Recognizing Skills and Potential: Building a More Agile Workforce
BY Katie Chambers October 14, 2026The way HR analyzes resumes and positions candidates for growth is changing. “When I look at talent evaluation, I’m more looking at culture and what you’ve learned and what you’ve experienced, not necessarily the years of experience or the consistency [with] which you’ve been in a role,” said Bojan Balaban, VP of people operations at Verano.At From Day One’s Chicago HR conference, Balaban and a panel of other HR leaders spoke about “Recognizing Skills and Potential: Building a More Agile Workforce.” Michelle Relerford, weekday morning co-anchor at NBC 5 Chicago, moderated the session.Building a Skills-first WorkforceAs AI becomes integral to the workforce, employee skills are more important than ever for both organizational and personal growth. “You still need the skill set to tell the AI what the output is, and that’s the skill set that we’re trying to build in my organization,” Balaban said. “It’s not replacing the human capital; it’s just changing how we’re using it, and it’s going to make us more efficient as we grow and expand our business.” To build a skills-first workforce, Balaban says HR needs to meet with leadership to understand the nature of the work and what each role requires. “You need to start with partnering with the right leaders, figuring out what they’re trying to build out, and then you need to think about the workforce that we currently have in place. How do we identify which employees have what skill sets for these roles?” Creating a skills-based model takes time and requires leadership buy-in. “We need managers to be educated to pick up on certain skill sets to be able to identify who’s doing something well, or even more difficult, who has the potential to learn something and grow.” As the nature of work changes, so does who is qualified. “Are you seeing a meaningful shift away from the traditional qualifications like degrees or job titles or years of experience toward demonstrated skills and capabilities?” asked Relerford. The answer is complicated. “Particularly at the executive level, those things still matter. The difference now is not just what have you done, but what can you do next?” said Aram Lulla, managing partner, executive search at LHH. Hiring managers are paying even more attention to impact. “Did you lead through change? Did you face a lot of diverse situations? Did you have adverse situations you led through? How did you go about that? And ultimately, what was the net outcome? More and more, what we see now is that the people that are most successful in terms of candidates aren’t always the ones with the most linear resumes.”Adaptability will also be key for leadership roles, as the workplace, and technology’s role in it, changes rapidly. “You’re looking for them to be able to mobilize teams and work in different project groups, not just be linear in their thought in their line of business,” Lulla said. Panelists spoke about "Recognizing Skills and Potential: Building a More Agile Workforce" in Chicago To identify these skills, organizations need to invest in technology that tracks and measures them. “You want to look at what is going to be the best fit based on what we need and then find the technology for it. You don’t want to find the technology and then force your business to work on the technology for you,” Balaban said. That includes tailoring workplace communications to your employees' actual lives and workdays, such as providing breakroom signage for frontline workers who might not have constant access to email for updates. Some of that data might come out of recognition moments, says Omar Pradhan, employee engagement & HR technology strategist at Workhuman. “These are the observed skills that are organically captured in peer-to-peer moments. And so, when you accumulate those over many years, you’re able to then mine that for who might be a good fit for an open role,” he said, noting that agentic search can help comb through the records for a match. “There’s a tremendous opportunity for organizations to not just rely on those self-reported skills that are traditionally captured in those HRS systems, but what are the organic ways in which skills are being displayed in the recognition data.” Rethinking Learning and DevelopmentKatie Stangel, VP of learning and development at The Aspen Group, and her team have used a combination of AI and in-person conversations to analyze job descriptions and sort each role’s skills into four buckets: ownership, decision-making, hierarchy/timing, and business impact. She finds a skills-based approach has created clarity in conversations around promotions and internal growth. “I actually saw that lattice approach coming to life in the conversations because now people are talking about development and growth in their skills and what that could be in the future, and it might not be that ladder approach to career. It actually might mean moving into a totally different department,” she said. “Everything that we do from a learning and development perspective has some component of AI in it,” said Kristy Callahan, head of learning & development at GE HealthCare. “We are proud to say it’s about doing more with less.” It may take time to get employees to fully buy-in to AI, given the fears around it, so HR and leaders need to work hard to help workers understand how it can make their jobs better, not take them away. “You need psychological safety; that tends to get people to lean in more and experiment” with AI, Pradhan said, which ties back to recognition. “They’re not going to do that if they haven’t been seen and appreciated.” Monthly recognition is tied directly to higher reported psychological safety, he says. Change management stories tied to AI adoption, demonstrating and celebrating those who integrated AI into their workflow, can “create a sense of community and shared purpose that becomes this reinforcing mechanism.” In the face of all this technology, Callahan said, “What we need more than ever is humans. What truly makes us human? Our soft skills, the things that people brushed aside before. Those will become the differentiators.” Discernment and judgment, she says, will matter, especially among young workers who may rely too heavily on AI without thinking critically about its results. And leadership skills will always be a priority. “It’s distinctly human to actually lead. AI is not going to help set your culture for the organization. AI is not going to help inspire confidence in your teams or get everyone aligned on one mission, vision, or value system proposition,” Lulla said. “And that’s where the future will show in five years that we’re really putting that same premium on those types of skill sets.” 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)
Keeping Care at the Center of the Future of Work
BY Katie Chambers October 13, 2026“A core part of Hyatt’s mission is caring for people,” said moderator Kim Quillen, business editor at the Chicago Tribune. This can become more difficult in an AI-driven world, where efficiency sometimes seems to take precedence over human connection. How can organizations care for people and help them do their best as technology reshapes work? During a fireside chat at From Day One’s Chicago HR conference, Kristin Oliver, the CHRO of Hyatt, discussed a people-first approach to an AI world, including how leaders can build agility and comfort with new technology, and prepare for a workforce that increasingly works alongside machines.Helping People Be Their Best“We care for people so they can be their best” is Hyatt’s mission, guiding both colleague and customer relations through the same equation: empathy + action = care, says Oliver. “How do you understand what people want, what they need, and then how do you act upon it? In doing those two things together, that’s how you show care for someone,” Oliver said.Care for people is, in some ways, intrinsic to the hospitality industry. But, “we’re in this era of rapid change and AI and technological advancements. How do you bring that human touch?” Quillen asked. This is where AI’s hyper-efficiency can become a benefit. “We’ve got to find a way to use AI to free up time so that we can spend more time on genuine human connection,” Oliver said. This is especially important in an industry responsible for customers’ comfort and building meaningful experiences.This culture of care is embedded into Hyatt’s enterprise leadership program, Elevate 2030. “It has three pillars: Elevate Our Brands, Elevate Our People, Elevate Our Technology. And so, the enterprise leadership is also a statement of what we need to do from a human perspective to make that happen, to bring that strategy to life,” Oliver said.Kristin Oliver, Chief HR Officer at Hyatt, was interviewed by Kim Quillen, Business Editor at the Chicago Tribune, during the fireside chat The program encourages experimentation, nurtures growing talent, and fosters cross-department collaboration. Employees complete self-evaluations tied to specific mindsets and behaviors, which they then discuss during mid-year conversations with managers. The organization also launched a speaker series wherein leaders discuss their own experiences and talk about the behaviors, she says. The first session had more than 1,000 online attendees. “I think people are hungry for it. Eventually we’ll work it into our hiring practices, our performance management, our succession planning, and training.”The Changing Role of HRCollaboration between IT and HR will become more important than ever as technology continues to change how we work, says Oliver. “We have to deeply familiarize ourselves with [AI] as leaders. We have to experience it ourselves so that we really know how it’s going to shape things, because we’re going to be responsible for determining what are the impacts on skills, on jobs, on org design, [and] on culture.” Oliver did this herself by experimenting with an AI executive coach to help with decision-making. She cautions that AI doesn’t always get things right, but it can do many basic tasks quite well, allowing humans to step in and refine the work. “Modern workplaces increasingly blend human talent with artificial intelligence, and that means that in the workplace, humans and smart systems are both sharing responsibilities,” Quillen said. The challenge is honing a strategy that allows workplaces to take advantage of the best of both. Oliver says AI’s strength is its speed and efficiency for simple but time-consuming tasks like writing reports. Human workers “are the people that exercise judgment. We are the people that bring creativity. We are the ones that show empathy and are perceptive, and those are all very important skills.” At Hyatt, encouraging AI adoption has meant moving beyond counting licenses and tracking usage to helping employees understand how the technology can make their work easier. Oliver emphasized the importance of starting with employees’ actual challenges: “If somebody has a problem and you can show them how AI will solve this problem, they’ll be much more interested in learning it.” Hyatt’s approach includes sharing real-world examples of AI use during leadership meetings and introducing structured OpenAI training to help employees build their skills. The goal is to give people the tools and confidence to see how AI can make a difference in their day-to-day work, without fear of it replacing roles. One of the most obvious ways AI can support HR is through the recruiting process, as its high-speed and high-volume nature pairs well with the tech’s automation capabilities. But its ability to let candidates tailor and submit applications quickly can also challenge HR. “The volume of what we’re dealing with and how we have to sort through it to get to people that are the right fit for our job and our company—it has muddied the waters,” Oliver said. “We can outsource some of the process, but not the responsibility.” She still looks to internships and apprenticeships to really get to know and test candidates to see if they are a fit for growth within the organization. Oliver identifies a few major human skills as integral to succeeding in the workplace of the future: “The world is changing fast and it just keeps speeding up. So the ability to adapt and change, learn, be open-minded, experiment with things, [and] have a growth mindset” will be crucial, as will be the ability to judge and think critically, including and especially about AI-created solutions. The innate human ability to care should remain front and center in HR and leadership, as it does in Hyatt’s mission, says Oliver. “Talk to people. See what they really value about the company. See where there are problems or areas of friction that you could make [better]. And then try to turn that into decisions. Try to make it true. You’ve got to act consistently with it. You don’t want it to just be something on the wall. It’s about how you bring that to life.” 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)
Betting on Existing Talent: Internal Mobility as the Answer to AI Disruption
BY Katie Chambers October 09, 2026“A lot of companies see AI as something that comes in from the outside, takes over, and takes away jobs,” said moderator Maiken Scott, host and executive producer of WHYY, The Pulse. But TIAA “has made a very conscious effort to approach this topic differently,” Scott said during a fireside chat at From Day One’s Philadelphia conference. During the fireside chat, Claire Borelli, chief people officer at TIAA, was interviewed by Scott, sharing how the century-old institution is rethinking career development for the AI era and moving away from default external hiring toward a deliberate, internal-first strategy. The Partnership of HR and TechnologyOne rule has been the driving force behind TIAA’s strategy: “We knew we didn’t want AI to happen to our associates; we wanted to bring them along,” Borelli said. This meant developing a partnership between the organization’s HR and technology functions. “There was no way we could relegate all the AI transformation work that had to happen to IT. When you think about the impact that it’s going to have on human capital, how jobs are going to be formed, how jobs are going to change, and what jobs might even go away—with that comes the notion of how important internal mobility is,” Borelli said. “Because if we’re going to bring people along, then we need to make sure [that] as we reshape jobs, we’re preparing them how to fit into those new reshaped jobs.” Borelli and her team were transparent with workers: because of AI, certain roles would change. But with internal mobility as a top priority, they would help employees find new pathways within the company. TIAA launched a program called Elevate, which educated workers on the skills and understanding needed to use AI and made internal mobility part of the company’s core infrastructure. “We pulled recruiters offline and said, ‘You’re going to be completely focused on internal mobility. You’re going to find jobs for those people in our organization as opposed to external [candidates].” Elevate includes a proprietary AI tool called MYGAIT, which all employees are encouraged to use and learn from. “We made sure that every associate had the ability to touch AI,” Borelli said.One of the biggest learning moments for employees has been seeing how they can grow their careers outside their own function. “They don’t necessarily realize that people in a contact center may end up getting a job in internal audit. People in technology may end up getting a job in the people team. Those types of things become uncovered as we use this tool.”How HR Is Approaching AIInitially, most organizations saw AI as a tool to make individuals more efficient: writing better emails, creating cleaner slide decks, and more. “Now, what we’re doing is we're realizing AI needs to be leveraged differently in TIAA and all companies. We need operational leverage,” Borelli said. “How are we going to change processes? How are we going to have better revenue opportunities?” Each group within TIAA has AI use cases. For HR, that means “understanding what does that mean to the people in [each department]? What jobs are going to go away? What capabilities are going to be different? And then how do we prepare them?”While AI might eliminate some job functions, it also creates opportunities for workers to focus on and develop the uniquely human skills AI may never replace. “It’s enabling associates to focus on things like judgment, problem-solving, complexity, and relationship-building,” she said. Claire Borelli, Chief People Officer at TIAA, left, spoke with Maiken Scott, Host and Executive Producer, WHYY, The Pulse, during the fireside chat in PhiladelphiaIn terms of how the job market might change going forward, “I do believe that to some degree corporate structures are not going to look exactly the way they look today,” Borelli said. For one thing, she feels job titles will matter less than they do now, as workers move from one role to another to focus on individual projects rather than staying stuck in certain silos. This is a good thing, she says. “I can now get exposure in things I never would have gotten before, and I can help the organization solve problems that we weren’t able to solve.” This leaves employees feeling empowered and helps to form partnerships between departments rather than friction. TIAA’s new strategy is working, she says. This year alone, 17% of associations have had an internal mobility opportunity. Overall, the company’s internal mobility rate is 45%, compared to the industry average of 27%. She says this is partly because it’s no longer just an HR initiative. “We put in quarterly mobility targets for our [department] leaders. Now everybody’s paying attention,” she said. They’ve also launched an internal communications strategy around the initiative. “We have a thing called Faces of TIAA, where we focus on the individual that got the job, and then we also focus on the leader that helped them get it.”This is a very exciting time to be in HR, “I feel as though we’re the leader. At the end of the day, this is not a technology play. It’s a human capital play,” Borelli said. 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)
Frontline Focus: Recognizing and Retaining the Workers Who Keep Business Running
BY Katie Chambers October 02, 2026For frontline workers, meaningful support can sometimes mean opening a door that once seemed out of reach. At Confluent Health, Alyson Cadman, senior director of organizational effectiveness, helped launch a program that pays student loans over five years for frontline employees who return to school to become physical or occupational therapists. The impact, she says, extends well beyond those enrolled in the program: “They’re first-generation college students, and they would not have gone back. They don’t have access, but now they [do].” As Cadman has seen firsthand, investing in frontline workers can create a ripple effect that strengthens their connection to their employer and their communities.Frontline workers keep businesses running, yet they face some of the highest turnover rates and lowest engagement levels. Supporting them isn’t just important; it’s essential. How can leaders better connect with and retain frontline staff? What benefits, training, and recognition matter most to them, and how can employers uncover those needs? What tools or approaches can improve their workplace experience, especially in environments where technology isn’t always accessible? Leaders shared their expertise on these questions and more during an executive panel at From Day One’s Austin conference.Understanding the Perspective of Frontline Workers It can be challenging to fully understand the needs of a frontline workforce, especially in fields like healthcare, where roles vary, and work may be spread across several locations. Having a comprehensive employee listening strategy is key. “Engagement surveys give us really good data on where we think the team members are feeling, what they’re thinking, what their engagement is, and how long they’re going to stay. But then we have to reconcile it with what they’re actually telling us” through targeted listening sessions, said Jeannie Virden, EVP and chief people officer at Central Health. “The biggest thing that helps for everyone is really when our leaders listen, when they get to know their team members. That’s where the retention sits.” Cultivating a strong understanding of employees’ needs and experiences can also help develop training and skill-building programs. “It’s important that any type of design that goes into a learning program is actually something that is relatable and highly relevant,” said Emlyn De Leon, tasks and skills redesign, strategic workforce planning lead at USAA. For example, employees who frequently handle difficult customer service conversations could benefit from an AI tool that lets them practice those talks. The panelists shared ideas on recognizing and retaining frontline workers “Some of these employees have those skills, they utilize them well, but they also want to be recognized for utilizing them well,” said moderator Cory Mose, journalist and anchor on KVUE TV. It’s crucial to have recognition programs that are attractive to frontline workers, keeping in mind that their values might not be the same as those on a corporate level. “They may not be doing their everyday jobs focused on your company’s core business values. They may be more interested in safety or quality work,” said Hari Date, principal consultant at Workhuman. His organization offers a variety of intake and output systems for recognition that meet employees where they are, whether it’s calling in recognition by phone, sending a paper form, walking up to a kiosk, integrating into Slack or Teams, or using a mobile app. He shares that for one client, a mining company where some frontline workers have difficulty with reading and writing, they circle pictures to give feedback.Date emphasizes focusing on ROI when deploying a recognition strategy. “The impact of a 1% drop in turnover, which is a small movement in the right direction, is millions of dollars in savings. You take a fraction of that and invest that back into your employees to say, ‘We see you. You matter. Your voice matters. We care that you’re here,’” he said. “That little gift turns into a huge moment of building culture and that sense of belonging and purpose.” Comprehensive benefits and professional development offerings that speak directly to frontline employees’ needs can contribute to that sense of community. “Frontline workers must feel like they belong, and in the future, they can see themselves continuing to belong, which means there is a clear growth path, and the financial pieces of it, the systems pieces of it, support that growth,” Cadman said.Guiding Workers Through Their Unique Set of Challenges Frontline work can be stressful enough on its own, but it can also add compounding personal pressures. One of the biggest concerns for today’s frontline workers is economics. “The harsh reality of today’s economy is that more than half of frontline workers are living paycheck to paycheck,” said Carly Brush, SVP, strategy, planning, and growth at DailyPay. Financial wellness offerings can therefore be a major benefit to help alleviate stress. “It’s easier to get to work when you can afford to figure out emergency transportation [or] emergency childcare, and that leads to higher productivity and lower turnover,” Brush said. Education on mortgages, flexible payroll offerings, retirement savings options, and student loan repayment plans are all avenues of support. Artificial intelligence is another major stressor in the modern workplace, as workers fear being replaced. Cadman offers important advice when integrating AI into your workforce, especially in light of recent daunting headlines: never forget the humans at the heart of your organization. “AI is so scary in so many ways. The thing that I have the most control over is how I relate to it and how I take care of myself, and how I connect to other people, and that’s the humanity component,” Cadman said. “As we serve people and as we lead people, it’s so wildly important to equip them to be able to do that, because of the amount of change with AI and the amount of holes that it reveals, and how much people crave true belonging and connection and the ability to sustain within themselves. We can’t do that unless we also consider the human at the center of all of it,” said Cadman. When frontline workers feel supported both personally and professionally, they are more likely to stay. “How can we help them with childcare? How can we help them with flexible scheduling? We need to listen to them and get creative in the ways that we help support them and meet them where they are,” Virden said. “When we’re talking about benefits, we need to talk about holistic total rewards. So, it’s compensation, but it’s also your health, your mental, your physical, your financial—all of that is wrapped into one, and that’s where we need to focus.”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)
Innovative Benefits for a Workforce with Diverse Needs
BY Katie Chambers September 17, 2026The 10,000 employees at Seattle Children’s Hospital are made up of a wide variety of professionals: nurses, physicians, environmental service technicians, facilities workers, supply chain employees, administrative support teams, researchers, and foundation fundraisers—to name just a few. Because of this diversity of experience and demographics, the organization needs a flexible, comprehensive benefits program that can serve them all. As workforces become more multigenerational, distributed, and varied in their needs, employers are looking beyond traditional medical and dental offerings to build benefits programs that support workers more holistically. During a fireside chat at From Day One’s September virtual conference, Keturah Hallmosley, deputy CHRO at Seattle Children's Hospital, shared how she is building benefits for the frontline workforce, using worker feedback to shape offerings and exploring creative approaches to healthcare, childcare, transportation, recognition, and more.Understanding the Diverse WorkforceSeattle Children’s tiered benefits structure was designed eight years ago. “Everyone has a very different family makeup, a different pay structure, and so [what] our benefit tiered structure does best [is] to meet employees where they’re at. And so, if you make more, you pay more,” Hallmosley said. “[We] want to make sure that we are continuing to evolve our benefits for the needs of what our employees have shared, and also make sure we’re aligning to the market, and this particular strategy really does help us do that.”Her team finds that AI has helped them better understand and respond to employees’ needs. In addition to launching Google Gemini organization-wide, “we have an interactive tool as well that’s specific to benefits.” The tool lets employees ask what their current benefits are, how they change, and provide family details to see how to best utilize what is on offer.Keturah Hallmosley of Seattle Children's Hospital spoke with moderator Corinne Lestch journalist and founder of the Off-Site Writing Workshop (photo by From Day One) “One of the challenges that we have today is that sometimes we get so much feedback, it’s hard to compile it into themes and be more direct and honest about what we are able to do and what we are not able to do,” Hallmosley said. “This year, we are in the process of implementing a new [AI] tool that will help employees to understand what’s right for them, and then also we’ll be able to look at the information from a trends and themes perspective to proactively think about what ways we can continue to evolve our benefits.” Building a Robust Benefits PackageIn addition to comprehensive medical and dental offerings, Hallmosley says Seattle Children’s offers additional options to fit the lives and varied generations of its workers, such as pet insurance and childcare and eldercare benefits. The employee assistance program can also be used to confidentially discuss options like mental health support or legal counseling. And while it may not fall in the traditional “benefits” category, Hallmosley acknowledges other perks that come with working at Seattle Children’s and can help attract, engage, and retain employees. “We have a very large community presence, so that’s where we partner with the engagement and retention team. If you go to this restaurant, you have these options. If you go to this gym, there are these options. The team thinks about it from a holistic perspective,” she said. There’s a staff member dedicated to focusing on well-being, and the organization launched a tool called Wellable, which links up with your smartwatch and tracks well-being activities. “You get points [and] when you’re at the top, you get entered into our system that we use for recognition to get some additional points, and you can cash those in for Seattle Children's Apparel as well as gift cards,” Hallmosley said. “I appreciate that pairing of well-being and recognition to reward individuals for taking care of themselves.” The team continuously tracks engagement in partnership with the vendor, teaches employees about the app during orientation, mentions it in employee forums, and offers competition events to encourage usage. Of course, the world of benefits is changing as rapidly as our culture. “Is there any sense of what direction the priorities are going to go in, or if there’s going to be any change in headwinds on the benefits front?” asked moderator Corinne Lestch, journalist and founder of the Off-Site Writing Workshop.“At this point in time, I think what people are looking at is, ‘What is the whole benefits package?’” Hallmosley said. That means covering every phase of life from children’s healthcare through retirement. “Where we’re working to be different is making sure that we’re being deliberate [in] involving our inclusion networks and also making sure that we’re gathering feedback from front lines. I think the challenge for us is that there is no shortage of ideas around how benefits can improve, and being able to communicate what is possible versus what is something that we cannot invest in is an item that we’re constantly challenged with.” Investing in the Future of the WorkforceFor full-time frontline workers, Seattle Children’s offers the same full package it allows everyone else, including tuition reimbursement and retirement options. “We are very intentional in helping people understand that Seattle Children’s can be a career for you,” Hallmosley said. “We have a multigenerational workforce, which is not uncommon, but I think being deliberate about the different needs and communicating that to our frontline employees is really important.” The organization also recognizes the unique challenges and opportunities of working in Seattle. The benefits and transportation teams work closely together to support carpooling, automatic deposits for Orca cards for public transportation, or even provide “commute bonuses” for those who work remotely.Going forward, Hallmosley and her team see “there is opportunity to continue to listen and to see what is possible and what we continue to build upon.” This can be a challenge, given rising costs. “We work hard to make sure that if we can’t do a particular coverage or benefit option, [that we] identify what might help meet individuals in the middle around covering medications or covering services, even if we can’t look at the whole package.” This individualized service within such a large organization is one of the things that sets them apart. “Our benefits team is very cued into if an employee is struggling, and [thinking], ‘How can we partner to figure that out?’ Always looking to say ‘yes,’ even if it’s not ‘yes’ to the whole thing. It’s listening and being creative about what's possible.” 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 Unaihuiziphotography/iStock)
How to Plan Holiday Recognition That’s Simple, Scalable, and Actually Meaningful
BY Katie Chambers September 02, 2026A few Decembers ago, Tray Ross, VP of growth at Corporate Traditions, received a very special gift from his company: the option to choose his own company Christmas present. “I got a backpack that I’ve always wanted, but never really had the budget or had the means to purchase. I still use that backpack almost every single day. And every day I pick that backpack up, I flash back to getting that gift, and the holiday party, engaging with the different members of my team,” Ross said during a From Day One webinar. That little gift had a major impact: positive emotion. “It wasn’t anything massive. It wasn’t incredible. It’s not going to change the world, but every time I look back, I have immense gratitude for the fact I was able to get that small item,” he said. Most HR teams scramble to pull together holiday gifts weeks before the deadline and end up with branded swag nobody wanted, last-minute raffles, and a budget that didn’t stretch far enough. Ross discusses how to build a holiday recognition strategy now, before the rush hits, that scales across your entire workforce, maximizes the value employees actually feel, and makes HR the hero of the holiday season. Beating the Holiday Season ScrambleLots of companies fall into what Ross calls the Q4 scramble, trying to plan holiday celebrations or gifts for employees at the last minute, losing hours or work time to logistical planning, running out of room for storage, giving out branded swag nobody wanted, and working with a budget that doesn’t quite stretch far enough. Waiting too long to plan for holiday recognition,including waiting on the leadership team to approve a budget, can lead to overpaying for less and employees feeling like an afterthought. Tray Ross, the VP of Growth at Corporate Traditions, led the session (company photo)Ross says August is the perfect time to start planning holiday recognitions, giving teams 60 to 90 days to prepare. His suggested plan of action is to shortlist a tool now that can move as soon as the budget is approved. By September and October, you’ll be ready to move forward, wherever the budget lands. Then, in November and December, you can execute in minutes rather than weeks.With Corporate Traditions, “you can just upload and send out lists and be able to recognize employees at scale and make a personal impact, even if it’s for three employees or with 3000 or 5000 or 10,000 employees,” Ross said. “We make our money on the back end through our partnerships, so we keep everything dollar for dollar for you, which makes it easy to get approval from finance.”Available rewards include Gift Card+™, in which employees can select from over 1700 gift card options and enjoy instant fulfillment; GiftYouPick™, in which employees choose their own prizes from over 500 brands; and Grocery Vouchers, which can be especially meaningful around Thanksgiving and Christmas. Both GiftYouPick™ and Grocery Vouchers are de minimis fringe eligible, Ross says, meaning they can stay compliant with the IRS requirements to keep a gift tax-free and off an employee’s W-2 payroll. “The IRS has outlined three requirements for a de minimis fringe gift,” Ross said. “The first requirement is it has to be infrequent, so holiday gifts, birthdays, work anniversaries [all apply]. The second one is that it has to be impractical to track for,” which means generally $100 or less, though this threshold varies by city, county, and state. “The last one is it has to be something specific and tangible, so that’s where the GiftYouPick™ and the Grocery Vouchers come in handy because they’re able to get something specific and tangible that is no longer a cash equivalent.” Corporate Traditions makes it easy to ensure gifts are actually fulfilled and enjoyed, he says. “You have digital copies of every single code that was issued for the employees for the Gift Card+™ and the GiftYouPick™, so you can just reissue those as many times as you need without ever being charged again, as well as being able to send reminders as often as you need,” Ross said. The Holiday PlaybookRoss offers a playbook for creating gift programs that are simple, meaningful, and memorable. Start by choosing a tool that can move quickly, since you rarely control when the budget is approved. Instead, focus on being ready to act as soon as it is available. Next, choose the moment you want to recognize, whether that’s Thanksgiving, December, or both. Rather than sourcing a single gift and guessing at people’s sizes or preferences, give recipients a choice and let them pick for themselves. Finally, keep the process simple: upload your list once, with no minimum order or contract required.This streamlined process can help you avoid hours of vendor calls, reviewing quotes, making spreadsheets of preferences, storing items, chasing down who got what, and reconciling piles of receipts. Instead, you can focus on what really matters for the business. “It takes a lift off the HR team,” Ross said. “You can now spend time developing your people, taking care of the people, and building the business and building your culture, rather than dealing with all of these logistics and things that honestly sometimes are just a time suck, especially when a vendor changes pricing last minute or those types of things.” But don’t minimize the importance of intentional holiday gifting among other HR strategies: it too can have a major impact. “Employers are spending fortunes on retention strategies, but I’ve had friends in the recruiting space, and they talk to different employees about why they’re leaving or why they’re looking at different jobs. And they tell me one of the common threads that they’re promised certain things, even small items or opportunities, and they never come to fruition,” Ross said. “We need to keep true to those small promises, even though they are small. Staying true to them will help retain our employees and make it easier to keep them, especially around the holidays.” That’s because holiday gifts are tied to memories and emotions, the things that make us human. “Most memories we have are attached to the emotions that we have,” Ross said. “If you can create more emotions, and if we can allow employees to choose exactly what they want, it fosters more of those positive emotions, which then lead to gratitude [and] appreciation.”Editor’s note: From Day One thanks our partner, Corporate Traditions, for sponsoring this webinar. 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 dikushin/iStock)
Balancing Care and Cost: Effective Benefits For Everyone
BY Katie Chambers July 14, 2026“The cost of healthcare is expected to rise between 6-9% this year,” said Courtney Vinopal, senior reporter at HR Brew, citing estimates from Mercer while moderating a recent panel at From Day One’s June virtual conference. Globally, estimates are even more dire at 9-12%, says Damilola Akinduro, global head of benefits at Equinix.Employees expect benefits that support mental health, family needs, and financial well-being, but employers must provide them while managing costs. Striking the right balance requires prioritization, creative solutions, and clear communication so employees understand the value of what’s offered. Which benefits are the most innovative and impactful today? Panelists answered these questions and more during the virtual session. There are numerous factors behind the rising costs of healthcare, says Akinduro. “Our primary drivers include medical inflation; of course, general inflation impacts that. We see an increase in utilization as well, and specialty care [such as] oncology treatments,” she said. Other specialty or chronic issues on the rise include musculoskeletal problems and diabetes care. Gillian Plummer, director of employee health and wellness at Quest Diagnostics, says medical advancements and new therapies, while beneficial, can also contribute to rising costs. “We see pharmacy trends with GLP-1’s and autoimmune cancer gene and cell therapies,” Plummer said. “And let’s not forget the impact of surprise billing, [which] is also driving costs. One other aspect is the use of AI for upcoding of claims.” This new reality is daunting. “Employers are always concerned about the burden this puts on their employees,” said Rebecca Liebman, CEO and co-Founder of LearnLux. Her team helps by incorporating healthcare coaching into employer-sponsored financial well-being programs. “In the United States, picking [one’s] own healthcare plan is the number one reason for personal bankruptcy. A lot of people might be contributing to their 401k, but they’re struggling with this medical bill…their kid broke their leg, or they have an unexpected expense,” she said. Panelists shared their insights on the topic "Balancing Care and Cost: Effective Benefits For Everyone" (photo by From Day One)Teaching employees to incorporate healthcare into their budgets can help them prepare, as can educating them on all benefits available. “If people are scared of the bills, they delay going to the doctor, and usually that ends up costing them and their company more later on. [Make] sure people understand what they have access to now, so it doesn’t build up and become incrementally or exponentially more expensive for them and their employer,” said Liebman. Monique Scroggins, VP of HR total rewards and operations at Lloyds Banking Group, and her team have launched a cost-containment strategy centered on wellness programs. “A lot of our higher claims came around GLP-1 and oncology claims, so we focused [on] return-to-office engagement [and] having people on site teaching you how to eat clean and healthy, and encouraging you to take walks on your lunch break.” Similarly, Quest launched “Healthy Quest” for its 40,000 frontline workers, centered on pillars of how we work, eat, move, and feel, each of which can combat chronic conditions. “It’s really important to have a strategy like that with an organization: not just communicating it broadly, but you physically need to be there on site with your employees and have your leaders and middle management be able to adopt the program,” Plummer said. Plummer’s team also provides over 50 health tests for employees through “Blueprint for Wellness,” collecting data that can help predict future health issues. “Many have changed their lives because of Blueprint for Wellness; they found out they were at risk of a heart attack. That’s very shocking, and that would also be a high-cost claim on our plan,” she said. Designing an Effective Benefits Program As noted, leadership buy-in for any benefits program is crucial. “We have a benefits design committee that consists of our CEO, CFO, legal compliance, [and] our CHRO. We meet monthly and go through all of our strategies,” Plummer said. HR reps should be prepared to articulate needs and potential positive outcomes to higher-ups. “We’re presenting this as a business investment rather than just a cost increase,” Akinduro said. There is one big paradox that can make pitching a benefits program tricky. “The primary goal is to get employees to use these benefits. Utilization is a metric that employers are looking at to judge the success of benefits, but as more employees use a benefit, that can also drive the costs [to] the company higher,” Vinopal said. It’s up to HR to balance those competing goals. For example, Plummer’s team at Quest has seen a rise in mental health claims, with the “anxious generation” of 18-34-year-olds consistently seeking support. “It’s a totally different generation that’s entering the workforce,” she said. While those costs are higher, they are also leading to more productive and engaged employees. Quest also offers free therapy sessions to employees to help combat those costs. “It [also comes] down to culture in your organization: how your supervisors, managers, or leaders are working with their employees impacts mental health too,” Plummer said. Looking at the DataMetrics of benefits engagement should be approached with diligence and nuance. Liebman notes that engagement data can be tailored to the specific benefits, noting that some apps are automated and may be working well but don’t require as much day-to-day engagement as something that relies on one-on-one customer care; both can still be highly effective. It also depends on the individual using the benefit. “It’s [about] understanding what people need from an accountability and engagement perspective, providing all levels of access so that someone can engage in the way that works best for them,” said Liebman.The best wellness programs are holistic, recognizing that various aspects of life and work impact health. “Organizations are realizing that financial health is health,” Liebman said. “Financial stress has major impacts on the brain and mood, cardiovascular, respiratory, gut, digestion, immune system, hormones, muscle, sleep, and recovery. Every single thing in your life that you’re working through from a health perspective gets impacted if you’re stressed about money. Financial planning is really just life planning, so that’s changed who might even own this function within the organization.”As employers continue to balance cost and care, they shouldn’t shy away from being transparent with employees about the value of what is being offered, Akinduro says. “People see the employer contribution alone, but they don’t understand the total value. From time to time, we have to make them aware that behind that is a whole lot of costs that you’re not privy to, and we go all out to make sure that you’re cared for,” she said. “Sometimes employees think that their benefits are not competitive, whereas they are competitive, [but] they just don’t understand it. In written texts, ‘ask me anything’ programs, all-hands sessions, HR sessions, we deploy quite a mix of communication strategies to get people up to speed.” Her organization even includes administrative costs in printed benefits materials, so employees understand the full value of offerings. With costs on the rise across all areas of life a comprehensive benefits package is a generous way to support employees that may be more affordable than salary raises or bonuses. “It’s hard to live without thinking about how every cost is going up,” Liebman said. “They can say, ‘Even though you’re only getting a one or 2% raise, we’re bringing in a benefit to help you understand what to do with your salary, and how to best utilize it.’ So it’s a way that they can still support their employees through times like this.”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 erdikocak/iStock)
The Employee Advantage in the Age of AI
BY Katie Chambers July 01, 2026AI is reshaping conversations across the workforce, but those conversations look very different depending on where you sit. A recent survey of 1,400 U.S.-based employees conducted by Stephan Meier, an author and professor at Columbia Business School, found that 76% of executives reported their employees were enthusiastic about AI adoption. But when those individual contributors were asked, only 31% expressed that enthusiasm. The fear of being “replaced” by AI continues to be very real. During a fireside chat at From Day One’s Manhattan conference, Meier shared how AI is less a technology challenge than a people challenge. Drawing on his research and recent book, The Employee Advantage: How Putting Workers First Helps Business Thrive, he explored what conversations leaders should actually be having about transforming their companies and what it takes to bring employees along in an era of relentless change.Encouraging AI Adoption at Every Level The survey results demonstrate that “there’s clearly a disconnect,” said moderator Cadie Thompson, executive editor at Business Insider. Meier notes that this “staggering” disparity between the C-Suite, middle management and lower-level employees is comparable in other questions, such as “Are you informed about AI?” and even “Is the organization employee-centric?” Meier says the gap speaks not only to a lack of employee data, as employers place greater value on customer data, but also to a broader issue of disconnect at the highest levels of leadership. “The reality of an executive with AI is very different from the reality of individual contributors,” he said. Uncertainty is perhaps the primary contributor to employees’ distrust of AI. “Everybody feels it in their bones: the exponential growth, the fast-paced change, and uncertainty [are] just really, really bad for enthusiasm [and] being optimistic,” Meier said. Especially as many organizations are explicitly tying their layoffs to AI, “executives are talking about opportunity; employees are feeling something very different,” Thompson said. Meier says he is personally “very skeptical” about how many companies are actually firing people and replacing them with AI, using it as “just a good excuse” rather than acknowledging other issues like over-hiring or overestimating company growth.Proper positioning in internal and external communication efforts is key. “It’s a change management program problem that we actually know a lot about [already],” Meier said. He suggests using the Five I’s of change management, which are also applicable to transparent communication regarding AI adoption: 1. Inform: Be explicit about what you are doing, when, and why. 2. Incent: Explain the potential value and benefits to the employees. 3. Involve: Give employees an opportunity to have a say in initiatives or at least provide feedback. 4. Inspire: Articulate the bigger vision behind the initiative. 5. Instruct: Provide training and upskilling opportunities tied to the new tools and goals. The driver behind so many employers’ statements about AI, Thompson says, is efficiency, cost savings, and productivity. “Have we become too focused on what AI can save and not focused enough on what it can create?” she asked. Meier feels we have. Eventually, he says, AI will become commonplace, a great equalizer among companies that will all find ways to incorporate its productivity tools. “Differentiation [among competitors] comes from creating something new,” he said. Using AI to Make Work BetterThompson quoted Meier’s frequent refrain that “the goal shouldn’t simply be making work cheaper; it should be making work better.” Of course, we all experience work differently. That said, he boils employee engagement down to four simple motivators: purpose, autonomy, competence, and relatedness. How will AI impact those drivers? Meier predicts the most “at-risk” motivator is autonomy, since so many AI tools are tied to surveillance or may simply leave employees feeling disempowered. “I think you can use it in a way that kills those motivators or enhances them and really creates beautiful work and potential humanity unleashed… like [a] Renaissance version of whatever you’re doing.”Stephan Meier, Author of “The Employee Advantage,” and Professor of Business Strategy at Columbia Business School, signed copies of his book for session attendeesTo reach that latter position of creative revolution, Meier says employers should focus on skill-building and implement enticing, achievable projects. “That’s what motivates people: having a task that is just right for their level. Around 40% of people quit because they don’t learn anything new,” he said. “AI can create something that is beautiful when it comes to skills,” such as implementing an algorithm to help identify the ‘just right’ task to keep an employee engaged and productive. “That’s what Netflix does. That’s what algorithms do really well: personalizing. You can apply that to those ‘just right’ tasks and those internal marketplaces that many companies are now using.” The threat of AI in the workplace is not just literal but existential, as so many people find a sense of value and personal identity through their work. “That’s a challenge that we have to deal with,” Meier said, noting that employers and workers may need to devise other complementary tasks that require a human touch, or at least leave humans to focus on the higher-level complex thinking while AI handles the rest. He also cautions against the fallacy of the “first-mover advantage,” noting that early adopters don’t necessarily end up with the best or smartest implementation of the product. “Just because companies can do something with AI, doesn’t mean they should,” Meier. “It should be intentional. Because we can do more, strategy becomes even more important.” He cites vibe coding as an example of an AI implementation that is easy and satisfying but often ultimately produces a mediocre product because it lacks a human expert at the helm. Asking employees for feedback and prioritizing their expertise will help employers implement AI in an impactful, sustainable way. “The companies that are intentional or really strategic are the ones that are going to win.”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)
Meeting the Needs of a Workforce at Every Life Stage
BY Katie Chambers June 23, 2026A diverse workforce calls for a comprehensive benefits package that meets a wide range of needs, and today’s workplace is more varied than ever. With employees spanning Gen Z through Baby Boomers, workers bring different priorities, goals, and expectations shaped by where they are in life.Designing effective benefits today means building in flexibility and choice so employees can be supported at every stage of their careers and personal lives. During an executive panel discussion at From Day One’s Chicago half-day benefits conference, experts broke down best practices. “Depending on where you are in your life, maybe you value child care, or maybe you’re older and you don’t need that, and you’re looking for a subsidized gym membership. Or maybe you need neither of those, and you’re just hoping to get a little help with public transportation,” said Athar Siddiqee, VP, global total rewards at Micron Technologies. Given the differences of workers within the workplace, from life stage to location, options matter. “We introduced a flexible benefits plan in India, and it’s been just a huge hit. Think of it as a menu of various options, and you have a pool of dollars that you can use towards choosing the benefits that are right for you,” said Siddiqee. A newer addition to the benefits space, beyond traditional health insurance and retirement options, is financial wellness. Simply offering a 401(k) is no longer enough, says Crystal Chen, senior director of total rewards at Westinghouse Electric Company. “It’s more than just offering the benefits for employees to access, but also [making] sure they have the confidence to make the decisions related to financial planning,” Chen said. Those financial needs shift across life changes, so guidance matters. The organization offers both open enrollment webinars and one-on-one support, says Chen. While finances are the leading cause of stress in the workplace, says Jon Simon, VP of sales at CareBenefits by Care.com, caregiving is the close runner-up. “We’ve seen an explosion in the cost of care recently, and a significant portion of the population now has caregiving responsibilities, whether it’s school-age children, aging parents, pets, or even for yourself,” he said. “That’s preventing people from being physically, emotionally, and certainly mentally present at work. Employers are recognizing that there are policy conversations around normalizing responsibilities that employees bear, but also connecting employees with different resources and benefits to support them on their caregiving journey.”Moderator Patricia Garland, adjunct instructor at Loyola University of Chicago, cited some of Simon’s research “that shows that about 75% of employees are caregivers in some sense of the word, but only about 35% identify themselves that way.” That stigma stems from the creeping 24/7 impact caregiving can have on a person’s life, intruding on their professional and personal identity. It’s also partially gendered, with more male caregivers now in the workforce, not because more men are doing the caregiving, but because women are increasingly leaving the workforce due to it, leading to approximately $300K in lifetime income loss, even for those who eventually return. Normalizing openness and flexibility about caregiving in the workplace is key to retention, Simon says, encouraging employers to talk about caregiving not in clinical terms but more as another important and respectable responsibility that is, in turn, supported by workplace benefits. It should not signal “lack of commitment” to the job. Panelists spoke about "Inclusive Benefits Strategies for a Multigenerational Workforce"For larger international corporations, benefits may need to be customized to suit specific cultures. For example, not all cultures are comfortable talking to a stranger on an EAP line, and some may feel better supported by family at home in a multigenerational household, Siddiqee said. But some young single people in those countries had been feeling totally isolated due to Covid, so Micron deployed “TMAs” or “team member advocates,” on-site licensed therapists to boost the company’s wellness portfolio. Keeping Employees Informed and EngagedProviding a great roster of benefits is one challenge; effectively communicating those offerings to employees is another. “We've leveraged some technology to be able to make personalized personas that represent different employee groups that can resonate with our employees to be able to talk about the experiences with our benefits in a way that will be relatable to them, in a way that is more tailored toward their experience with the benefits,” said Joshua Lemon, global senior director, head of total rewards, Resideo. A persona is a representation of a significant segment of workers, such as a young, family-focused office professional or a single factory worker nearing retirement, says Lemon. Specific case studies can make the flexibility of benefits feel both tangible and attainable. Technology can also help employers learn which benefits are the best fit for their workforce, and gauge effective deployment of packages. “[You should be] leveraging data for the power [of] detecting risk of rising cost, for detecting conditions that you need to manage, for detecting the various ways that your life stages and generational workforces might want to attack the benefits, and how they’re using their benefits today,” said Tom Sondergeld, senior director of analysis, research & solutions, enterprise employers at Truven. As generations intersect, they face various life-change challenges at different times. “We have to use the data to drive our communication strategy, and the way we design our benefits today, because one size fits all doesn’t work anymore.” Data offers a holistic approach to understanding a whole person and their specific needs: from pharmacy to short-term disability and beyond. Then, the human HR representatives, not the computer, can interpret it to better communicate what benefits would be most useful to them. Sondergeld cautions against using AI to analyze PHI (personal health information). “You have to be very careful because AI doesn’t have morals. It will go after whatever it needs to go after, unless you give it strict boundaries and a cage. And it’s totally discoverable,” he said, referring to its less-than-stellar ability to keep private information truly private. Direct feedback from employees is also essential. “For internal resources, we look at more than just benefits information, but look at all the employee cycles. For example, engagement surveys, exit interviews, and also we do pulse surveys, making sure we proactively ask people how they feel about the program,” Chen said. “A lot of times people don’t speak up unless they encounter some challenges using the program, so we try to use those opportunities to solicit some positive feedback [too].” Lemon suggests using “conjoint surveys,” which solicit anonymous but highly personal feedback from employees, encouraging them to choose among or rank certain current or potential benefit offerings to provide an honest look at what is most valuable to them. “It helps you balance the needs of your organization broadly in a balanced approach, because you can then go back and review that data to say, ‘How am I serving different employees at different demographics and different generations? Where are the biggest needs, and what would be a good way to allocate the limited resources that you have?’ It’s one of the things we’ve still been benefiting from a year later.” 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)
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)
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)
Designing an Employee Experience That Engages, Recognizes, and Supports
BY Katie Chambers May 20, 2026How do you build a culture of care at a construction site? It’s all about perspective. “We’re one of the most inclusive industries in the world because it takes 300 skill sets to put together a project any day of the week,” said Kabri Lehrman-Schmid, project superintendent, SeaTac construction leader, at Hensel Phelps. Taking care of a crew’s needs can mean anything from setting up a coffee station to applying for parking permits for them with the city. It’s all about paying attention to employees’ unique needs, and responding accordingly. A great employee experience considers all facets of a worker, from well-being and compensation to recognition and growth. Creating an environment where employees feel genuinely engaged and supported throughout their development was the focus of a panel discussion among leaders including Lehrman-Schmid at From Day One’s Seattle conference.Today’s Workplace TrendsPost-pandemic, many organizations are leaning into what Maris Krieger, senior director, talent, learning and development, at Hearst Corporation, calls a “culture of care,” It’s all about doubling down on providing additional healthcare and childcare benefits as well as learning opportunities. “We are a global company, a very diverse portfolio company, so we are continuously working to make this experience that we have feel connected and shared across the globe,” she said.As many workers return to the office, they are again spending “10 to 15% of employee time commuting,” said Chinmay Malaviya, co-founder and CEO of Ridepanda. “Post-pandemic, more people now acknowledge and recognize this as a painful, stressful, anxiety-inducing time. Employees are expecting different things,” he said. Malaviya identifies this as an opportunity to provide solutions that ease the strain and help employees make the most of their time, such as in-office wellness activities to preserve their free time or carpool options to improve affordability. Ridepanda works with employers to rethink commuting as part of the overall employee experience rather than just a logistical necessity, says Malaviya. By working to address the daily frustrations tied to commuting, it aims to support employee well-being while also helping companies strengthen workplace satisfaction.Due to remote work options, many large corporations are now finding their employees scattered across different locations. At Hensel Phelps, says Lehrman-Schmid, employees already felt this way, given the nature of the company’s work spread across many individual job sites. It’s HR’s role to bring everyone together, despite the physical distance. “I’m in that position as a job site leader, to be able to take the great initiatives we’re doing at a corporate level and actually make it applicable to the production-oriented systems that we have in very dynamic projects that could be high rises, that could be tunnels, and make it applicable to our people in the work that they do daily.”Where Culture and Benefits Intersect Katie Bunker, VP, HR, North America at Cotiviti, said leaders should be “very deliberate about the employee experience. It’s like culture. If you don’t look after it, it just happens.” This means understanding the experience of stakeholders at the organizational, managerial, and individual levels. “We set out to define what we wanted the employee experience to be like. What does it mean to work here, and what does it mean to experience it? What’s our mission?” Bunker said. These should guide every touchpoint, from first applying for a job through retirement. Her team relies on employee engagement surveys to gauge whether their strategies are working, and they just closed one with a 91% response rate. “That’s because you created a culture where they feel like their opinion matters,” said moderator Diana Opong, independent reporter and host. Panelists spoke about "Designing an Employee Experience That Engages, Recognizes, and Supports"At Hearst, Krieger said, “We have shared culture, we have shared principles, but we still need to give flexibility to different organizations.” For example, their New York office is now mostly in-person with some hybrid options, while the Seattle office skews more remote, especially for tech workers who were initially hired to work exclusively remotely during the pandemic. To keep those folks engaged, the company has one week per month with in-person collaboration events. When it comes to AI, organizations should focus on educating employees while also allaying their fears. Krieger’s company asked staff “AI champions” to opt in and help educate their peers while emphasizing the human element of using the technology, “the critical thinking, the judgment, even delegation. We are really trying to make it non-threatening,” she said. Hensel Phelps is using AI to augment and improve existing processes, such as using an app called “Smart Tag It” to identify hazards associated with each day’s tasks. “This is a process that has existed forever, but in taking AI to it, not only are we providing education to teams [and] to leaders that traditionally have not received education in technology, but we are also providing feedback on, ‘Was that an interactive session? What questions can you ask your crew to make sure that they better understand this situation?’ It’s building these collaborative skillsets in positions that have not traditionally had that opportunity,” Lehrman-Schmid said. While Krieger has seen how AI has put some areas of her organization’s business, including social media, “under attack,” it’s also provided more human opportunities as employees continue to upskill in new technologies. “We have been doing more things in collaboration across the organization, I feel that it has even strengthened human collaboration. We haven’t switched to tools and machines and robots and AI, but human collaboration comes very naturally [in] that different functions and teams are coming together and trying to solve a problem.” As HR teams look to amp up the employee experience, Bunker encourages them to approach it from a business perspective rather than an HR one, especially when seeking buy-in from leadership. “So, it’s not a ‘me versus you,’ [instead] it’s a data set.” Be prepared to share the hard numbers demonstrating the financial and business benefits of investing in employees’ well-being. The people should always be the priority. “My grandmother used to say, ‘You spend five days out of every seven at work, so you better like what you’re doing and you better like who you’re doing it with,” Bunker said. “And I think in the roles that we have, we’re stewards of that, and we can really influence that. So, we try to be very intentional about that.”Katie Chambers is a freelance writer and award-winning communications executive with a lifelong commitment to supporting artists and advocating for inclusion. Her work has been seen in HuffPost, 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)
Cutting Through the Noise With Storytelling That Drives Impact
BY Katie Chambers May 06, 2026How much of your Instagram feed, or worse, your email inbox, is filled with AI slop right now? “As our feeds fill up with more mediocre content, and as we’re faced with this information overload, we really need to ensure that our marketing teams are creating messaging that is cutting through,” said Claire Reilly, journalist and moderator of a panel discussion at From Day One’s Silicon Valley marketing conference.In the age of information overload, compelling storytelling can set a brand apart from the barrage of mediocre content. How can marketing teams craft content that truly engages when audience attention is scattered and fickle? Panelists explored this question and more. Unnikrishnan (Unni) KP, SVP, marketing, Americas at Palo Alto Networks, jokes that B2B marketing can easily slump from “business to business” to “business to boring,” depending on the storytelling. “At the end of the day, you’re reaching out to an audience who’s a human being, they are a consumer.” KP says explaining the “nuts and bolts” of a product is important too, but you first “need to connect with the audience and try to see how it attaches to what that person stands for.”Nizzi Karai Renaud, chief brand officer at Zazzle, faces a different challenge: reaching both designers who take their art seriously but also want to make money, and consumers, all who come to the website for a wide range of products and solutions with wildly different tones tied to their personal self-expression. “That’s the core tension in the storytelling,” she said. “The overlap happens at identity,” whether a consumer is buying a product for themselves or someone else. “The product for us is the artifact, but the story underneath is that recognition and belonging is what unites all of this together, that humanity piece.”Panelists shared insights on the topic, "Creative, Results-Oriented Storytelling That Connects"To accomplish this in brand storytelling, Zazzle relies on both user-generated content (UGC) as well as in-house created marketing, all tied back to the humans behind the interactions. “We used to say, ‘Zazzle has millions of designs.’ But what converts much better is saying, ‘Your sister is impossible to shop for—until she isn’t.’ Our technique is to channel the customer’s inner monologue.”Meanwhile, AI is revolutionizing how storytelling reaches customers, as online searching shifts from prioritizing SEO to AEO or GEO instead. “How are you changing your strategy as we go from one of straight clicks to citations and building yourself as an authority in search?” Reilly said. Vidhya Srinivasan, chief marketing officer at Prophix, and her team have been staying ahead of the curve. “Earned media has become very, very important,” she said, citing UGC as one pathway in. “The brand authority is going to go back to the very basics: What are the backlinks? Who are the brands? How are you surfacing?” With AEO and GEO, the priority is now search phrases rather than search words. And KP notes that the bigger challenge will be ensuring that your results land as those “most validated” by AI. Bala Desikamani, VP of marketing at Temenos, offers the three “superpowers” of AI as it impacts marketing: processing massive volumes of data, creating personalized content at scale, and refining analytics to improve forecasting.AI can take that data and help “to triangulate your target and focus on anything that you do,” Desikamani said. “It also gives very useful insight into which type of audience is in [your] market, looking for solutions that you can leverage, and then gives you attributes that help you build stories that resonate to that market set.” AI can provide extremely detailed attributes for the ideal client profile and help dig down to different geographic regions or specific products within a company. It can also help with A/B testing in social media and copywriting. With AI becoming increasingly powerful, it is also inspiring the same fear in workers in all departments from marketing to HR to legal: Will my job be replaced? “AI [is] spewing out 100 creative ideas to everybody and anybody can democratize [them],” Desikamani said. “If anybody can come up with a bunch of creative, how do you create that differentiation? And that is why the human element still comes in,” he said. “Collectively in this room we have so much more intuition than all of AI across the world can ever possess. That intuition is your superpower as human beings. Leverage that intuition, but leverage AI for what it can do, which is to do the grunt work, but eventually you make the decisions.”AI is allowing brands to produce masses of content quickly and cheaply, but that doesn’t mean it’s all high quality, Reilly says, and cynical consumers are getting wary. KP says that working with AI should be similar to the learning process of children—meaning it takes time, practice, and challenge, not just accepting the first answer to your first prompt to an LLM.Srinivasan sees the value of using LLM’s or other creative platforms to create copy, social media posts, and even full webinars. But humans are still needed to “retain the authenticity of the brand. My team uses Claude every day, and every PowerPoint looks the same. There are things that become templatized and boring.”Using AI to increase productivity is fine, Renaud says, “but that final touch, that creativity, it can’t do it yet, and I’m not sure it will get there.” She notes that science has proven consumers make decisions based on their salience or their “gut,” and their gut is often put off by AI, or even human-created content that they wrongly suspect is AI. “That gut check has to exist with humans.”AI still cannot replicate the true authenticity of humans. “Do whatever scientific process you follow to ensure authenticity of your stories and messages,” Desikamani said. “The lines are blurred now between sales and marketing. The biggest barometer of your actual engagement in terms of the quality of your funnel is your conversations and the feedback that comes from sales. Keep it authentic and measure it through the influence that marketing exerts on the actual funnel.”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)
Reshaping the Workforce: How AI and HR Technology Change How Things Get Done
BY Katie Chambers April 28, 2026“What’s fundamentally changing in how work gets done in your organization because of AI?” asked moderator Subadhra Sriram, founder and host of Workforce Observer. The answer? Well, almost everything. Leaders explored this topic during an executive panel discussion at From Day One’s Silicon Valley conference, moderated by Sriram. One of the most marked differences AI has made in the workplace already comes down to scale. “Every individual’s impact has changed a lot. So what one person could do before, it just means something very different with all the tools that we have now,” said Maggie Zhu, people partner at Anthropic. The tools allow employees to compound their work so that the pace of output is ever-increasing.Samanntha DuBridge, SVP, chief talent officer a t HPE, says AI isn’t necessarily replacing work, but instead allowing workers to focus their attention in new ways. “It’s an exciting time to take some of the more mundane tasks kind of out of the way, and think about data and what you want to spend your time on a little bit differently,” she said. The big changes come with mixed emotions, says Dutta Satadip, chief business operations officer at Pebl, “It’s this interesting balance of excitement and fear,” he said. LLM’s, large language models, are changing workflows for so many people in the office, not just with writing but with coding. “Whatever is in your head is going into AI, into code, and you’re seeing the application,” said Allan Brown, VP of total rewards at Snowflake. “Excel is going to be a thing of the past for presenting something to a senior leader.”Panelists spoke about "Reshaping the Workforce: How AI and HR Technology Change How Things Get Done"This is a good way to frame AI adoption for people who might be afraid of it, says Seema Daryanani, people and culture partner, Gemini App, Google DeepMind. “It will cut down these manual tasks so that you can spend more time innovating and creating,” she said. Fortunately, employees are generally not yet in danger of being replaced. “The efficiencies are being shared by both employees and the company,” Brown said. “The company gets more productivity, but the people are having work-life balance. You start reducing the amount of work you can do, and you’re suddenly going to find yourself a little bit of time.” Communications strategies promoting AI adoption can be built around this notion, encouraging employees to think about their mental health and how they would best like to use their time, both at work and at home. The Future of HR For HR professionals in particular, AI is helping them save time, especially when it comes to attaining, sorting, and delivering reports on data. “We do our annual voice of the workforce survey, and it used to [be] you’d get the summary data pretty quickly, but all the sentiment would take a really long time. [With AI], it’s the same day,” DuBridge said. “You can get things [instantly] that would take a team of people to review, analyze, [and] categorize a couple months.”Daryanani finds that AI handles the “how” of the presentation, the layout and structure, so we can focus on the “so what”: the deep-dive analysis and the story the data is telling us. For a practical example of how AI technology can ease the HR process, Brown shares how his organization used AI agents to answer questions about a new payroll system. “We’ve got 35 locations all over the world. The [number] of questions that were probably going to come in was insane. Somebody came up with the idea: let’s take all these payroll documents and policies, and the health benefit documents, put them all into Notebook LM, and they created a little AI agent that employees could just ask their questions,” he said. “And it answered all the questions. It eliminated that work. Those questions didn’t even come in.”Contrary to popular belief, AI is actually managing to make the hiring process more personalized, DuBridge says, as tools and systems take over a lot of the boring, menial back-and-forth of reviewing resumes and scheduling interviews. “It’s more about building that relationship with the applicant, trying to find out more about them, sharing more about the company, and finding that right fit in the right team,” she said. “It’s more about that person in that role, and it’s less about, ‘Are you available at three o'clock on Friday?’”With AI causing rapid changes across all aspects of the workforce, HR needs to keep adaptability, upskilling, and growth in mind when hiring. “What you thought you were hiring for six months ago could be different from what you’re hiring for now,” Zhu said. “Thinking about what their role might be today and how it might evolve is changing how we’re thinking about hiring in general. [It] needs to be an active conversation.” That means employers may start to value foundational abilities above all else, Satadip says. These include “core problem solving, general cognitive ability, curiosity, he said “because those will persist regardless.” Willingness to experiment is also key. No matter the changes to come, people can, and should, always be prioritized. “I think it’s really important to remember that your organization is composed of people and to be human first,” Zhu said “It comes down to values—you have to keep those values at the forefront.”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)
Personalization Is the New Standard for Employee Well-Being
BY Katie Chambers April 23, 2026“We have people that are just starting out in their careers, parents, and people who are ready to retire. Some are salaried desk workers. Some are people out in the field and working hourly. There are people from across the world and many different nationalities,” said moderator Katie Johnston, reporter at the Boston Globe. All of these people come together at work.Thanks to data analytics technology, organizations have the opportunity to hone in on their specific needs to provide personalized benefits that leave them feeling engaged, supported, and seen. This was the topic of conversation during an executive panel discussion, moderated by Johnston at From Day One’s Boston benefits conference. Benefits That Reflect Cultural TrendsOrganizations are finding that more employees value meaningful work than ever before, especially post-pandemic. Aravind Menon, senior director of HR at Procter & Gamble, shares that his organization created a framework called the Employee Value Equation (EVE). “The primary focus of EVE is that employees at the core want to make an impact. They want to do meaningful work. They want to feel valued and rewarded,” he said. The organization uses surveys and data analytics to get feedback on what is working for employees, and what isn’t. With more than 100,000 employees, having a way to gather opinions en masse is crucial. Guided by feedback data, Procter & Gamble began offering a health plan with more transparent pricing and flex benefits, such as optional classes or services tailored to employees’ needs. Much of employee feedback, in one way or another, comes down to money. Offerings that support financial well-being have become integral to a well-rounded benefits package. “It is one of the only topics that touches every single person. Almost every single decision that you make on a daily basis,” said Rebecca Liebman, CEO and co-founder of LearnLux. Financial well-being now goes beyond traditional retirement planning, Liebman says, and also includes preparation for emergencies, childcare, elder care, and general financial resilience as the cost of living skyrockets. A well-rounded package should offer personalization for every life stage and be paired with an internal communications plan that educates employees on how best to maximize the offerings. Panelists spoke about "The Power of Personalization in Workplace Well-Being," at From Day One's Boston benefits conferenceSuch messaging can be particularly challenging for large organizations like Securitas, which has employees of all ages spread across the globe in a variety of roles. “I might have one guard sitting behind a desk at an office building, another one standing at a bank. I might have a group of them at a stadium. In most cases, they’re generally not co-located,” said Amy Noelle, senior director, benefits, North America at Securitas. But they must nonetheless receive clear, personalized information. Madhavi Vemireddy, CEO of Cleo, shares that in the U.S. alone, nearly 60 million people identify as caregivers and frequently hesitate to disclose this to their workplaces for fear of repercussions, such as being passed over for a promotion. “Family caregivers in the workforce, who are often women, deal with so many combinations of stressors: it could be pregnancy, parenting, menopause, elder care, [or] all of the above,” Johnston said. “How can employers identify who’s dealing with these issues and, before they get to the breaking point, what can they offer them?” Cleo works to help caregivers overcome the stigma and access the support they desperately need. “We’re supporting families across pregnancy, parenting journeys as well as adult caregiving, and we’re doing that holistically,” Vemireddy said. Early intervention can help workers stay healthy—and that depends on transparency and psychological safety to combat the stigma. “We need to start talking about it more, just like how we’ve been talking about mental health in the workplace, about menopause in the workplace, we need to start talking about caregiving in the workplace,” Vemireddy said. Sharpening Communications StrategiesDifferent workers may be receptive to different types of communication styles. But always, “there has to be an openness to the information before we decide on the delivery method,” said Kelle Colyer-Brown, head of office of accessibility programs at PSEG. Training internal stakeholders, in addition to engaging with outside vendors, is key. “We know that employees will go to the people that they talk to most often first, so ensuring that our managers have that information [is important],” she said.In terms of delivery, “our salaried office-based employees are most likely going to go to things like our blogs, newsletters, and email blasts. That is extremely unlikely for our field employees,” Colyer-Brown said. Field employees might be more reachable through all-hands meetings, daily stand-ups, fairs, or even apps. In difficult times, wellness offerings can help maintain engagement and retention. “This year, a lot of companies can’t give more money,” Liebman said. “So, they’re bringing in financial coaching as a benefit to help people understand what they can do with their paycheck. If we can’t give you more money, let’s empower you to make a plan for your life. And really, financial planning is just executing on the life that you want to live.” Looking ahead, Colyer-Brown recommends relying on survey data to understand what employees are seeking, then consistently reviewing and meeting with current and prospective vendors to ensure those trends are addressed. If your current vendors don’t offer adequate support, consider “what’s my buy, borrow, build, mix to fill in some of those gaps? Am I going to build internal services? Am I going to do outreach to government entities? Am I reaching out to nonprofits?” she said. “If I need to spend money, at least I can go to my leadership and say, ‘I looked at our internal resources first before I asked you for a check. I’ve done my due diligence.’”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)
Rewiring Hiring for a Company That Never Stops Casting
BY Katie Chambers March 24, 2026It has been an exciting time for NBCUniversal: February saw the Winter Olympics in Italy, the Super Bowl, basketball, and several blockbuster film promos released, all in a matter of weeks. “It was a moment of a lot of pride for employees at NBC,” said Suzan Vulaj, SVP of global talent acquisition at NBCUniversal. Employees at the 30 Rock headquarters in NYC enjoyed big-screen watch parties in lounge chairs, Italian delicacies, gifting suites, and more, she said during a fireside chat at From Day One’s NYC TA conference. Vulaj spoke about how the company is modernizing their hiring processes. “Our business was changing. It was getting more complex. We were consolidating and just hiring and recruiting wasn’t keeping pace with what was going on in the business,” she said. “There was just no way we could grow and excel as an agile TA workforce, if we were still using a 10-year-old ATS system.” The organization didn’t want to throw AI on top of its old system; instead, it chose to build a new one from the ground up.“You are unveiling a whole new blueprint for intelligent, connected hiring in the company,” said moderator Stephen Koepp, editor in chief at From Day One. The advent of AI as a major driving force behind that blueprint has meant that Vulaj and her team must help recruiters become comfortable with implementing emerging technology. Some employees are already building out their own AI agents, while some of the 30-year TA veterans are still getting used to it. It comes down to education, she says. “How do we approach that from every angle to make everyone feel comfortable in using the tool that suits them? It’s got to bring value to their job.”Speeding Up TA With AIVulaj envisions AI impacting every level of the recruiting process. At the very least, it can help in crafting the many emails written every day to candidates and hiring managers. Also, “our recruiters are using it to create Boolean searches to find people. We have some recruiters and leaders on my team who are using it for market insight and then putting that together in a PowerPoint and presenting it to our hiring managers. We have people who are using it to consolidate feedback and pitch candidates in a very concise manner.” All of these are time-savers. “The productivity is sped up a lot, which, we tell our recruiters, gives you a lot of time to focus on the value add.”Suzan Vulaj, the SVP of global talent acquisition at NBCUniversal, spoke about "Rewiring Hiring for a Company That Never Stops Casting"Leaders are surveying the TA team about how they spend their time, what they enjoy most, and what tasks are the most time-consuming to better understand where AI can add the most value. “[Although] our recruiters don’t want to do those tedious things like scrolling through 1000 resumes or drafting up emails or sourcing, they feel very comfortable with it. And so, we’ve got to change people’s way of working and thinking and get them comfortable with letting go of the things that have made them successful as a recruiter. There’s a lot of psychology behind adopting AI,” she said. One major challenge of AI has been an increase in spam. Her team partnered with the cybersecurity department to install a bot blocker on the recruiting website; once it was installed, the number of resumes the organization received was slashed in half, demonstrating the pervasiveness of spam. “It’s OK,” Vulaj said. “We don’t need more people applying. We need real, quality people applying.”Even though initial interviews may be by video, all final interviews are done onsite in part to ensure the candidate is real. “We will never hire someone unless we meet them in person.” The organization is also implementing more thorough background checks, and recruiters are checking all links on LinkedIn profiles and verifying email addresses to ensure candidates are real. Creating a Great Candidate Experience Organizations also need to be mindful of the impact of AI on the candidate’s experience. “Right now, it’s famous for so many headlines: People are frustrated. They’re getting ghosted, sending in a zillion resumes, etc. How can you improve that interaction?” Koepp asked. Vulaj says her surveys indicate candidates want radical transparency. “They want to know, are you using AI when I apply for a job? What are you looking for? Where am I in the process? What’s taking so long?” she said. She thinks more frequent communication with candidates will help them feel more comfortable, noting that, in an ideal scenario, even a rejected candidate will still be excited about and interested in working for the company in the future. “You want to leave every interaction with the candidate in a positive way. Being able to use AI just helps you get there faster.” NBCUniversal, well-known for its page program for recent graduates, has a TA team dedicated exclusively to early career hiring. “We receive over 50,000 applications just for our summer [internship] program,” Vulaj said. AI can help narrow down selections and make the process less overwhelming. Having a single central ATS system has helped get leaders across the organization invested in the hiring process, Vulaj says, not just HR. “They’re putting [in] feedback. They’re looking at candidates.” If she could do anything differently in implementing the new system, she says she would have hired a few more ops team members to help manage recruiting and hiring while the system was being built and tested, since talent acquisition never stopped during the transition. “And I think we underestimated change management a little bit,” she said.Her advice to others hoping to implement a new system? “Don’t rush. I see so many people rushing to buy some new and expensive AI tool. I would rather you be very thorough and ensure that it’s got a lot of value long-term and [is] not a Band-aid for one piece of your vertical.” 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)
How a Culture of Learning Equips the Workforce for What’s Next
BY Katie Chambers March 16, 2026When the pandemic hit, the hospitality industry lost many workers. At Soho House, the impact was dramatic, with roughly 80% of the workforce disappearing either temporarily or permanently. Rebuilding meant more than simply re-hiring. It offered an opportunity to rethink how people learn on the job. During an executive panel discussion at From Day One’s February virtual conference, Lauren Goodman, regional head of people and development at Soho House, shared how the company redesigned its learning and development approach from the ground up, creating role-specific onboarding guides and self-paced training that allow employees to build skills while working rather than racing through rigid certification timelines. The results were striking. Turnover dropped about 25% year over year from 2022 to 2023, and the company now averages around 32% turnover, below the hospitality industry standard, says Goodman. The shift showed how personalized, flexible learning programs can play a direct role in retention.What Employees Want to Learn TodayBecause the modern workplace is changing rapidly, employees are looking for programs to help them keep up. “One of the big things that is top of mind for so many organizations now is agility and learning and how to be more adaptable and resilient,” said Priscila Bala, vice chair at LifeLabs Learning. “The half-life of many of the skills that we have is about 18 months. Cycles are compressing so much.” So, faster and shorter are better. “We don’t have people asking for those large, generic programs anymore. They want short, practical learning tied to the job, real-time feedback from their boss,” said Marcus Cazier, head of L&D, Americas, bioMérieux. This is also due to shrinking patience and attention spans, Goodman says. Plus, they are looking to the future: “They’re also looking for us not just to train them on their job, but that growth mindset as well.”Of course, AI is one of the factors driving rapid change, so employees are hoping to stay abreast of the latest technology. “At Autodesk, it’s primarily around upskilling and AI, also the impact that AI is having on both teams, individuals, and the organization, in addition to specific workflows and how workflows are changing as a result of AI integration and building an AI native mindset,” said Michel Riyad Nabti, senior director of learning & development at Autodesk. Panelists spoke about "How a Culture of Learning Equips the Workforce for What’s Next" during the virtual session (photo by From Day One)Employees are also preferring less structured programs, opting for self-directed opportunities instead. “We’ve also noticed that when we do optional micro trainings, we get a more positive response and a larger response than when we have a formalized, mandatory two-hour training,” Goodman said. “To me, it’s helpful to know we might still do the full two hours, but we’re going to do it in a ‘micro’ setting, so that way it’s more appealing to our team, and hopefully they retain it better, too.” But Bala emphasizes that L&D shouldn’t feel too optional or separate from other business initiatives—otherwise, it will fall by the wayside in favor of what feels like more pressing work priorities. “The folks that are really successful are the ones that actually make it as part of an execution strategy, instead of treating learning as if it’s a separate thing that happens outside of business,” she said. “When people learn individually, you don’t get their colleagues to recognize what’s happening. They don’t have a shared language, it becomes so much harder to reinforce what are really the norms that are going to help us be more efficient and effective.”Building an Effective L&D Program AI can be an important partner in providing up-to-date, personalized learning plans to employees. “We’re making a transformation from L&D being a content provider, Content Manager, to being a strategic partner across the enterprise, and part of that transformation is building a learning ecosystem,” Nabti said. Autodesk has “internally designed learning programs in addition to external vendor provider programs that can provide that kind of personalization and an impact to each individual when meeting them, where their needs are.” Launching a one-size-fits-all program can be tricky among corporations with a variety of roles, from front-of-house hourly workers to designers, executives, and beyond. “How do you ensure that L&D is consistent among all those employees?” asked session moderator Corinne Lestch, journalist and founder, the Off-Site Writing Workshop. Cazier shares that his organization, which does business all over the world, offers peer-to-peer review and training sessions where participants can practice customer conversations with each other and give real-time feedback, which becomes especially important when educating each other on cultural and linguistic nuances. “It’s allowing us to immediately embed what they’re learning into conversations. And then we are also connecting these behaviors to their bonuses and to their merit. We have begun holding leaders accountable for how they accomplish things and to ensure that they’re doing it in the way that the organization wants things done,” Cazier said. “We have aggressive growth goals, but we also have a high ethical standard, and we have a very deep, humanistic approach that we’re proud of, and we don’t want to lose as we try to evolve the organization.” Soho House, which employs everyone from dishwashers to graphic designers, feels this acutely. “Making sure that everyone feels really valued throughout that training process is critical,” Goodman said. “Getting buy-in from several key stakeholders [is also crucial], because it’s not just one aspect of the business, but it’s really what makes the whole business successful.” Corporate brand, values, and identities should be embedded in all L&D programs, including how those values “trickle down” across the team. Then, you can demonstrate how different skills contribute to and uphold those values during day-to-day work. Skills assessments should ideally be paired with L&D programs to establish a baseline of current skills and assess whether training has been effective. “What are the skills and competencies that we are mapping so that the learning can be intentional? People want their capability-building to be purposeful,” Bala said. Panelists agree that providing L&D opportunities is also important to building a culture of psychological safety and freedom, allowing workers to feel comfortable experimenting, growing, and forging their own path. “That’s so crucial in this inflection point that we’re currently in,” Nabti said. “Having a culture of experimentation and agility that’s aligned to the company’s culture is crucial for our success, and also detaching us from this expectation that every initiative has to be successful. That culture of experimentation frees us up to explore areas where we may have really big performance goals.” Asking employees what they want to learn is key to building a healthy, sustainable, and attractive L&D program. Soho House includes a question about learning goals in its performance reviews at all levels. “What is it that they want to learn so that we can help support their learning objectives as a human and as an individual? Having that as a requirement has helped to create that culture of learning and development,” Goodman said. “None of us knows it all. Let’s ask you, on a formalized basis, what [do] you want to learn at the end of the year? Did we commit to that as the employer? Did we help support you there? If not, how do we do better next year?”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 kasto80/iStock)
Rethinking Recognition and Rewards: New Strategies for Across-the-Board Encouragement
BY Katie Chambers March 11, 2026“We all know the data on the benefits of recognition: when you feel recognized, you feel great, your engagement goes up,” said Naomi Dishington, director of consulting at Workhuman. But did you know: “The giver also experiences that same lift in engagement, that same bump in productivity, that same likelihood to become a brand ambassador.” By ingraining recognition into organizational culture, leaders can help all employees feel a boost in morale, says Dishington, who spoke on an executive panel at From Day One’s Washington, D.C. conference. Panelists spoke about “Rethinking Recognition and Rewards: New Strategies for Across-the-Board Encouragement.”Why Recognition Matters“The stakes are really high, because if you get it right or wrong, recognition is deeply personal,” said Sheila Muhl, SVP of HR talent & total rewards at Viatris, noting that it touches on both employee and corporate values. “It’s incredibly important to have a far-reaching strategy around recognition, so that you can touch people in multiple different ways, so that people are feeling a sense of accomplishment and achievement and a deep connection to your purpose.” At her organization, achievements are tied not only to standard business objectives but also to cultural values such as fostering well-being and inclusion. “In big organizations, you have so many people making outstanding contributions all the time,” moderator Taylor Telford said. “How can employers ensure folks’ contributions aren’t going under the radar?” Muhl advises making recognition not just about end results, but about the entire employee journey, so that it is always top of mind. “Maybe someone learned something. Maybe something got messed up and we had to pivot—those are also important moments,” she said. Kimberly Young, SVP of total rewards at Amentum, agrees that employees “want to be recognized in real time,” even with a simple “thank you.”Panelists shared strategies on the topic of "Rethinking Recognition and Rewards" in D.C.“Recognition is one of the most strategic, powerful tools a leader has, because it’s how you signal what you value,” said Wendy Jolly, VP of total rewards and team member experience at Inova. Every recognition reinforces what you are looking for. She sees recognition as “a counter to feedback,” a quick positive repetitive reinforcement, leaving “rounding out the picture” for a deeper performance discussion. A good recognition and rewards program is “well-designed, well-communicated, and well-funded,” Dishington said, “as well as specific, timely, and meaningful. That doesn’t mean giant amounts, it means little bits dispersed throughout the year with that pop of spontaneity.” Panelists recommend surveying and employee listening to get a sense of what types of rewards and recognitions mean the most to your constituents as you build out your strategy. “Recognition is where the human shows up at work,” Jolly said. “They have to actually feel seen.” Creative methods of rewards include community-building activities like group volunteer opportunities, as well as “redemption store experiences” that can allow for uniquely personal prize selections. In terms of engagement, Muhl notes that recognition is a way to continue courting employees both immediately after and long after they are hired. “Woo your people as if you’re onboarding them continuously to keep that excitement and energy alive. Your strong employer brand and your strong employer proposition need to continue throughout recognition. It has to be nourished over time.” Making an Impact The most meaningful recognition programs, says Dishington, encourage involvement from the entire organization, not just leaders. “When you can empower everyone to use their voice to call out what’s going well in a colleague late at night, on the tarmac or in the hospital on the floor after a 14-hour shift, in the moment on [their] mobile [phone] in two minutes, you’ve done something to energize your culture that managers alone just can’t carry, even with the best intentions,” she said. Dishington notes that AI tools can help identify business benchmarks, flag language from employee skills profiles, and identify opportunities for real-time positive reinforcement. But it’s imperative to not take AI too far, and ensure the human voice is still there. “The challenge with AI is that it can be so impersonal for a lot of people,” said moderator Telford.The implementation of AI across other areas of the workplace means leaders will begin valuing employees’ human innovation and risk-taking as they adopt the technology. “I’m more likely to lean into that risk and that innovative state of mind, if I feel safe psychologically,” Young said. And that’s where recognition comes back in. “You can really do a lot with psychological safety in your environments, when you have a culture built on recognition and appreciation of each other.” AI is not the only way technology is impacting rewards. “Another great thing about technology or platform is the opportunity to put a bigger spotlight on a great moment,” Jolly said, not only to give the celebrated employee added positive attention, but also to educate others about corporate values. “You take it just a step further and say why that was a good moment for our company or our culture that we’re trying to create.” Recognition should come from the top-down. “Helping leaders incorporate a recognition focus as part of their day-to-day leadership is really important,” Muhl said. This includes not just executives but also front-line team leaders and managers. HR can help provide language, strategies, and reminders to help them incorporate it into their management style. Securing buy-in from organizational leaders means aligning your rewards program with their values. “It has to be authentic to your culture and to your leaders. What are the words they use, what are the things they naturally say in a town hall or in leadership messages?” Jolly said. “If you weave those in your recognition program, it will really land in a very genuine way in your workforce.” 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)
The Changing Landscape of Employee Wellness: Navigating Health Plans, New Demands, and Rising Costs
BY Katie Chambers February 24, 2026How do you practice self-care? For panelists at From Day One’s Houston conference, the answers were diverse: Reading. Running marathons. Meditation. Socializing. Stopping mindless scrolling. Weightlifting. Listening to audiobooks. Baking. This eclectic list demonstrates that the true definition of “wellness” is something highly varied and acutely personal. In times of shrinking budgets, employee wellness programs are often the first to be cut. But even with limited resources, they can still be prioritized. Panelists explored how their companies are addressing these challenges in a discussion on “The Changing Landscape of Employee Wellness: Navigating Health Plans, New Demands, and Rising Costs.”At Halliburton, that has meant “we treat it more about the employee experience, the sense of community, and finding ways to build on that community at the office or at the work site,” said Mia Smallman, director of global benefits at Halliburton. Her team deploys wellness resources to visit work sites for a “grassroots feel” that isn’t “one-size-fits-all” and encourages organic connections among employees.The focus should be on what truly matters to an organization’s unique workforce. Mindy Fitzgerald, head of operational excellence and HR director at Air Products, says that it’s less about “programs and visions” and more about practical offerings like “a resource, a tool, a class, or a person to meet them where they’re at.”Supporting Mental HealthFor Houston Methodist, employees struggling with the day to day demands of helping out patients during Covid needed their own emotional support, so it began offering free mental health care to employees through a pool of its own neuropsychologists—most of whom were unable to see patients in person during the pandemic and were looking for ways to give back.The need was still so great that post-pandemic, the organization created its Emotional Health & Wellbeing Office. “We provide free psychiatric and psychological care for employees and beneficiaries on our health plan.” We also provide music therapy, art therapy, and customized programs—we look at the person in a holistic way,” said Laura Matthews, VP, HR, physician organization & academic institute, Houston Methodist. “The first year we started, we saw about 3,500 appointments. In 2025, we ended up at around 14,000 and still have a good wait list. So, the need is there.”Panelists spoke about "The Changing Landscape of Employee Wellness"While the ROI on mental health programs might be difficult to track, Matthews says, that is almost beside the point: “It starts from the top, having a CEO that really is passionate about doing what’s right for our employees and our patients, and then taking care of each other.” Similarly, Fitzgerald’s organization has deployed EAPs that touch on a variety of topics best suited to the needs of employees, with an emphasis on quality or quantity, and allows the employee to define “family member” to include not just those who are traditionally insured. “It really comes from a deep place of humanness and care,” she said. Combatting Rising Healthcare Costs“One of the biggest issues in healthcare right now is cost, as well as resistance among some workers to get the care they need in a timely manner,” said moderator Chelsea Edwards, journalist and talk show host for Fox Television Stations. To help combat this, Curative offers a new model of employee health insurance with $0 out-of-pocket costs—meaning no co-pays or deductibles. “Imagine if your employees could access all of their health care benefits without worrying about a co-pay or deductible. They can go get their prescribed medications, their recommended surgeries, [and more]” said Becca Cosani, VP, health plan medical and pharmacy operations at Curative. Curative’s model is that the price is the premium. “We believe that having a frictionless experience in accessing care and understanding your care benefits and how to use them is the crux of offering stability and health to our members and to our employer partners, so that every member can access our in-network care prescriptions for zero extra dollars,” said Cosani. The organization offers introductory one-on-one meetings with employees to better understand their health needs, explain benefits, and demonstrate how to use the insurance. Even if zero-cost wellness plans are not feasible, organizations can and should still encourage employees to get regular health screenings “to find out what’s ailing them before it becomes expensive and traumatic,” said Smallman. She also recommends regularly vetting third-party vendors to ensure employees receive the most comprehensive, lowest-cost care possible. Cosani also recommends educating employees about different pathways to accessing care, such as getting an MRI at a lower-cost imaging clinic rather than the hospital, so they can learn how to choose more affordable options. Innovative Wellness OfferingsProviding access to GLP-1’s is another way for employers to stay relevant in their wellness offerings. Employers, of course, want plans that allow as many employees to access GLP-1’s as possible, at a reasonable cost. But GLP-1’s are just part of the weight-loss solution, says Manuela Abreu, head of nutrition and community at Nutrium. “When they take the medication, it sends a signal to their appetite. And once they stop taking that medication, those habits go back because there wasn’t an adjustment [to] their habits. This is where the nutrition program is very helpful,” she said. She works with nutritionists who help employees achieve their goals, and employers manage their costs, by teaching healthier habits to support long-term success. In addition to a focus on nutrition and weight management, financial well-being is an increasingly in-demand offering. Matthews cites a recent Bank Rate study showing that 56% of Americans say they would not be able to come up with $1,000 immediately in an emergency. Matthews’ team at Houston Methodist partnered with its brokerage firm, Fidelity, to match up to $250 for each employee who opened an emergency savings account during a specified period. “Through this program, we saw almost double the [number] of employees who opened an account, and are still contributing to that right now.” As an added financial benefit, her organization also offers an immediate cash benefit of $10,000 to the family of an employee who passes away, recognizing that related costs, such as funerals and travel, can add up quickly before any life insurance payments arrive. “You hope you don’t have to use it, but when you do, it’s been extremely beneficial,” said Matthews. Halliburton brings its personalized approach to wellness to its financial offerings as well. “Our Fidelity representative has become part of our family. He’s the same person in all of our locations,” Smallman said. The organization opts for a program that is more “educational” and not at all sales-driven, so that employees do not feel pressured and receive guidance with no strings attached. “It creates a lot of goodwill and camaraderie.” For global corporations, a diverse approach is essential to reach employees across cultures and geographies. Even for more local companies, Fitzgerald says opting for flexible programs is important, especially as employees become more scattered in changing work environments. And don’t just assume what they need—ask. “You don’t know what’s a fit if you aren’t listening.” 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)
Creative, Results-Oriented Storytelling That Connects
BY Katie Chambers February 19, 2026“The best or nothing”—that was Mercedes-Benz’s tagline for years. But marketers were noticing a concerning trend. “What that actually did was it made people feel like, ‘I’m not ready to graduate to the brand yet. Maybe I’m not ready. I’m not the best in my career yet. So maybe I shouldn’t reward myself with that Mercedes-Benz,” Monique Harrison, head of brand marketing, Mercedes-Benz, shared during an executive panel discussion at From Day One’s Atlanta marketing conference. Instead, the company has made a concerted effort to become more relatable to different segments of the population through targeted advertising and brand ambassadors for audiences interested in $40,000 vehicles, million-dollar sports cars, and everything in between. “It’s about finding opportunities to be that human connection in varying places with a diversity of perspectives,” Harrison said. In the age of information overload, compelling storytelling can set a brand apart from the barrage of mediocre content. How can marketing teams craft content that truly engages when audience attention is scattered and fickle? What strategies ensure that brand storytelling is consistent across channels yet tailored to each platform and audience? Panelists shared their insights in this session moderated by Kelly Yamanouchi, business team lead at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.The Evolution of Brand Storytelling Past iterations of brand storytelling, says Sarah Stansberry, SVP of marketing at Fiserv, were extremely direct, emphasizing the quick definition of what the product or service offers. There is now a greater focus on creating compelling, results-driven narratives. “How do we take the complex, make it simple, and make that simple [message] compelling?” she said. Understanding your audience is central to effective brand storytelling. “Storytelling is actually story living,” said Anise Mastin, VP & general manager of global marketing at SAP. “Research substantiates that when we can step into the shoes of our targets, our storytelling gets better. Be the type of marketer that can understand their top three needs, the daily things that they need to do, and the obstacles or pains that stop them from doing that.” Panelists shared their insights on "Creative, Results-Oriented Storytelling That Connects" in AtlantaBut it’s not always easy to reach your audience. “As we look at how to tell a story, grab the attention, and cut through the clutter, it’s so much harder now because of the lack of attention and the fragmentation that we’re dealing with,” Harrison said. Fragmentation is a relatively new and increasingly pressing challenge, as audiences are spread across multiple screens and services. “Ten to 15 years ago, I sat on a panel that [tackled], ‘Is it about driving brand love, or is it about driving performance?’” said Dani Cushion, chief marketing officer at Teads. This is where the number of channels across the customer journey is an advantage rather than a challenge. “The data actually allows us to help engage with the consumer in a way that adds value, and the storytelling then becomes more about how you actually engage folks throughout the whole customer journey, instead of a binary choice.” A Major Marketing Shift: Access to AIThe introduction of AI is also disrupting how marketers traditionally approached brand storytelling. “It’s so much harder today, because you’re not only storytelling for the consumer, you’re storytelling for AI, and what AI will actually bring to market on your behalf,” Harrison said. Social media, which is also ever-evolving, is an important part of the marketing process, but should be used intentionally, with careful research, A/B testing, and an understanding of which platforms your intended audience prefers. “Don’t think of it as a megaphone. Think of it as a targeting tool,” Stanberry said. AI can be deployed on the marketing side, not just by audiences, but exercise caution. Like social media, it is also just a tool, not a replacement for human intuition. AI can expedite support research and speed up responses to customer inquiries, says Mastin. “But it’s not coming for your judgment. It needs a human to be able to take the action,” she said. “It cannot build brand loyalty, customer loyalty.” She warns that AI is the tool, not the solution; even when it provides important insights, it’s up to the human staff to create action plans based on those insights and continue to measure KPIs and business impact. “You can build something actionable, measurable, and repeatable.” In terms of content creation, AI can be useful and often faster than human production, but its capacities are limited, so save it for quick, lower-stakes projects. “AI plays a role when we want to tell the story [a certain] way, where it can be a little bit faster and not perfect,” Stansberry said. Cushion’s team deploys AI “not to replace creatives, but to inform,” using it to pre-test narratives through predictive analytics to understand how consumers engage with specific ads. “It does allow us to make sure that we are packing a whole lot of powerful intelligence into every single impression so that we’re not wasting money up front, and then optimizing later,” she said. AI also helps her team identify the best channels for specific ads. Carving Out Your Niche Differentiating your brand is all about connection, says Mastin. This spans from building a relationship with the customer through driving awareness as they learn about the product, to maintaining their favor even as they compare you with others. “Recognize what your competitors are doing but know your product so well and why it’s differentiated, that value proposition, and how you can say it, by stepping into your target’s shoes so that they’re going to say, ‘I want more,’” Mastin said. Engagement and attention are among the highest-value metrics marketers need to prioritize today, says Stansberry. And customers are craving authenticity. Stansberry’s organization humanizes its marketing by highlighting corporate community engagement and client success stories. This is why Harrison’s team at Mercedes-Benz has begun using celebrity brand ambassadors who are not only influential but also relatable, rather than those who might read as authoritative. “Put yourself in the shoes of the customer. How are you going to feel when you hear? How are you going to feel when you see? Those things play a major role in how we choose those that represent the brand,” Harrison said. Marketing and communications professionals, Cushion says, are naturally empathetic and often mission-driven. And they must be nimble. When leaders task them with changing direction, Stansberry said, “Being clear is kind. The more transparent you can be and say why it matters, [how] what you’re doing is going to impact the end result,” the more effective you will be. Mastin’s top advice for marketers in a climate of constant change: “Don’t be tied or married to content. Be tied or married to success. Be always willing to change and be agile.”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)