process or safety conditions shouldn’t simply be handed down from on high—those workers and their managers are often the most qualified to address those problems. Not everything can, or should, be solved in the boardroom. “It typically needs to be solved by the people who are working closest to it, and local problem solving is one of the best forms of empowerment.”This goes for things like learning and development too. Leadership may mandate universal skills training but fail to tweak its delivery for frontline workers who seldom have the flexibility to spend hours in a classroom, nor do they tend to have regular access to email, “so when learning is long or outside of the flow of work, honestly, it just doesn’t get used,” he said. At BASF, skills training for frontline workers is delivered in small, 15-minute segments during the workday, and when it’s built into a shift, it doesn’t feel additional or interrupting. The purpose, he said, must also be clear. “People need to understand how what they’re doing is clearly tied to skills, access, or pay. When learning fits the job, people use it, and that’s when it matters the most.”In many cases, frontline managers are left out of the equation, but that’s exactly where companies should focus. When an email comes from the C-suite, what is the first thing an employee will do? They go to their manager to find out what it means and how it will affect them. That’s a huge amount of power—even more so than the powers that be, he said. “That tells us how important [managers] are.”White closed by encouraging leadership to loosen the reins, on workers, but also on themselves. “Companies sometimes think that the employees’ expectation is that the company is going to be perfect. I’ve not found any employee who, at the end of the day, really expects the company to be perfect.”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 JackF/iStock)
Leading HR Through the AI Transformation
BY Carrie Snider May 26, 2026AI is actively reshaping how organizations hire, develop, and support employees. But the biggest challenge now isn’t access to technology. It’s ensuring people stay engaged, trusted, and connected to their work as change accelerates.During a panel discussion at From Day One’s Seattle conference, industry professionals highlighted a shared reality: AI transformation is fundamentally a people challenge. The discussion was moderated by Seattle Times business reporter Megan Ulu-Lani Boyanton.From rebuilding trust and redefining meaningful work to reinforcing human value and responsible governance, the conversation made one thing clear: future-proofing HR means strengthening the human side of work, not replacing it.Addressing the Trust GapEmployees have been through a lot in recent years. Cathy Peterman, chief people officer of tech at Wayfair, doesn’t shy away from the reality many employees are experiencing, which is uncertainty layered on top of years of disruption. “We’ve dropped this AI transformation on six years of cultural and trust debt,” she said. Between the pandemic, economic instability, and waves of layoffs, employees are carrying a backlog of concern about whether they have a future in their current role. Panelist shared insights on "Future-Proofing HR With AI: How to Lead, Adapt, and Keep the Human Touch in a Tech-Driven Era"Context matters. Leaders can’t introduce AI purely as an efficiency tool without acknowledging the emotional landscape employees are navigating. Peterman emphasized transparency and shared ownership. “We’re all kind of figuring this out as we go,” she said. Peterman encouraged a collaborative approach. “Let’s be in it together. Let’s figure it out together.”This shift is about rebuilding credibility. Ignoring the past risks widening what she called the trust gap, while addressing it directly creates a path forward. As she noted, “We’ve had a tough six years together.”In a moment where AI brings both excitement and anxiety, trust becomes the differentiator. Organizations that acknowledge uncertainty and invite employees into the process will be better positioned to move forward together.AI Requires Human AwarenessFor Liz Friedman, senior director of HR AI transformation at Microsoft, the promise of AI in HR comes with a clear responsibility: staying grounded in human experience. Technology is advancing rapidly, but organizations can’t forget about their people. “We need to meet people where they are right now,” she said. This is especially true as employees feel stressed and overwhelmed by the pace of change.That emotional reality cannot be separated from AI adoption. Friedman described the current moment as “a very emotional place to be,” where questions about job security, purpose, and long-term impact are unavoidable. She also warned against over-reliance on automation itself. “One of the biggest dangers right now is that people are letting it do the thinking for them,” she said. This can lead to what she called “AI slop.” Instead, Friedman encouraged using AI as “a great thought partner” that expands thinking rather than replaces judgment.Ultimately, responsible AI is about intention, Friedman says. Organizations that slow down enough to ask better questions, acknowledge employee concerns, and protect critical thinking will be the ones that use AI not just efficiently, but wisely.Helping Employees Feel They MatterAmanda Myton, head of learning and development at Snowflake, underscored that one of the most pressing challenges in the AI era is deeply human. “The thing that was falling fastest amongst employees was a sense of mattering,” she said. In fact, employees are increasingly asking, “Does the work I do matter? If AI can do all of these things, how do I matter?”For leaders, that question cannot be left unanswered. Myton emphasized that managers play a critical role in helping employees reconnect to purpose by guiding reflection on value and contribution. She said, “What am I doing that is uniquely human? What value am I bringing?” framing it as a necessary lens for navigating AI-driven work.Myton also cautioned that adoption metrics alone can be misleading. “Teams can have high AI adoption, but low human connection, and on a dashboard they can look the same.” The real differentiator is what leaders do next. “It is where that manager reinvests those gains back into their teams that makes the difference,” she said.Ultimately, Myton framed this as a core responsibility for HR and learning leaders. “How are we making sure that folks still understand what their unique value is?” In a rapidly evolving workplace, reinforcing meaning is essential for maintaining engagement and motivation.Responsible AI Requires Strong GovernanceShannon Flynn, VP of corporate HR at Fortive, emphasized that the speed of AI adoption has forced organizations to rethink governance much earlier than expected. “We set up our AI machine learning team, but we quickly had to put in some governance in place,” she said, adding that experimentation alone is not enough once tools scale across an enterprise.Flynn also noted that governance cannot remain static. “The governance that we put in place seven years ago does not stand, and we have to continue to reinvent it,” she said, highlighting the need for continuous adaptation as AI evolves.A turning point in her thinking came from a personal experience with AI-generated misinformation. After using AI for research, Flynn discovered the system had fabricated a source. “It hallucinates, so you have to know that it will make stuff up because it wants to make you happy.”Because of this, she says, strong guardrails are essential. Organizations must clearly define: “Here is what you can use it for, and here is what you cannot use it for.” Ultimately, humans should begin a project and end a project, and AI can help in the middle.Carrie Snider is a Phoenix-based journalist and marketing copywriter.(Photos by Josh Larson for From Day One)
Personalizing Benefits While Keeping Costs in Check
BY Jessica Swenson May 22, 2026Employers are shifting employee benefit models away from fragmented vendor ecosystems toward integrated solutions focused on outcomes rather than utilization, says Cara Dochat, PhD, clinical specialist at Sword Health.“We want options that are easy to use, easy to access, that help us manage our everyday conditions—not just the catastrophic ones when we’re in crisis—and that also feel personalized to us,” Dochat said.As budgets tighten amid continuously escalating economic pressures, organizations are seeking ways to improve employee health, engagement, productivity, and retention through personalized benefits, all while reining in spending. This was the topic of a panel at From Day One’s Seattle conference, moderated by journalist and healthcare communications specialist Alexis Hauk.By collaborating with vendor partners whose programs meet employees where they are, says Paris Ramsey, VP of health solutions for Aon, employers can help their teams reduce absenteeism and burnout through personalized care. Aon has identified an employee demand for virtual care pathways since the pandemic; virtual care also benefits workers who may live in areas known as care deserts. “Working with vendors that have really good access to care in that virtual manner allows employees to get the care that they need when they need it,” she said. Panelists spoke about "Personalizing Benefits While Keeping Costs in Check" in SeattleDochat described the evidence-based, personalized mental health services available to users through Sword Health’s clinician-driven, AI-supported platform. By shifting away from a session-based model of care to an always-on solution, she says, the company is able to offer in-the-moment mental healthcare to an expanded audience.An increasingly diverse global workforce means that organizations must also consider customizable benefits menus that can flex for local customs and culture. Ongoing employee feedback and demographic awareness has been critical to program design for her organization, says Vivian Hung, head of total rewards & HRIS at Enphase Energy. “The approach we take is global guardrails with local execution. We standardize on our global strategy and guiding principles. We make decisions based on external market competitiveness, internal equity, statutory compliance and, of course, employee experience,” she said. “Then we allow flexibility for our regions to execute based on what is best suited or best trending for that particular country.”However, even the strongest benefits programs can fail if employees don’t know what is available to them or how to use it. Panelists agreed that employee education and communication is key. For example, veterans transitioning from the military to a corporate environment may not know the differences between government healthcare and private employer systems, says Nick Rettenmyer, VP of total rewards at Shield AI. “When you have a population that hasn’t necessarily grown up in a corporate environment, there’s a big opportunity there to make sure that they understand the benefits, and what it can mean to them and their families.”Some companies use AI technology to drive engagement and help with decision-making. Hung highlighted ways that Enphase is “finding creative ways to optimize the programs [they] offer.” The company hosts monthly educational sessions about existing benefits and provides on-demand libraries of AI-produced videos that help employees learn more about how to engage and utilize those benefits, she says.“We’ve put a lot of tools in the hands of employees to help them to navigate that, especially around health benefits in the U.S.,” said Tristan Orford, VP of total rewards and M&A for SentinelOne. “You need to do the education to help employees understand what [specific health plans] look like in their own situation.”AI-powered decision support during open enrollment helps Aon employees proactively ask risk-based questions to narrow down solutions, reducing confusion, says Ramsey. “You get the engagement that you’re looking for because employees feel that they had a hand in the decision-making process, and they also understand what they’re buying at the same time.”Rettenmyer and his team are building a total rewards portal that will demonstrate the value of employee benefits programs in a meaningful way. By offering “a consolidated place where [employees] can start to self-select,” he said, “your spending becomes much more effective.”Jessica Swenson is a freelance writer and proofreader based in the Midwest. Learn more about her at jmswensonllc.com.(Photos by Josh Larson for From Day One)