How People Analytics Can Give HR Leaders a Window Into Employee Experience
BY Katie Chambers December 22, 2025Most HR leaders agree that employee engagement is central to a healthy workplace. But is it necessary to constantly measure it? “The reason we’re asking about engagement isn’t because it looks good on a scorecard,” said Michelle Seidel, Human Capital Client Leader, Aon, in a panel conversation at From Day One’s recent Los Angeles conference. “It’s because engagement is linked to productivity. It’s linked to customer service. It’s linked to employee attrition, attraction, and retention.” While people analytics is sometimes viewed as esoteric or intrusive, the evolving field offers HR professionals new tools to understand worker sentiment, values, and skills. It can be used to spot trends in worker retention, predict candidate success, understand employee engagement, optimize benefits, or discover patterns in employee health and well-being. But what are the guardrails that need to be set up to safeguard trust, privacy, and corporate values? The panel explored how, when used thoughtfully, people analytics can help forecast larger future-of-work trends and employee expectations.The Benefit of Real-Time AnalyticsThe old employee-survey model is no longer effective, says Andrew Dufresne, head of HR Operations and Employee Experience, North America, UST, a global transformation company specializing in AI-powered tech and engineering. By the time HR can finish analyzing a traditional annual survey, the data is already many months old. “We’ve moved towards more pulse surveys and real-time engagement,” he said, citing an internal company platform that can track feedback on all aspects of the employee experience, such as hiring, retiring, or getting a promotion. “We’re collecting that feedback as those processes are happening.” His organization also partners with outside companies like Great Place to Work and Top Employers Institute for further benchmarking. Surveys don’t have to be complex. “I know of organizations who are using really simple emoji surveys, where you just click the happy face or the sad face [and] you have immediate feedback. You can respond to it in hours or days, versus the 90 days that’s typical from a traditional survey,” Seidel said. She says sentiment scraping, such as using AI to grab data from review sites like Glassdoor, can also help identify gaps and strengths. It’s important to be specific with your intentions as you craft survey questions. “A huge component is ensuring that these surveys are designed strategically, so that we’re getting the information that we really want, which is how engaged is somebody versus how satisfied [they] are,” said Brian Padilla, SVP, HR business partner, for Lionsgate. “[Our surveys are] designed to assess engagement, and then to also point to the reasons why someone might not be engaged. Maybe they don’t have a clear understanding of how their role fits into the bigger picture, or they don’t feel supported by their manager.” Intention—and clear communication—can also help keep HR from overstepping in their data collection and becoming too invasive. “How do you get somebody to want to give you information? We’re asking for things like self-identification surveys and things where we’re required to report on it, but people don’t necessarily trust that that information is going to be used in a way that’s ethical,” Padilla said. He suggests “having those conversations with people [and] showing them how the process works, what the end product looks like, and what actually goes out into the world.”The executive-panel speakers on people analytics at From Day One’s December conference in Los AngelesRachyll Tenny, chief talent officer for people strategy and organizational impact for Capstone Partners, and investment-banking firm, summed it up: “Trust, transparency, and context.” With considerate framing, organizations can build a culture of trust. Padilla shared that a recent Lionsgate self-identification survey with sensitive questions regarding sexual orientation and parental status had a 90% response rate because it was communicated with intention and care. Building a Pathway Forward “Data [can] be used to be both prescriptive and predictive,” said moderator Stacy Perman, Staff Writer, the Los Angeles Times, both identifying gaps and providing proposed solutions. Added Seidel: “When we look at the survey results in the data, it tells us what’s going on, why it might be happening, what we can do to fix it. Sometimes it even tells us how to prioritize those issues and when we need to fix it by.” Traditional data-collection modes are too fragmented; AI can pull everything together and generate a nuanced plan.AI can be deployed to dive deeper into the data on hand, which is especially important as the working world generally transitions from a role-based to a skill-based model. “[AI] can look at skill gaps before they become performance gaps, because that’s really when it hits you hardest,” said Rebecca Warren, talent-centered transformation leader for Eightfold, an AI-powered talent-intelligence platform. Analyzing skills in this way can also help with talent acquisition and retention. Warren noted that she started at the company in talent acquisition, then moved to customer success, then marketing and talent transformation—all because she was invited to apply based on her skillset. “Tying hiring, development, and skill gaps to what the business is trying to achieve makes all the difference, instead of trying to plug gaps in a in a leaky bucket,” she said. And of course, AI comes with its own ethical concerns, leading again to that need for transparency, communication, and compliance. “What we talk about inside of Eightfold is, ‘We are responsible and explainable AI,’ so everything that we do is tracked, and we can go back and say, ‘This is what happened.’ So if there is something that wasn’t handled correctly, we can go back and look at it more quickly than if we had a manual process or if we weren’t tracking all of those things,” Warren said. The organization also utilizes an ethics council. Going forward, organizations can rely on AI-powered people analytics to solve some of their toughest conundrums. Seidel said, “If I could use data and analytics to achieve one key thing, it would be to answer the question more effectively and with more precision: ‘Where is the best place for our organization to invest the next dollar in our workforce for the greatest return on investment?’” 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)
Accelerating L&D With AI: How to Lead, Adapt, and Keep the Human Touch
BY Katie Chambers December 17, 2025Nearly 60% of HR leaders say AI adoption is one of their biggest challenges, yet the prospect of radically improving worker learning and development is a huge new opportunity. How can AI make L&D more individualized, efficient to produce, and integrated with the flow of work? Can it upskill workers more quickly than traditional methods and accelerate leadership development? Leaders shared their ideas on the subject during a panel discussion titled, “Accelerating L&D With AI: How to Lead, Adapt, and Keep the Human Touch,” at From Day One’s Miami conference. “The best companies in the world that are going to develop through this phase are the ones that train their people to use AI most effectively, not be scared of it, and embrace it,” said Dave Coldwell, global AI executive at Cisco. But that’s easier said than done. “With AI, like any new technology, there is some apprehension, and we all know that it’s a tool. It’s not human,” said moderator Paul Bomberger, independent journalist and former Miami Herald business editor. Leaders must maintain human connections with their teams while rolling out emerging technologies, and emphasize that these tools will never replace human workers—just augment them. “It doesn’t have innovation. It is good at giving you resources and instructions, but there’s the human aspect that we need too,” said Elyse Sitomer, learning & organizational development partner at Memorial Healthcare System.It can be hard to get “old school” industry leaders to get on board with the AI revolution. Alexandra Bautista, SVP of employee experience at Harvard Services Group, said the key is “helping them understand that it’s a tool to leverage your performance.” She has brought in speakers to share how AI can make the workday easier and reinforce that it’s a positive rather than something to be feared. Panelists suggest rolling out simple tools like Microsoft Copilot or ChatGPT to get your general workforce more comfortable with artificial intelligence. These tools can simplify administrative tasks by summarizing email chains, creating agendas, or taking notes at meetings. From there, more complex AI educational software packages are no longer one-size-fits-all, but highly individualized, says Chris Narmi, chief strategist, AI and workflow at HP. These tools “recognize the strengths and weaknesses of an individual, track them through their learning process and customize their learning program.” And the training is often built in. “AI is unique in that it’s the first technology that can really teach you how to use it.”Innovative Uses for AI in the Workplace Gone are days of lengthy employee handbooks or boring onboarding videos. “What generative AI has allowed us to do at Cisco is personalize the training. [We have] the right training for the right people at the right time, and that’s led to developments in leadership, developments in creativity, and exponentially improv[ed] our salespeople’s engagement with the customers and partners that they’re dealing with on a day-to-day basis,” Coldwell said. “The thing that’s uniquely human is intuition, empathy, and purpose, which we don’t have just by using AI alone.” His organization has developed its own AI model, called Circuit, used by its 20,000 salespeople. “Instead of replacing people, it’s actually helping to skill up our new employees, but also for our existing employees, it’s helping empower them to be better.” Maria-Pia Barbona, VP of HR at Swatch Group, shares that in her previous role at LVMH, her team worked with tools like Yoodli, an AI speaking coach that let salespeople roleplay customer interactions. “You prompt your AI, you go into a FaceTime call with your AI, and there’s a person that you see there and you go in a roleplay,” she said. The platform lets associates practice difficult conversations and refine their techniques to make a sale. Managers were able to log in to see results, which helped them discover trends as to which areas required further training. Panelists spoke about "Accelerating L&D With AI: How to Lead, Adapt, and Keep the Human Touch" Narmi cautions that AI can provide solutions to customer issues, “but it lacks the empathy to understand the applicability of those answers, and you’ll learn that you need to apply your own judgment. The human piece is applying that [artificial] intelligence appropriately under a set of circumstances.” He advises engaging in active dialogue with AI to hone its answers, guiding it with your own human emotion and intuition. “I find it a collaborative process: it learns from me and gets better.”AI works best when it’s breaking down large swaths of information, providing summaries, and giving detailed explanations. Then you need to synthesize all of it in the complex, innovative, and nuanced ways that AI can’t. “I like AI for its immediacy. It gets the hard work out of the way,” Sitomer said. Narmi shares that he has developed a fleet of AI agents through Copilot to help him optimize his performance. “I have an executive assistant. I have an editor. I have a white paper writer.” At Harvard Services Group, Bautista and her team create GPTs that offer a customized learning path for new hires during the first 30, 60, and 90 days of their employment, creating a “learning culture” at the organization that did not previously exist. “We’re taking it to the next level, starting next year, and customizing based on performance conversations with the managers. Where are those skills gaps that this person may have? Do we want to get them to the next level? If so, what are the competencies that they need to have?” she said. Employee retention is the goal. “I think there’s no other way to tell our employees that we care than to tell them we see you. We want to develop you. We want you to grow.”Narmi advises that leaders remember that AI is just a tool; an organization’s biggest asset is still its human workforce. “Recognize that your talent, and the fundamental talent of the people that work for you, is imagination. You need to foster imagination and help people to understand that AI cannot perform that role,” he said. “Let it do the research but let people use their imagination with the AI to expand [their] ideas.” Or, as Coldwell put it, “AI is for speed. People are for direction.” 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 Technology Can Enhance the Full HR Spectrum, from Recruiting to Retirement
BY Katie Chambers December 02, 2025Love it or fear it, AI is here to stay. In implementing AI and other new tech, leaders need to bring along the entire organization and drive a mindset shift, which includes an appreciation of how agentic AI will boost efficiency and productivity. Organizations must also consider the importance of anticipating risks and concerns about bias while utilizing these tools. During a fireside chat at From Day One’s November virtual conference, Kim Shockley, the VP of HR technology & automation at HP, shared how her organization is making the most of emerging technologies. The Evolution of HR TechnologyDuring her 12 years working in HR technology, Shockley has witnessed rapid changes. Most companies had HR solutions “on prem” (meaning on a server on the premises) but now work mostly with cloud-based technologies. “HCM [human capital management] software vendors [have] become the standard, and companies [are] moving to really focus on an implementation of that across all capabilities” she said. “This huge explosion in the HR tech marketplace [is] focused on innovation and delivering best of breed technologies and really encouraging us to think outside of the box of what can I do beyond the standard of HR deliverables.”Many workplace software companies like Workday and Success Factors are acquiring and merging with others to provide all-in-one solutions, she says. “What’s happening now has the potential to leapfrog us and shift us significantly in a different direction, and that we in five years may look completely different than what we look today in our technology environments.” Megan Ulu-Lani Boyanton, business reporter at the Seattle Times, moderated the session with Kim Shockley of HP (photo by From Day One)The myriad of options can be overwhelming, so Shockley advises focusing on impact. Many HR tasks are “foundational [and] transactional, it’s the things that we have to do to help to run the business,” she said, referring to tasks like payroll and PTO. “And then there are other things in a business that HR delivers that have potential to deliver competitive advantage or strategic differentiation. A lot of these are in the talent space. They may be related to your employee value proposition,” she said. This is where technology beyond the core HCM can be beneficial in terms of talent support and development. Implementing Technologies That Promote Growth “Who do we want to be? We want to be an organization where talent is attracted to come to us, and then we are developing them, providing them the tools and opportunities to learn and grow so that they have choices in the future,” Shockley said. HP has implemented a talent intelligence platform that helped it become a skills-first organization and allowed employees to find new roles within the organization based on their skill-set, boosting talent retention. The tech also provides career pathing to help employees see how they can grow within HP. “I may see that I can switch functions where I may not have ever considered that before, because I have the skills to go there,” she said. Mentoring matches and stretch projects have all been optimized with AI technology. The software doesn’t just boost retention. “That same platform serves us on the recruiting side too, and helps us to find the right talent externally. It’s a skills platform. It allows us to find candidates based on AI algorithms and an AI model that does map candidate matching that has been a game changer for us in terms of us finding the right people, finding folks with the right skills, and moving them through the process,” Shockley said. While AI can certainly help HR leaders, they must be sure to use it responsibly, making sure systems “are designed and deployed in a fair, safe, and aligned manner with human values,” Shockley said. “HP as an enterprise has AI governance principles around trust, safety, security, and accountability. We have, on top of that, commitments for our people organization that take that a step further because of our responsibilities.” One of these is “human in the loop,” ensuring that a human is always involved and that AI is not solely making decisions related to humans. HR partners with employment attorneys and compliance departments to understand and define best use, high risk, and forbidden use cases. Encouraging the Mindset ShiftAgentic AI offers opportunities to transform and automate business processes. “I can create an end-to-end workflow that drives more productivity into our processes, for both HR and for our employees and it also can impact the employee experience,” Shockley said. This rapid evolution is both exciting and challenging. “I have to be in the mode of executing, because I can’t wait for everything to be perfect. I need to be moving forward and learning and taking advantage… I have a bigger risk in not acting than in acting today,” she said. The information overload can be significant. Leaders need to encourage teams to be ready for AI, which Shockley calls a “mindset shift.” “With your average person, there’s still a lot of unknowns around AI—a lot of questions, maybe some anxieties and fears,” said moderator Megan Ulu-Lani Boyanton, business reporter at the Seattle Times. Shockley says encouraging experimentation is the best way to get employees comfortable with emerging technologies. “You have to actually put the tools in the hands of your people. It doesn’t have to be complex,” she said. Starting small with simple tools like Microsoft Copilot can help workers understand the value of AI. From there, you can expand into more complex company-wide technologies, like HP’s career mapping tool that lets employees dream and aspire to an exciting future. AI implementation is most effective when approached with purpose and clear intent, Shockley says. “It’s easy to say, ‘That’s cool. I want that.’ But if you start going at it that way, you often don’t get the outcome that you were after because you didn’t really define the outcome. And so, we always come back to, ‘What are we trying to accomplish?’ And let’s start there and then let’s figure out what’s the right technology to deliver on 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.(Photo by Summit Art Creations/Shutterstock)
How Patagonia Became a Global Leader in Doing Well by Doing Good
BY Katie Chambers December 01, 2025Despite his great corporate success, Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard doesn’t have a computer, cell phone, or email address. “[He] is a self-proclaimed dirt bag. He’s a mountaineer. He is most comfortable roaming in the wilds of Patagonia. He does not like to be governed,” said moderator Emma Goldberg, reporter at the New York Times. “So where did his ambition come from?” Goldberg asked David Gelles, reporter at the New York Times, and author of Dirtbag Billionaire: How Yvon Chouinard Built Patagonia, Made a Fortune, and Gave It All Away. Gelles and Goldberg spoke during a fireside chat at From Day One’s Midtown Manhattan conference.Turning Rock Climbing into Business Don’t let the title of the book fool you: “In the rock-climbing community from which he came, ‘dirtbag’ is actually the highest compliment. It refers to someone who’s so un-enamored with materialism that he’s literally content to sleep in the dirt if it means he’s that much closer to his next adventure, to his next climb,” Gelles said. What offends Chouinard is the other half of the book’s title: billionaire. “Ambition is a word that I think he has a very fraught relationship with. It’s important to know that he never set out to build a big company. It sort of happened by accident, and he had to make peace with it along the way,” Gelles said. His ambitions were to be away from people. “He did everything in his power to be in nature, to be rock climbing and fishing, and those are the places where he drew his product inspiration.”Gelles notes that Chouinard’s business is built upon paradoxes: a desire to protect the planet while leaving a significant carbon footprint due to the production of its products; an instinct to protect employees while never letting them hold equity; a hope to reduce mindless consumption while becoming a brilliant force for viral marketing. As his company grew into a multi 100-million-dollar business, Chouinard felt a responsibility to take care of his thousands of employees, says Gelles. “Patagonia only had one round of real mass layoffs in its career, and it was such a traumatizing experience to Chouinard and his family that they never wanted it to ever happen again” he said. “As a result, the company kept getting bigger by virtue of just the momentum.” Patagonia’s Corporate Values One of Patagonia’s keys to success is in its corporate values, which came naturally to Chouinard. “From a very early moment in his life and business career, Chouinard and his team understood what they cared about, and those things were very simple,” Gelles said. “They wanted to run a responsible business. They wanted to use their profits to preserve the natural environment, and that meant large-scale land conservation. They wanted to fund grassroots environmental activists. And they wanted to run a sort of company that they would want to work at.” This consistency is what helped instill Patagonia at top-of-mind among its competitors. “The reason Patagonia, although it’s a relatively small company, has such an outsized brand impact, such a big place in our collective imaginations, is because they kept doing the work. They kept coming back to those same values, and the values never changed.” David Gelles, author of Dirtbag Billionaire, was interviewed by Emma Goldberg, reporter at the New York TimesEven in times of political strife, Patagonia doubles down. “In 2017, Patagonia led a lawsuit against the Trump administration over its efforts to reduce the size of national monuments. At that moment, it went black on all its websites and put up a new image that said, ‘the President stole your land.’” Chouinard even appeared on CNN to decry the administration. Its resistance continues to this day, as current CEO Ryan Gellert calls out other corporations for bending the knee. “Patagonia has never been afraid to be political, and at this moment, continues to speak out when almost every other brand has gone silent,” Gelles said. They have the power to do this because the company is privately held and insulated from the pressure of a board of public shareholders. Of course, nothing is perfect. “The company scaled, and they toggled back and forth between the success of the business, the desire for quality products, and the desire to manage the growth. [There] were the moments where that balance went astray,” Goldberg said. Gelles says that while the title of Chouinard’s own book is “Let My People Go Surfing,” and the Ventura campus has showers and flexible hours for that very purpose, “Patagonia employees work really, really hard, and it is at times a very demanding and cutthroat place to work.”Chouinard experienced a crisis of conscience after being named to the Forbes list in 2017, and renounced his ownership of the company in 2022. “But in doing so, he made a very deliberate choice not to share the wealth with his employees. These are some people who had worked there for 50 years at that point. And when you think about his priorities, I would argue that the well-being of his employees is a part of a matrix, but it is not the primary goal for that company or this manager.” The Future of PatagoniaGoldberg posits whether the recent election of incumbent NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani, a Democratic Socialist, can be seen as commentary on the next generation’s distrust of big business. “No,” Gelles said. “I know plenty of old people who are still optimistic and are still working hard to figure out how business can be a force for good. I also know tons of young amoral finance bros. So, no, I don’t think there's a generational divide. I think there’s a spiritual divide.” He notes that in an interview with the Financial Times, Mamdani counted Chouinard among the top of the list of business leaders who had earned his respect. Gelles hesitates to name which executives might become the next Yvon Chouinard. “Chouinard lived a singular life, and Patagonia is a singular company,” he said. “What I can say is that I see a lot of people wanting to be like Yvon Chouinard and Patagonia and realizing how hard it is. What Chouinard told me over and over again is that the moment you have external shareholders, the moment you take VC money or private equity money, or you go public, you are going to have a really hard time making good on your values, which is why, despite having the opportunity over and over and over to take outside capital, he always resisted it.” Now Chouinard, aged 87, is looking to the future. “He understands that Patagonia has served as a symbol for what the business community can do, and the potential that I think is inherent in capitalism as being a possible force for good. And at the end of the day, because he had such high standards, he is also at a very deep level dissatisfied, which is why he’s still pushing Patagonia to do the work.”He made waves when he announced his succession plan in 2022: the organization will remain for-profit, but its dividends will be donated to protect the planet. Per the company’s website: “Earth is now our only shareholder.” Gelles hopes other business owners will take note of Chouinard’s selflessness. “There are plenty of other philanthropic business leaders, and I think we’ll see more of them in the years ahead.” 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)
Beyond ‘Thank You’: How Recognizing Small Wins Transforms Culture and Engagement
BY Katie Chambers November 18, 2025“Has anyone ever been visited by the Sunday scaries?” asked Brie Harvey, head of market research for Achievers Workforce Institute. Yes, indeed, responded many in her audience. Many workers feel burned out, overworked, and underappreciated. Fortunately, employers have an opportunity to transform their culture through impactful employee-rewards strategy, Harvey said during a thought leadership spotlight at From Day One’s Boston conference. Despite employers spending nearly $200 billion annually on rewards and recognition, less than half of employees feel valued at work. Harvey shared insights from the Achievers’ 2025 State of Recognition Report, exploring the evolving landscape of employee rewards, and uncovered the most common reasons why many well-intended investments in traditional rewards programs fall flat and fail to drive cultural and behavioral outcomes.Harvey’s team conducts primary research around workforce trends and how organizations can build people centric high performing cultures. Employees in today’s market tend to move jobs often, Harvey says, joking that her own impending 10-year work anniversary is “the modern equivalent of 30.” Keeping employees engaged and valued is key to keeping them. “When employees feel appreciated for their unique contributions, it’s transformative, not just for the business, but for the overall quality of people’s lives,” Harvey said. Achievers Workforce Institute’s study found that employees who feel valued are nine times more likely to feel a sense of belonging, six times more likely to envision a long-term future with their company, and three times more likely to be engaged.Recognizing employees is the simplest way to improve employee engagement. While four out of 10 HR leaders claim that recognition has impacted strategic outcomes, Harvey says, 77% of employees still don’t feel meaningfully appreciated, even those who work at an organization with formal recognition programs. Harvey and her team have developed a checklist of qualities of the most impactful recognition programs: High recognition quality + quantityMeasure business impact strategicallyProvide personalized rewards at scaleStrong executive buy-in and participation Continuous education and promotionLeader and manager empowerment Designate program championsWidespread access“When things fall flat, which sometimes they do, we can pretty much always trace it back to missed opportunities from this list,” Harvey said.High Recognition Quality and QuantityHarvey emphasizes the importance in leaders understanding the difference between praise and recognition. “Praise is a vague pat on the back that doesn’t leave people with an understanding of what they did that was good and literally no one wants more praise…not even Gen Z! Recognition, on the other hand, should contain detailed information about exactly what a person did and why that behavior matters to the bigger picture,” Harvey said. “When employees say they want more feedback, most of the time, they mean they want more clarity about whether the work they’re doing is correct and matters on some level.”Brie Harvey, head of market research for Achievers Workforce Institute, Achievers, led the thought leadership spotlight on effective recognition Having a sense of progress fuels motivation and feelings of pride, joy, and confidence. “Recognition shouldn’t be reserved for big milestones and outcomes. It should be about noticing meaningful effort and celebrating the small wins that lead to big outcomes,” she said. “Specificity is key.” In terms of quantity, “nothing in life works without consistent effort over time,” Harvey said, recognition included. Achievers found that recognition must be received at least monthly to be impactful. To reach optimal frequency, Harvey suggests encouraging peer-to-peer recognition, promoting meaningful non-monetary recognition, and fostering a rewards agnostic culture. “Leaders and managers can’t do it alone. Organizations have to enlist the help of frontline employees to call out the good work they see being done around them.” And the numbers don’t lie: Employees who receive monthly peer recognition are twice as likely to feel a sense of belonging, and engagement increases by 43% when employees receive just one non-monetary recognition per month, says Harvey. While pay raises are important, 75% of employees say they would pick feeling valued over a bump in compensation.Meaningful Rewards Lead to Positive Business and Personal Impact Achievers’ own rewards program is a prime example of meaningful rewards, says Harvey. In addition to frequent recognition, the company provides points for new hire referrals, completing wellness challenges, and participating in training and development, then allows employees to spend their points, often worth thousands of dollars when accrued, in a digital catalogue featuring a myriad of products.Employees are empowered to choose whatever reward is uniquely meaningful to them. For example, Harvey once used her points to cover the cost of her hair and makeup, dress alterations, jewelry, additional attire, and photographer at her wedding. She shares that another worker used the program to adopt a French Bulldog. In other words, a reward should feel like a reward to you. Achievers’ research shows that employees with expansive rewards options are 70% more likely to recommend their employer as a great place to work, 75% more likely to feel productive, and 120% more likely to feel a strong sense of belonging at their organization. The rewards are the “delivery mechanism,” Harvey says, for a culture of appreciation. Along the way, it’s important to keep tabs and measure the impact of your rewards program to gauge its effectiveness and adjust as needed. “How you measure success should evolve along with your business needs and priorities,” Harvey said. Once a rewards program is ingrained in your culture, she says, you can start to home in on how it’s impacting business outcomes.Harvey highlights two tips for measuring the impact of recognition: isolating variables to move beyond simple correlations and focusing on metrics that matter to stakeholders beyond HR.These factors are crucial to attaining stakeholder support and future budget for rewards. “Mislabeling the tool of recognition as a nice-to-have vitamin instead of a performance-enhancing steroid is enormously costly to not just the bottom line, but overall employee well-being,” Harvey said. To demonstrate the potential highly personal impact of rewards on employee well-being, Harvey shares that she also used her own company rewards points to fund her final vacation and time spent with her late husband, who passed away from glioblastoma. “Shortly after my husband’s first surgery, he insisted on trying to find me the perfect bike upgrade so we could pack in as many adventures as we could for as long as we could. I used my points to get a bike, and we were able to log hundreds of miles all over California before our time together had to come to an end,” Harvey said. “Every time I see this bike, I think about not just my husband’s resilience, but how grateful I am to work at a place where I feel so valued and meaningfully rewarded.” Editor’s note: From Day One thanks our partner, Achievers, for sponsoring this thought leadership spotlight. 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)
Gen Z on the Rise: Engaging and Retaining Talent for Long-Term Success
BY Katie Chambers November 17, 2025When you think of a Gen Z employee, what do you envision? For some, said moderator Katie Johnston, reporter at the Boston Globe, there are positive stories: “They are good at technology, and they love to learn, and they emphasize work-life balance, which is good for everybody in the workplace.” But there are some negative stories too: job applicants who won’t return calls, candidates who ghost interview appointments, a disregard for return-to-work policies, or even new hires who don’t come to their first day of work. How can leaders support this generation, cultivate their skills, understand and embrace their differences, and set them up for success? Leaders, including moderator Johnston of the Boston Globe, spoke during a panel discussion at From Day One’s Boston conference to address the topic. Guiding the Youngest GenerationPanelists share that Gen Z workers are some of the most empathetic and innovative they have encountered. Parker Pell, co-founder of Abode, says that it was a Gen Z intern at Spotify who created the platform’s viral sensation “Spotify Wrapped.” Cheri Hurtubise, head of university & diversity recruiting, Americas & talent acquisition manager at Siemens Healthineers says she enjoys mentoring this generation of workers. “Opportunities for coaching abound, but it's a really great population to work with,” she said. Some of those opportunities include, for example, teaching basic phone etiquette that came more naturally to older generations, says Diana Frascella, VP of talent acquisition at DraftKings. Many of Gen Z’s challenges, Johnston says, stem from the pandemic, which caused many of them to miss out on formative in-person social and professional growth opportunities at school or work. This can be mitigated through better onboarding training among managers. Panelists shared their insights on supporting Gen Z in the workforce Leaders should not assume new hires will know how to dress for the office or communicate appropriately over Slack, email, or Zoom, says Frascella. “This is also a generation, more so than others, that really craves feedback,” Frascella said. “That’s a nice way for managers to be able to reinforce the positive behaviors that we need to see at work, or also sharing, ‘This is not acceptable,’ or, ‘Here's how you could have done it better.’ We can’t hold people accountable for things we are not telling them.”Gen Z craves stability, says Hurtubise, but due to a disrupted pandemic upbringing and the 9% unemployment rate among 18 to 23-year-olds, they are reluctant to trust established structures.They crave face-to-face interaction, even though they don’t always know how to navigate it. Hurtubise suggests mentoring and educating young employees on the context behind their work, to give them a sense of purpose and avoid boredom while doing entry level work. “Focus on skills and competencies. What is it that you’re learning? What are the things you’re contributing to? They are a purpose-driven generation. If you show them a path that has purpose, they will engage with your company a lot longer.” Pell’s organization found in a survey of employees, only 3% of young new hires shared that they felt like they had been “overcommunicated with” by leaders. “They want more and more communication,” he said. “I think having multiple mediums with which you share this information is of utmost importance.”A New Definition of Achievement Gen Z’s desire for long-term career growth can be paired with rewards and recognition programs, says Erika Marder, head of global R&D HR at Takeda. The organization has a talent marketplace that offers not only new internal role opportunities but also stretch projects. “Maybe they want to sample something and get some new experiences and get some achievement from that without making maybe a full commitment, or they want to look for a new opportunity. That’s one way that we promote learning,” she said. And since Gen Z is so purpose-driven, Takeda allows employees to put their rewards points toward charitable giving in addition to traditional swag prizes. Siemens Healthineers also offers “micro-credentials” for entry-level employees, says Hurtubise. For example, interns get a certificate upon completion of their graduation, which she notes is especially valued by international workers. And because Gen Z is more hesitant when networking than previous generations, the company also offers more structured connection opportunities through employee resource groups (ERGs). In terms of compensation, Edward Zaval, chief customer officer at DailyPay, says Gen Z’s expenses don’t align with traditional pay cycles. “There’s a fundamental disconnect between the way Gen Z lives their lives and how they’re paid. They have this on-demand world, yet their payroll is stuck on this archaic two-week cycle,” Zaval said. “The other thing is that they are more likely not to want to delay experiences. When my kids decide today, on Tuesday, that they want to go to a concert this weekend, they’re going to go,” he said.The gig economy is an extension of this. “Employers, take note: Your Gen Z employees have a side hustle,” Zaval said. “They are getting paid daily. [Then] they’re taking that expectation and they’re carrying it over into the general workforce.” Through independent surveys, Zaval has found that one third of Gen Z employees would consider leaving their current position in favor of flexibility or getting paid more frequently. Financial instability is impacting most generations in the workforce, but Gen Z is feeling it most acutely. “We want to take them on a journey that begins with, for example, on-demand pay or earned wage access, where we give them no-fee options to help them avoid late payment, penalties, [and] interest,” said Zaval. From there, provide education on cash flow management, savings, credit cards, retirement saving, and even health insurance, since many are still on their parents’ plans until age 26. This should be paired, Hurtubise says, with transparency on compensation and promotion opportunity timelines, so that young employees can realistically envision and plan for their future. The Culture of the Future“This generation, even more so than others, really cares about what their company stands for,” Frascella said. Gen Z employees show up to work as their full selves, and expect their company to be transparent in its identity in return. She suggests amplifying executive thought leadership, making statements on current events, and being transparent about corporate social responsibility as ways to better engage with younger workers. This can also mean giving workers a say in how they give back. “We allow our employees to vote for the charities that we’re going to support worldwide, and we have huge participation,” Marder said. “[And] we allow volunteer time off [and] have a very robust matching program.” Your interactions with, plans for, and opportunities to collaborate with Gen Z should all consider this generation’s unique perspective, technological prowess, and disrupted upbringing. “They have long-term visions and goals too,” Pell said. “Their whole life has been unstable. I think it’s a misnomer to think that they’re just thinking about short-term wins and short-term benefits and short-term successes. They’re really looking at what stability could look like at your organization.”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)
Building a Borderless Workforce With Creativity, Culture, and AI
BY Katie Chambers November 11, 2025Marketing and advertising firm Ogilvy is careful never to refer to itself as a “legacy” organization, despite its storied history. “It feels a little stodgy,” Maria O'Keeffe, global chief people officer, Ogilvy, said during a fireside chat at From Day One’s October virtual conference. “We are a founder culture. There was one individual [David Ogilvy] who created Ogilvy. We believe in being a legendary brand.” The organization’s legendary status is rooted in its work's ability to transcend geography and culture. And it does this not only through its products, but within its corporate culture as well. During the session moderated by Nicole Smith, editorial audience director at Harvard Business Review, O’Keeffe shared how the firm builds a borderless workforce by integrating talent across regions while honoring local identities. Borderless Creativity Ogilvy’s workforce is spread across 120 offices in 90 countries, with major clients including the Coca-Cola Company, IBM, Nestle, Unilever, and PWC, to name just a few. “We have breadth and depth pretty much in every corner of the world that you can possibly imagine,” O’Keeffe said.The organization’s “borderless creativity”" approach shapes its business. “It defines both how we work and what our end product should look like,” she said. The client’s ad campaign is always the priority, then internal talent is matched to it regardless of their location. And the end product is just as “borderless” as the talent that creates it. “We want to ensure that our campaigns are multifaceted and not single output, so they can be interpreted culturally very differently from market to market,” O’Keeffe said. Nicole Smith of Harvard Business Review interviewed Maria O'Keeffe of Ogilvy during the fireside chat (photo by From Day One)One of Ogilvy’s most iconic examples of this approach, O’Keeffe says, is its work for longtime global client Dove. Ogilvy’s “borderless creativity” has kept Dove’s “Real Beauty” campaign alive and relevant for decades across diverse markets. For example, Ogilvy is helping Dove get the Crown Act passed in the United States, to help combat racial discrimination against Black women in the workplace due to cultural hair styles. Meanwhile in London, Ogilvy and Dove launched the “Turn Your Back” campaign, encouraging young women not to use filters on social media to alter their true appearance, but instead to turn their back to the camera. While the elements of both campaigns are country-specific, the themes and goals are universal. “Those are examples of [how] we try to find the issue in the local market and then create a campaign that can be borderless and applicable across the board,” O’Keeffe said. Building Culture Across BordersDespite its global spread, Ogilvy maintains a cohesive culture among all its employees from the moment they join the team. “Every single new employee goes through a global onboarding that is consistent in every market. We have it translated into multiple languages to make it something that people truly understand,” O’Keeffe said. “Our values are global, and we don’t deviate from those values. Those are disseminated, they’re on walls, they’re on documents, they’re in communications.” But the organization also recognizes that naturally, there will be cultural differences from office to office and country to country, and that diversity should be embraced. “There’s certain tenets of the agency, like borderless creativity, that drill down into every single employee's experience,” she said. “But from there, we recognize that every region and every market has different cultures, and so we rely upon the leaders and team members in those markets to create a culture that is complementary to the global one, but very personal to the local one.” This is accomplished by having the company’s inclusion and impact teams create employee resources groups that respect the needs of each market. “Our expectation is that we meet people where they are through local leadership and regional leadership.” Technology is the key to building this culture quickly and effectively, O’Keeffe says. Ogilvy broadcasts local, regional, and global town halls to encourage ongoing and open communications that feel “conversational.” Employee surveys can help drive data, but rather than a cold email detailing the results, O’Keeffe and her team will create a video sharing the stats to make it more personal. Quick and efficient communications have also been integral in tackling recent political turmoil that can affect employees. The changes to H1B visas, which now cost $100K as opposed to the previous cost of just a few thousand dollars, “impact the decisions that you make around your workforce globally [including] talent acquisition and workforce planning,” said Smith. For HR, O’Keeffe says, knowledge is power. Stay on top of the latest news, find out how other organizations are navigating the changes, and rely on partnerships with governments and agencies to help you understand best practices. Tackling Changing TechnologiesAdvancements in AI are changing the way employees do business at Ogilvy. But it’s also inspiring some trepidation in workers who fear being replaced by machines. O’Keeffe and her team have stayed on top of the messaging and encouraged early adoption. “We pride ourselves on the human brain, and the creative product that comes out of that,” she said. Employees are encouraged to use Ogilvy’s proprietary AI tool WPP Open each day. “It gives us AI as a creative partner. It helps us mock-up ideas quickly,” she said. AI can also provide feedback on cultural nuance, letting employees know whether an idea that works in one region could have a negative connotation in another. And workers in administrative roles use AI to create outlines and summarize meetings, saving them time and boosting efficiency. Organizations must embrace AI to stay relevant, O’Keeffe says. “I don’t know a company that will survive without doing that.” AI adoption hasn’t been formally written into the organization’s strategy and KPI’s yet, she says, because “we wanted it to be a voluntary, comfortable, safe space for people.” For now, Ogilvy is monitoring AI usage on employee laptops to better understand how it’s used, whether it’s effective, and if additional training is needed. O’Keeffe says Ogilvy embraces a notion of “divine discontent.” “We never want to be too comfortable. This is an industry that is made up of diverse perspectives and diverse ideas, and so ‘divine discontent’ for us means hearing different perspectives in uncomfortable ways. We debate and we disagree and we poke holes in the work deliberately, because it’s important that the work that we do is culturally relevant,” she said. All of this comes down to a willingness to learn and grow, which has been a core tenet of O’Keeffe’s own career. She encourages anyone working in HR who wants to move into a global position to adopt an inquisitive attitude. Earlier in her career, she actively sought out opportunities that allowed her to travel and meet workers from around the world, far outside her home base of Chicago, and has now been in global leadership positions for nearly 10 years. “You have to be curious. You have to be open to new experiences, new ways of doing things, new points of view,” she said. “Listen. Ask a lot of questions. Be uncomfortable. Raise your hand for the things that you’ve never done before with people you’ve never done it with.”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 Noko LTD/iStock)
Guiding Employees Through the Formidable Journey of AI Transformation
BY Katie Chambers November 06, 2025We’ve all had the thought: will AI replace us? With all the tempting talk of artificial intelligence’s speed, efficiency, and optimization comes the concern that it will also take away the livelihoods of human workers. But is that trepidation well-founded? The arrival of AI has inspired a mix of excitement and fear among workers, which calls for HR professionals to lead them in an unflinching and transparent way. During a fireside chat at From Day One’s Philadelphia conference, Sean Woodroffe, EVP and chief people, culture & communications officer for Lincoln Financial, shared how he has taken a spirited and confident approach to the transformation. The Role of AI in the Workplace“When you think about AI and HR, for some people, that may not seem a natural synergy, because a lot of people tend to think of it from the perspective of technology. But AI is really about transforming the workforce,” Woodroffe said. He thinks of AI in three ways:It’s changing the way we work.It can augment current workflows to make us more efficient.With its ability to extract efficiencies, it could thereby shrink the workforce.It’s that third point that scares people the most. “People are naturally worried about the impact that AI will have on the workforce in terms of job losses,” Woodroffe said. “Worry less about how AI might impact your job. The person that is adopting, leaning into, and embracing AI will always be better off than the person that's not doing it.”Pathways Toward Effective AI AdoptionRather than thinking of AI as a “job eliminator,” suggests moderator Earl Hopkins, arts & culture reporter at The Philadelphia Inquirer, leaders should focus on workforce skill building to help them embrace the tools it offers. “The opportunities for roles to be far more efficient than they were previously is infinite with possibilities,” Woodroffe said. Lincoln Financial has rolled out Microsoft Copilot for all of its employees and followed up with training through an organization called AI Mindset.HR professionals themselves can benefit from AI tools as well. “When you think about the roles that we do from an HR perspective, much of which is providing advice and counsel, much of which is consultative in nature, the ability to effectively use AI to make our roles easy and augment what we do is what we should be thinking about,” Woodroffe said. HR professionals should get familiar and competent with using AI “because we’re the ones that are being relied upon to help coach the organization in terms of adoption.” Earl Hopkins, arts & culture reporter at the Philadelphia Inquirer interviewed Sean Woodroffe of Lincoln Financial Within his own HR work, Woodroffe says he uses AI to help him write job descriptions, prepare for talent acquisition interviews, and research compensation among competitors. He will take a candidate’s resume and job description and ask the large language model (LLM) to prepare him for a 50-minute interview. “If when you look at the job description and you look at the person’s resume, what are some gaps that might appear and what questions should I ask to discern whether those are actually gaps or not?” Education will become increasingly essential as technology continues to rapidly evolve. “I don’t think we have the full capacity now to appreciate what AI would look like even six months from now or a year from now. So, what’s important is that we open our aperture around the possibilities, and as the tools get enhanced, we spend a lot of time learning and embracing it. If you think about it, two or three years ago, we couldn’t fathom where we are today,” Woodroffe said. Installing the Guardrails“A big element within the HR industry is maintaining the human voice and ensuring certain information isn’t spilled out and made public that shouldn’t,” Hopkins said. So, how should HR leaders approach AI implementation in a way that guarantees safety and confidentiality? “It has to be used in an environment that is secure,” Woodroffe said.Another issue is AI “hallucinations,” or the information that LLMs provide that is sometimes completely inaccurate and essentially “imagined” by the program. Woodroffe advises all to be on the lookout for these, and to be detail-oriented and mindful when crafting prompts. “There [are] a lot of things that are unknown, so we have to be careful and thoughtful and make sure that we’re really using it in the right way.”One sticking point is remembering that AI is meant to augment, not replace. “If I wanted to become a molecular biologist tomorrow, there’s no amount of AI that's going to help me do that,” Woodroffe said. “But if I wanted to learn about a new aspect of talent management, AI will help me, because I [already] have a basic, fundamental appreciation for talent management as a practice. So, the point is: expertise still very much matters.” Woodroffe cautions “to be careful not to use AI as Google. We have to almost un-train our minds as to how we typically search for information. When you’re using Google, you might be asking for something specific, but when you’re using AI, you’re looking for reasoning. So, I think of it as sort of a first-year college analyst that I can ask things and [who can] get things done.” Going forward, Woodroffe will aim to hire candidates who are at the very least open to implementing AI in their work. “The burden is really on our shoulders to ensure that the adoption is done in a thoughtful, methodical way,” he said. “So, if you don't have at least curiosity, that’s a problem.” 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 an Iconic Brand Creates Employee Resilience for the Future
BY Katie Chambers October 17, 2025Artificial intelligence. Covid. Civil unrest. Political strife. Cultural reckoning. Environmental disaster. All of these upsets can be associated with just the last five years alone. With so much anxiety and uncertainty, how can organizational leaders help their employees cope? Since stressful disruptions seem to come along every day, Levi Strauss & Co. is taking a proactive approach to building employee resilience. That means preparing its workers for business transformations like AI, but also focusing on the many aspects of wellness: physical, mental, and financial.During a fireside chat at From Day One’s San Francisco conference, Bernard Bedon, EVP and CHRO of the beloved 172-year-old brand discussed how the company stays true to its values of belonging and cultural intelligence, while also maintaining its sense of purpose and commitment to social impact.How to Build a Resilient CultureLevi Strauss & Co. uses its Seen & Heard program to help employees develop cultural competence, says Bedon. This simulcast hybrid conference broadcasts live events from its Singapore, Brussels, and San Francisco headquarters. “For us, it’s a way to tie our entire population together around critical areas that we think are going to help the culture as well as the performance of the organization,” Bedon said. Having these international programs encourages employees to be curious about other cultures and how that knowledge can help them anticipate different dynamics and drive solutions. These honest conversations are important to building resilience in fraught times. “These disruptions that we’re seeing, whether they’re technological, political, you name it, have really broad impact,” said moderator Michal Lev-Ram, contributing editor for Fortune and contributor at CNBC. Bedon says HR can no longer be reactive: “Let’s not just catch people when they fall, which has been the traditional way that HR shows up.” Instead, HR needs to take an active approach to understanding how disruptors are impacting people’s lives, and build a culture to help them work through them before something occurs.Bernard Bedon, EVP and CHRO of Levi Strauss & Company, spoke with journalist Michal Lev-RamThis became particularly pertinent during Covid, when the disruptions just kept coming, from the pandemic itself closing the organization’s physical stores, to the murder of George Floyd, political unrest, California wildfires, and a general lack of faith in institutions. “I said, ‘We can’t respond and catch each of those things. So how do we then help people to catch and respond and participate in how they build up their ability?’” Bedon said. HR’s goal should be to help employees thrive, he says, building resilience through “financial well-being, physical well-being, and mental well-being…with the types of programs and culture that make sense.” That could mean normalizing seeking mental health support by actively advertising those benefits before they’re needed, or encouraging the use of long-term financial savings tools. Benefits should be approached with intention, he says, targeting the right types of options for various employee “personas,” such as early career, the sandwich generation, or those nearing retirement age. Building Upon BelongingBelonging is a key component of Levi’s core values, both with its customers and its staff. “We’ve applied it to how we look at our consumers, and some of our products are the direct result of getting that consumer input,” Bedon said. “The same thing happens with the programs that we have internally from a health and welfare perspective, education, manager training, and leadership. That is the way we get the best outcome and let everyone know their voice matters, and it’s going to drive us all forward.” Organizations should not see DEI as a detriment. “It is not to divide people. Who would say, ‘I don’t want to be included’? We think everyone does, so we try to find a way to get that information to make it better for everybody,” Bedon said. “I remember this conversation 30 years ago, this ‘diversity vs. meritocracy’ split. It was a false dichotomy, but if you buy into it, then you go down the wrong path. And so, for us, it’s: how do you follow the evolution of what’s necessary to do the right work, to get as many people involved as possible?”It can be tricky to create a sense of belonging when the nature of work has changed. “I think part [of it] is going to be listening. Picking up on the signals: What are people divided about? What are people looking for? What’s missing?” Bedon said. HR will also need to stay abreast of how work itself and the subsequent necessary skill sets change, especially those tied to emerging technologies. “Skill-building is a way to build resilience as well. Suppose people feel left behind by advances, left behind by technology, left behind by information. In that case, the resistance comes, and the bitterness comes, and the fear comes,” Bedon said. When it comes to AI, Bedon finds many employees “want help getting started” and have a fear of failure. Both can be mitigated through structured development plans and mentorship opportunities that leave them feeling empowered rather than threatened. A sense of ownership, Bedon says, gives workers the confidence to try new things. “One of the big takeaways: help employees participate in the solution.” 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 David Coe for From Day One)
Inclusive Career Growth: Using Data and Innovation to Empower Today’s Workforce
BY Katie Chambers October 16, 2025Career growth isn’t what it used to be. The classic climb up the ladder has given way to a more dynamic journey, one that might zigzag through different roles, take a lateral turn, or even involve a strategic step back before leaping forward. Today’s employees aren’t just chasing titles. They’re seeking meaningful, personalized development that gives them room to grow with confidence, even when the future feels uncertain. During an executive panel discussion at From Day One’s Austin conference, leaders shared insights around inclusive and innovative career growth. The Importance of Versatility and Advocacy Much of modern career growth can be driven by the individual, with employer support, of course. To encourage employees to develop their versatility and curiosity, Google offers what it calls “20% projects,” allowing workers to spend 20% of their time on something outside of the scope of their role. Joe Davis, head of innovation, development platforms and learning ecosystem for Google.org, Google, benefited from this opportunity. “I went from an operations role in a policy department to suddenly becoming a marketing manager, overseeing three people and a whole global product. Now I’m in a corporate philanthropy arm,” he said. “The lesson here is leaning in, being curious, and figuring it out. Now after 11 years, I’ve got such a wide set of skills.” Carly Brunner, head of learning and development at Cloudflare, encourages employees to get invested in the company’s growth and development, becoming advocates for the organization and for each other while building their own skills and engagement in the process. “We say this a lot to our new hires: ‘If you see something, say something,’ like [in] the New York City subway. We find those that are the most successful at Cloudflare are those that [when they] see something wrong–and it doesn’t matter if it’s within their role or not–they’re going to step in and help,” Brunner said. Employees are also encouraged to advocate for themselves by asking for feedback, which is made available at any time through the organization’s HRIS, not just during review periods. If they don’t know what to ask, that’s just fine, as the company provides a template of questions if an employee can’t think of their own. This way, feedback becomes part of the company’s “employee driven, manager facilitated tools and resources to drive your own growth” Brunner said. Having an individualistic mindset within a team environment, says Ayesha Sattaur, SVP, HR at RWE, is not a bad thing. “[The company is] not anyone’s family. If anything, it’s more like a sports team. Everyone has a role on that team,” she said. “It’s important for people go in with the mindset that, ‘This is what I want to do, and if it’s not working out for me at this company, then it might work out for me at another company.’” A Pathway for Advancement“Every team needs a good team culture,” said moderator Cory Mose, sports reporter and anchor at KVUE. Having a clear roadmap for advancement within the organization can keep employees engaged, motivated, and focused on personal development. “Transparency is the key,” Sattaur said, noting organizations should have clear tracks with stated skills and competencies. Additionally, providing flexibility for employees to advance into different departments internally can boost retention.Organizations that make this information readily available will see greater trust in leadership and better morale among workers, says Patrick McNiel, principal business consultant at Affirmity. That’s because transparency engenders psychological safety. Panelists spoke about "Inclusive Career Growth: Using Data and Innovation to Empower Today’s Workforce"“There has to be that culture where employees feel safe to ask questions, to engage in difficult conversations, [and] to be allowed to make mistakes,” said James Billings, Ph.D., vice provost, academic affairs at National University. Leaders are the ones who should model that behavior, owning up to their mistakes and demonstrating accountability. And employees should be encouraged to recognize one another’s accomplishments. While self-advocacy is crucial, sometimes employees might not be aware of their own latent talents; that’s when managers need to step in. “Your managers have to understand what skills are needed in the organization. That has to be broadcast to the managers [with] programs in place to help them understand,” McNiel said. Managers should be trained how to recognize skill potential in employees and push them to thrive. “It needs to be embedded in the culture for them to be able to do that effectively. A lot of it has to do with skilling up the leadership on how to approach employees and engage with them so that they'll talk to you, so that you can probe and figure out where their edges are, where their gaps are,” he said. Relying on the job description is not enough, Sattaur says. Talking to your employees can help you learn about their skills, plans, and dreams for the future, and how that might align with the organization’s goals. Job advancement can be based in part on this qualitative input from managers, Brunner says, but should also be driven by data derived from quantitative skills assessments and analysis of aggregated feedback. For those employees who might be struggling with next steps, mentorship can offer further engagement and growth, Billings says, encouraging employees to think not only about vertical but lateral moves to find the next right fit. “It can’t just be your next role; it has to be your next skill,” Brunner said. “That is so often where employees get stuck: if it feels like, ‘You’re talking to me about promotion, that’s the next step, but I don’t have control over that as an employee.’”Skill-Building in the AI AgeIn terms of what skills and roles employees should prepare for, with the advent of AI, they should be focused on “human-centric tasks,” Sattaur said. “A lot of automated, repetitive tasks, like reporting, can be done now by AI.” And that’s not a bad thing. Accessible AI tools like ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot, and Gemini can level the playing field for employees, helping them learn faster and accomplish tasks more quickly. Sattaur encourages companies to engage in continuous upskilling as the technology changes rapidly. “For HR, it’s about making sure that you use it for inclusive growth, making sure that all of your employees have access to the same types of learning,” she said. While professional development programs using tools like LinkedIn Learning or Google certificates should be created with an eye toward organizational goals, leaders should not ignore employee desires, Billings says. Employees will feel more engaged with an organization that cares about their personal development. “Having a balance is important,” he said. Workshops alone are not the answer, Brunner said. They should be paired with feedback, cross-functional connection, mentorship, and stretch projects. Let learning and psychological safety for growth become part of the fabric of your organization, Billings says. “We as leaders need to make it part of the ongoing culture and organization so [employees] have the opportunity to engage those conversations.”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)
Building a Bigger Whataburger: Scaling Up by Investing in New Managers
BY Katie Chambers October 14, 2025“Like to make people smile?” That’s the question that opens every job listing for Whataburger. And it’s that sweet, customer-forward sensibility that drives the organization’s HR strategy.The popular, Texas-based chain is on the move, which calls for consistent training among its more than 50,000 workers to develop new leaders. The result is greater employee satisfaction and retention, while enabling the company to expand to more than 1,100 restaurants.Whataburger is growing, opening between 50-75 locations per year. Peggy Rubenzer, the company’s chief people officer, shared during a fireside chat at From Day One’s Austin conference, that over the next five years, the organization anticipates hiring 8,300 managers and leaders across the brand. Because the locations are primarily company-owned with only a few franchises, most of the hiring and corporate development is “focused on scaling our culture. My belief is every single person you hire should concentrate your culture, not never dilute it,” Rubenzer said. Employees at Whataburger are known as “family members.” Rubenzer and her team want to make sure they are hiring people who are the right fit for the company’s warm, welcoming culture. “You don’t just open your door at your home for anybody who comes knocking, right?” she said. Their hiring strategy is focused on “filling the benches” of future leaders, with the hope that entry level workers will move up the ladder into managerial roles. “We have to build benches in order for our brand to be scalable,” she said. Local leaders, who do the bulk of frontline talent acquisition, are encouraged to hire with intention, not just to “fill shoes.”Whataburger’s HR ethos is built around “the family member journey,” Rubenzer said. “We select you, welcome you, train you, develop you, support you, and thank you. And all those things circle around the center, which we call ‘the heart’ of our family member journey: engagement. Every person on my team participates in one or more of those parts of the family member journey, and our goal is to ensure that every piece of that journey is welcoming, inviting, and directed to that person’s growth.”Cultivating a Strong Frontline “What we’re looking for is resilience, someone who’s a team player, someone who gets a kick out of making somebody else’s day. In fact, our mission is to make everyone’s day a little better,” Rubenzer said. This incremental approach (“a little better”) is deliberate–and attainable. Workers that enjoy making customers happy will in turn feel more engaged and satisfied when they are successful. Peggy Rubenzer, Whataburger’s SVP and chief people officer, spoke with Ross McCammon, the editor-in-chief at Texas MonthlyManagers are instructed to call new hires the day before they start work to introduce themselves and build that welcoming, personal connection. “It might be the first job that person ever had. That could set the stage for the rest of their lives,” she said. Every new frontline employee receives an orientation with a “flip book” that describes the company culture, including “the things they ought to know and feel proud about on their first day.”Then, every team member is given a roadmap for their first five shifts that allows them to check off what they have learned and accomplished. “Staying in touch with the individual’s growth and fulfillment is just as important as staying in touch with customers’ fulfillment and happiness,” said moderator Ross McCammon, editor-in-chief at Texas Monthly. Whataburger incorporates professional development into every level of the organization. Hourly team members can get certifications in both hospitality and production. Once fully certified, these workers have the opportunity to train others and even open new locations. “We’ve scaled that so that we can open restaurants at pace and we never have to slow down because we don’t have the people available to train,” Rubenzer said. A Look Inside the Corporate Office The culture within Whataburger’s corporate office mirrors the one in its stores. “The home office is a very supportive type of environment,” Rubenzer said. “We know that we are there to help support and drive our business out in the field.” The office has an ‘Orange Culture Committee’ that leads group bonding activities like football kickoff parties. Corporate employees make a point to visit the restaurants and spend time in the kitchens with frontline workers. While the company is focused on future growth, it also doesn’t shy away from its storied 75-year history. “We do a really good job of honoring our legacy. We do so much to remind ourselves of the humility and the humble roots and the beginnings that got us to where we are today,” Rubenzer said. “But we’re also firm believers in in the quote, ‘What got us here won’t get us there.’” Leaders are encouraged to engage legacy team members in conversations about branding, because they are so invested, and help them see how to bridge that history into the future of the company. With a historic organization often comes a major fan base–and Whataburger is no exception. The company has embraced fan passion by launching Whataburger Museum of Art, an online project with a physical installation at SXSW, celebrating the chain’s legacy of flavor and creativity. Think paintings of hamburgers, funky renderings of the logo, and even a motorcycle decked out in the brand’s bright orange hues. “Who does that other than huge champions and fans of the brand?” Rubenzer said. “And so, we wanted to highlight those people and thank them for the work that they do for us.”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)
New Technology and Tools: Rethinking Productivity for Sustainable Success
BY Katie Chambers September 29, 2025The modern workplace can feel more hectic and uncertain than ever, with dispersed teams and a constant wave of new AI tools. But organizations that cling to old structures miss the chance to broaden employees’ horizons while improving productivity and outcomes.“Every organization wants to do more with less, but most aren’t doing it all that well,” said moderator Rebecca Knight, contributing writer for Harvard Business Review, during a panel discussion at From Day One’s September virtual conference. Panelists discussed best productivity practices for making the most of the latest tech tools and advancements.Today’s Greatest Productivity Roadblock: Burnout“Our biggest challenge today is burnout,” said Parise Hunter, VP of HR at Medable, Inc. While the shift to work-from-home and hybrid models has in some ways offered workers personal freedom, it also can be a challenge to “help people balance what’s going on in their lives and work, reducing the noise and protecting people’s energy.” Occasional in-person team meetups can help but, especially for large national or international corporations, “it can be expensive getting people together.” And of course, many people don’t want to return to the office, but are forced to anyway. “It’s really affecting people’s morale, which affects productivity” said Milena Berry, co-Founder and CEO of PowerToFly. Companies are generally facing uncertainty, she says, in these turbulent political and economic times, leading to hiring stalls and fears surrounding job security. Fortunately, many organizations are less focused on having employees show up for a typical 9-to-5. “Rather, they’re looking at enhanced productivity,” said Deepa Jagarlapudi, senior director, talent acquisition at Valtech India. “They’re looking at flexible ways of working, a lot more value alignment and a lot more learning and development opportunities,” she said. Adopting New Productivity ToolsTo help reduce burnout, Berry says that AI can “automate low-value tasks [like chatbots or note-taking], augment human decision-making with data, and strategically implement tools.” All of these, when used correctly, can “accelerate results” without threatening livelihoods. “The most successful companies are not thinking about AI as a replacement of humans, but more of AI as augmenting the human touch and the human capability,” she said. Advancements in productivity tools might help, but be careful: Shipra Malhotra, director, HR technology at Alta Performance Materials, cautions that they could also be a cause of burnout as workers struggle to incorporate “a flood” of new technology into their work lives. Panelists spoke about "The New Essentials of Worker Productivity That’s Sustainable and Attainable" during the virtual panel discussion (photo by From Day One)But advancements like AI aren’t going away, so organizations need to find ways to integrate them thoughtfully. “From a talent perspective, what challenges or opportunities are you seeing in terms of helping employees adopt AI and other productivity tools without overwhelming or scaring them?” Knight asked. Education, transparency, and setting a pace for change can encourage both early adopters as well as those with more trepidation, says Hunter. Surveying team leaders about their productivity and time management roadblocks can help you brainstorm the best ways to deploy AI to tackle those issues. Adoption of AI tools within HR departments has been a little bit slower, Malhotra says, in part because “HR is highly regulated. It’s compliance heavy, and we’re seeing many of the states publishing their AI regulations, and some of them even specific to [the] HR domain.” She hopes there will be a standardized governance structure for AI, so that HR departments will feel more comfortable using it. “What would help is laying down the rules, the processes, documentation, having a context to best practices, establishing guardrails related to ethics, bias, and anonymity. Those are the things that allow people to put in their trust, and that trust then [leads] to higher adoption.” The Changing Role of Managers In many workplaces, “managers [are] playing a different role now that they’re overseeing larger, more distributed teams, and sometimes team members who are AI agents, not humans,” Knight said. Developing a culture of “shared learning” can help managers feel more supported as workplace dynamics and processes change, Jagarlapudi says. Managers need to be trained on new technologies early, Berry says, since adoption will need to come from the top down. They should be given company time to experiment and “play with” the new tools to get more familiar. Having a strategy, and a budget, will give your AI initiatives structure and direction. Begin by defining your business goals, Malhotra says, then think about how AI can complement your existing workflow. Starting small with project-based initiatives, or adding one or two AI agents, can help the transformation feel more organic.“I’ve seen a lot of companies adopt some technologies in a very sporadic, haphazard kind of innovative way, but then have their hands slapped and have to roll things back because they were done in a non-compliant way,” Berry said. “[And] you have to put a little bit of budget toward it. It’s going to cost some money. If you want to do it for free, then it won’t happen as fast as you can do it otherwise.” Rapid evolution can feel daunting to workers–but it doesn’t have to be. “I encourage everybody to take more of an entrepreneurial approach to their career. I call it being like a ‘corporate-preneur,’ helping them create career paths that are really in tune to them,” Hunter said. Encourage workers to think about what skills they need to achieve their career goals and create opportunities to learn, lead, and grow, even if they are not within the traditional scope of their role. Jagarlapudi suggests tools like Confluence, Yammer, and LinkedIn Learning as “examples of how the workforce can kind of jam together on the same topic.” AI tools can even be used, Malhotra says, for “critical skills assessment” to help workers and team leaders understand which areas require further training and exploration. As with any new initiative, the success of AI implementation needs to be measured in order to encourage leadership buy-in. The definition of “success” will change by department, whether it’s increased sales calls, reduced customer wait times, or boosted monetary profits. “But if you’re starting to introduce AI automation, and all of a sudden your growth starts increasing, well, there you go,” Berry said. “That’s concrete proof that nobody will have pushback against.” 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 Panya Mingthaisong/iStock)
From Day One to Year One: Building Cultures of Support Through Transitions in Organizations
BY Katie Chambers September 04, 2025After five months of interviews, Shveta Miglani, Ph.D., was all-in for her new dream job. She moved her entire family to a new city, where she began working for “one of the best companies in the world” and immediately felt otherwise. “Within the first two weeks, [I was] thinking, ‘Oh my goodness, what did I do? What did I sign up for?” she said during a fireside chat at From Day One’s August virtual conference. She began questioning herself, thinking she was the problem. But she later came to understand she was not alone. As an organizational designer and people manager, she has seen firsthand how companies struggle to onboard new employees, provide helpful feedback, and offer opportunities for growth. Periods of transition in organizations can test even the strongest cultures, especially for employees stepping into new roles or adapting to change. Miglani’s new book, Navigate Your Career: Strategies for Success in New Roles and Promotions, is rooted in her Ph.D. research uncovering why certain employees succeed when transitioning in an organization, while others in the same role do not. She shares how leaders can build supportive environments that help employees succeed from day one through year one and beyond.Creating a Successful Onboarding ProcessNew talent generally comes from one of two pools: recent college graduates or mid-to-senior-level professionals transitioning over from other organizations. Most leaders, Miglani says, are competent in giving new hires a general overview of company culture, but struggle when it comes to offering more personalized insight. “We miss a chance to help these folks: to say, ‘Here are some additional tips that you can work on and create your own map of success,’” she said. New employees should approach their role with a strong understanding of how to best utilize their time. Miglani realizes this is where the problem with her dream job was: “I was in an organization where I was unable to find myself, and a lot of it had to do [with the fact that] I waited for the organization to tell me, rather than taking more responsibility for my role,” she said. In contrast, when she worked at Salesforce, she was immediately given opportunities that allowed her to prioritize better. “They knew how important it is to volunteer and to create networking opportunities,” she said, so the company offered a full-day session that allowed employees to connect with each other, engage with the organization, and serve their wider community in the process. That is not to say that employees should rely on their leaders alone to provide step-by-step guidance. “In my experience at a large organization, folks would come to me as a manager and say, ‘What are the elders on the top floor thinking about planning for me?’ Well, I said, ‘They’re not. They have other issues. You really need to be an agent in your own career,’” said moderator Steve Koepp, co-founder and editor in chief at From Day One. “I think companies should remind people that it’s not being uppity to be asking about what you could do next.” This tone can be set right during the onboarding process, ultimately encouraging ambition, creating an environment of psychological safety where employees can ask questions, and reminding them that their career is ultimately what they make of it. Many organizations prioritize the first 100 days as a measure of success, wherein HR leaders feel pressured to justify their new hire. “I would caution teams, especially HR leaders, to not do that,” Miglani said. “I learned through my research [that] companies like Amazon tell their team members, new hires, or newly promoted people, ‘You have a year to prove yourself,’ which I think is amazing, because then they’re saying, ‘It’s not short-term goals. We want you here for the long term, which means investing in that one year with you is important for us.’” Giving employees time to make an impact and encouraging their growth can foster a sense of belonging. Modern employees crave engagement with company culture. “Try to create programs or opportunities where peers get a chance to welcome their new hire or their new manager,” Miglani said. This is especially important for employees in a remote or hybrid environment, for whom these opportunities might not pop up organically.Providing Actionable FeedbackGiving feedback can feel awkward for managers and intimidating for employees, but it’s essential for smooth transitions and a growth-oriented culture. Miglani encourages employees to proactively ask for feedback when it’s not offered, to avoid misdirected development. She recalls an employee who completed a six-month communication course, only to learn afterward that their manager thought they were already strong in communication and should have focused on negotiation skills instead.Shveta Miglani shared insights from her new book, Navigate Your Career during the fireside chat (photo by From Day One)Structured, accessible feedback can help curtail problems before they get out of hand. “A good example [is] a car. You wouldn’t know what’s wrong in the car if you didn’t have a dashboard, if you didn’t have an indication that your fuel is running low or you need to do this, so that helps you to take actions,” Miglani said. “Similarly, an organization can provide better tools to leaders and employees to help them gauge and align themselves to the big goal.” Creating a structure for upskilling is one way employers can help keep their teams nimble in an ever-evolving market – especially since the goal should be to retain them for internal growth. “Why? Because they have tribal knowledge. They understand the company culture. And if you go out to hire people, it’ll actually cost you the same or more in many cases. So, it’s better to hold on to the talent you have,” Miglani said.Sharing data with leaders, such as career-mapping and skills gap studies, can help encourage CEO buy-in. Employers might consider investing in AI tools that can gather and measure this data and even contribute to succession planning strategies. Part of Miglani’s research involved studying how different groups in the animal kingdom assimilate new members into their groups. The best example? Meerkats.“One of the coolest things they do is job shadowing. They have [younger meerkats] follow the older meerkats, and they see how they hunt, how they protect themselves,” Miglani said. Meerkats also take turns looking out for each other, giving each other opportunities to rest, care for babies, and grow older. This culture of care, respect, and learning can easily translate to the modern workplace. “It is a skill that we all have,” Miglani said. “We just have to dial it up a little bit and be more intentional about it.”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 wenich-mit/iStock)
The Isolation Gap: Understanding and Addressing Male Loneliness
BY Katie Chambers August 12, 2025When Courtney White, head of HR at BASF, was growing up, he never saw his father cry. “He was the type of person who just kept going, what I would call ‘the model of strength,’” White said during a From Day One webinar on understanding and addressing male loneliness. But later in life, White had a conversation with his father that rocked his worldview.“He said, ‘I don’t want you to carry it all like I did. I want you to live differently.’ And when he said it, it kind of cracked open something in me.” White started discussing his feelings more openly, with his brother and his lifelong friends, and they started prioritizing their time spent together. “We made a decision: no more waiting, no more pretending. While the world tells men to be strong for everyone else, real strength is also knowing when to be honest with yourself, and we’ve stayed true to that since then.” As men move from the built-in social structures of youth and into adulthood, many experience a growing sense of isolation. White and a panel of experts explored the causes of the modern challenge of male loneliness and shared strategies for how men can intentionally foster friendships and community bonds across life stages. They also explored how allies, employers, and organizations can cultivate environments that encourage authentic male connection and well-being.How Loneliness Became an Epidemic In 2024, the U.S. Surgeon General declared a national loneliness and social isolation epidemic, citing that nearly 50% of Americans are feeling the effects. In our post-pandemic society dominated by an individualistic, work-from-home culture, this has a particular impact on men, who often relied on their workplace to fill their social needs. For many people, these relationships, which White calls “situational friendships,” have evaporated.A Gallup poll found that one in four U.S. men under age 35 report feeling lonely. Jay Swedlaw, LMHC, LPC, LPCC, LCMHC, and therapist at Talkspace, says this is due in part to societal norms that encourage men to tamp down their feelings. It’s also a result of our increasingly hectic personal and professional lives. “How much free time do most people have these days? How many times we find ourselves saying, ‘Oh, I have absolutely nothing to do, nothing at all. I guess I’ll hit up some friends,’” Swedlaw said. The answer: not much anymore.Panelists spoke about "The Isolation Gap: Understanding and Addressing Male Loneliness" during the webinar (photo by From Day One)Ironically, the latest innovations in communication technology may be isolating us further rather than bringing us closer together. “This especially became amplified during the pandemic, because then we were all forced to essentially have our only communication with anyone be virtual. And we got used to it,” Swedlaw said. “We’re more connected than ever,” White said, noting that cell phones and social media allow us to be in touch with everyone we know and love at all times. “But somehow, we’re still more alone. It feels like we’ve somehow replaced proximity with productivity, and it’s starting to cost us connection even more.” Especially among older generations of men, showing emotion or vulnerability can be seen as “weakness.” “But I’m human. I have feelings. That doesn’t make me a weak person; that makes you stronger–getting those things out and talked about on the table,” said Gary Levingston, chairman & CEO at Gary Levingston Productions. Baby Boomers can become vulnerable to loneliness if they cling to the notion of shoving it all down, says Levingston. “As we get older, our circles get smaller because people are passing away who we once depended on, who we could go to [with our feelings]. Thinking, ‘I can do it alone,’ that’s the last thing in the world that you want to do,” he said. Combatting Loneliness in the WorkplaceThe loneliness epidemic can impact workplaces and larger social groups. “It reverberates in organizations. And it’s not good for people’s health,” said moderator Stephen Koepp, co-founder and editor in chief at From Day One. “It involves all of us,” he said. We don’t need to be together every hour of every day, Swedlaw says, but loneliness can become a chronic problem impacting health and productivity when it stretches on for weeks or months. “That’s when loneliness causes us to isolate and withdraw. We just sort of shut down and have issues with self-worth,” Swedlaw said. That negative thought spiral can dangerously erode our mental health, leading to anxiety, depression, addiction, heart disease, and even early death. It can be challenging to identify loneliness in a corporate environment. “We think we know that loneliness looks a certain way, like sadness,” said White. “The reality is, it can look different. In the workplace, it can look like over-functioning, or it can look like silence.” When men go quiet in the workplace, it’s not always a sign of peace, he says: “It’s pain.” Culturally and socially, Levingston says, we need to “level the playing field” for men when it comes to expressing emotions. The earlier we can do this with boys, the better. “Storytelling in that regard is a powerful thing,” he said. Creating community “can bring people together with not just a structure, but a purpose,” Koepp added.Levingston encourages men “to be a light for others.” When men are open with each other, it can inspire the rest of the group to do the same. White notes that the rhythm and ritual of community organizations can create a sense of safety where men can build trust, feel vulnerable, and foster a sense of belonging. Helping Yourself, and Helping Others Workplaces can build this sense of psychological safety through ERGs and other community groups. And leaders should be mindful of setting an example for others. They can set the tone by prioritizing their relationships, and practicing work-life balance, and even occasionally sharing their feelings. While relationships are meaningful, not all are created equal. Swedlaw advises men to treat their relationships like an investment. “We should be able to quickly and easily say, ‘I am getting a return on that investment.’ I feel that I’m investing ABC and I’m getting XYZ in return, then that’s a pretty even exchange. I know this person cares about me, and I know that this person enriches my life in this way,” Swedlaw said. Because your time is precious, you should only spend it on relationships that are beneficial to you. But we can’t rely solely only on our relationships with others to lift us out of loneliness. A rich, balanced life should be grounded in self-care. “At the end of the day, no one’s going to look out for us the way that we’re going to look out for us,” Swedlaw said. “And if we want to be the best version of ourselves for friends and other people in our lives, we’ve got to make sure that we’re taking care of ourselves.” Editor's note: From Day One thanks our partner, Talkspace, 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 Jacob Wackerhausen/iStock)
Healthy Workers Are Good for Business, But Everyone Has Unique Needs
BY Katie Chambers July 29, 2025For generations, workplace benefits referred to just the basics: health insurance, vacation days, and, if you were lucky, a retirement savings fund. But in today’s parlance, “benefits” refers to a broader lifestyle package that is far more holistic and personalized. “Back in the early days, benefits were just the thing that employers had. But as employers started competing more for talent, wellness became more of [an] imperative,” said Jennifer Dietrich, SVP, head of global benefits and wellness at Fiserv. Dietrich spoke during a fireside chat at From Day One’s July virtual conference, moderated by Nicole Smith, editorial audience director at Harvard Business Review. “It became part of the culture of our organization. Now, we’re using wellness to help to keep our people healthy, which then allows them to bring their best self to work and their best self to their communities. It does create this culture and environment where people feel cared for, and they want to come and work for you,” said Dietrich. The last five years have been a time of rapid social and cultural change, says Smith. From the global pandemic and “the fastest recession and recovery in U.S. history,” to a housing supply crisis, rising mental health concerns, a presidential election, trade war, and more. These “external shocks” can impact the personal and professional needs of the workforce, and employers must be prepared to respond quickly. Nicole Smith, editorial audience director at Harvard Business Review, interviewed Jennifer Dietrich, SVP, global benefits and wellness at Fiserv (photo by From Day One)“We’ve seen this interesting shift in people’s expectations, because the pandemic created a different scope of what’s possible for employees, and even for some employers,” Dietrich said. She encourages organizations to be more “human” in the approach to work structures and benefits programs. “If you’ve got the right culture [and] you’ve got the right programs, people can be the best version of themselves. That’s not just important in work, but in all aspects of their lives and in their community,” she said. This culture of support should be ingrained in all management training, ensuring that leaders understand the benefits programs available so they can direct their team in the right direction when the time comes. In response to evolving employee expectations, Fiserv introduced a remote flexibility benefit, enabling its 38,000 associates across 35 countries to work from nearly anywhere in the world for a set number of days each year, despite being an in-office company. Building a Benefits Program That Works for AllWith such a large and diverse workforce, it can be challenging to create a benefits package that offers personalization while still appealing to a broad audience. “People value choice. And the definition of benefits can vary from one person to the next,” Dietrich said, saying some people are satisfied simply by free coffee in the office, while others might focus more on career development. “Doing the right thing for your people and for the business isn’t necessarily supposed to be easy.”Fiserv relies on annual engagement survey data and feedback from its employees to build a comprehensive package on top of the basics, like healthcare, retirement, disability, and PTO. “Information is power,” Smith said. Since employee needs may be constantly shifting, organizations should be checking in with them regularly to gauge their thoughts on vendors. Dietrich recommends treating vendors as true partners, an extension of your team, equally invested in analyzing data and enhancing the employee experience.But balance matters, as workers can become paralyzed by too many choices. Internal communications campaigns around benefits options can help them figure out how to make the most of what you offer. “I’m very fortunate to have an incredible team that thinks like marketers, and they have a constant focus on educating our people, including our managers, and making sure that everyone is aware of what’s available to them,” Dietrich said. “It’s never just a once-and-done sort campaign. We really focus on beating that drum constantly through a whole variety of communications to make sure that people are aware.”Fiserv uses a portal called “Fuel Your Life” that is a digital “one-stop shop” for benefits that allows for personalization. But because not all employees are tech-savvy, the organization also mails hard copies of benefits information to workers’ homes, provides an email newsletter, puts physical signage in offices, and has cultivated a team of employee ambassadors who can discuss the offerings one-on-one. Dietrich foresees that AI will also ultimately be able to assist in this process.Looking Ahead in the Benefits SpaceAs Dietrich’s organization looks to the future, it hopes to cultivate the next generation of workers, in part, through benefits offerings. “We focus on having what we consider a best-in-class people platform that focuses on driving a high-performance culture and continuous improvement within the organization.” That means investing in ongoing professional development, growth opportunities, increasing engagement, fostering trust among colleagues, and promoting in-office connection. The latter is especially important for Gen Z, as many of them spent crucial educational and developmental years behind a screen during Covid. “We stress [casual, organic in-person] connections for all of our associates, because that helps them feel connected and valued and seen when they are at work,” she said. Smith agreed, “You can’t replace human connection.” That human connection is not only integral to keeping employees engaged with the workplace; it’s also crucial to building a benefits package overall. Leaders, Dietrich says, are the ones who help drive the use of benefits, gauge whether the offerings are working, and best articulate to stakeholders what has been most effective—and what is most deserving of future investment. “When you can come back and tell the story that this worked out the way that we expected it to, it helps to build your credibility with leaders, so that you can get more yeses to things like that to do more for your people.”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 VioletaStoimenova/iStock)
Rebuilding Trust, Fueling Growth: Leading With Transparency in Times of Change
BY Katie Chambers July 09, 2025The 2025 Edelman Trust Barometer reports an unprecedented decline in employer trust. It’s a troubling shift, given that workplace trust is essential to organizational success. Higher trust correlates directly with improved talent outcomes and engagement, according to MetLife’s annual employee benefit trends study. Employees who trust their organization are 3.8 times more likely to have healthy outcomes and 2.8 times more likely to feel they can be productive. So, what is a forward-thinking employer to do? At a time when external forces can shake employee confidence, MetLife is leaning into what it can control: how it responds. During a fireside chat at From Day One’s Manhattan conference, Shurawl Sibblies, EVP, chief HR officer at MetLife, described how the organization is fostering trust through open communication, transparent leadership, and inclusive career development, creating a workplace where employees feel supported and empowered to grow.“We are living through some interesting times where the employee/employer relationship is really under pressure like never before. Whether it’s economic uncertainty or the rapid rate at which we are seeing technological changes, the workforce is really facing a lot of complex emotions right now,” said moderator Cadie Thompson, executive editor at Business Insider. “At the center of it all is this critical, very fragile component, which is trust.”Shurawl Sibblies, executive vice president and CHRO at MetLife, right, was interviewed by Cadie Thompson of Business InsiderThe key to building a more stable environment, Sibblies says, is first to understand exactly what challenges people are facing, or the “why” behind their uncertainty. A MetLife study found that 81% of employees rely on their leaders to create a trusting environment, one that can support positive outcomes and productivity, she says. Employers can foster that strong foundation through open dialogue. “One of the things we learned, especially over the last few years, is you have to have open, transparent, honest communication,” Sibblies said. “Two-way dialogue creates an opportunity for people to share perspective with you. And you have to listen. It’s so important to listen, and when you ask for feedback from people, you actually have to do something with it.” MetLife puts this into practice through town halls with its CEO, called “Let’s Talk Live.” Employees can ask questions in real time, and the CEO answers directly. “You can’t dodge the hard topics. If you’re going to say, ‘let's talk live,’ it means you are open to what is on people’s minds.” Sibblies encourages leaders to be honest about what they know and what they don’t know yet. “[Vulnerability] makes a difference in the culture.” One significant barrier to trust in today’s workplace is the increasing uncertainty surrounding emerging technologies and their potential impact, or even elimination, of certain job positions. Thompson cites a KPMG study that reports 54% of people are wary of trusting AI, and almost as many are worried about its impact on the workforce. But AI isn’t going anywhere, so employers need to tackle their strategy head-on and be transparent with their workers about what is next. Sibblies suggests positioning AI in your communications as it relates to your organization’s overall mission. “It's not ‘AI in isolation.’ It's in service of what you are doing for your customers. It should be in service of what you need to do for your employees and how they’re getting their work done,” she said. Providing fundamental education on responsible AI usage can also help reduce the fear of the unknown. From there, you can help certain employees dig deeper into AI specialization as needed. MetLife is investing its resources in developing ways AI can be used and managed by humans in everyday applications to make their work more effective. Again, it comes back to communications. “Your company wouldn’t exist today if it wasn’t constantly growing and evolving, which means your people have been growing and evolving,” Sibblies said. “There are lots of ways to lead with curiosity and focus on curiosity and critical thinking.” Talking about AI in the context of your corporation’s ongoing story positions it as “another muscle being developed” rather than something completely foreign.Employee Growth and Appreciation as a Pathway to Trust“Climbing the corporate ladder isn't what it used to be,” Thompson said, noting that the shapes of organizations are changing, with fewer middle management positions. Sibblies encourages leaders to have ongoing “candid career conversations” with employees about their ambitions. Then, follow up those conversations with solid opportunities to develop and grow, ideally within the organization. “My responsibility as a leader is to help my people,” she said. “Growth starts with marrying the person's aspiration and ambition with where the company has a need, and [where] it’s also growing.” MetLife offers employees an AI-driven resource called My Path, which enables them to articulate their goals and be matched with internal opportunities, such as stretch projects, volunteer events, or open positions in other departments. Sibblies says this helps engagement by cultivating employee ambassadors. “They realize, ‘Wow, I can do something new and also contribute to the company,’” she said. Consistent recognition and rewards when employees rise to a challenge also build a supportive, secure, and reliable environment where they feel safe to take risks and reach higher. “Benefits are really powerful, because you show up for people in times of their greatest need,” Sibblies said. “You don’t want to have to choose between your health and well-being and being able to earn a living. You want an employer to be able to back you in those times.” Providing access to a variety of benefits options so employees can choose what is best for their family engenders their trust in your organization. “When you think about people you trust, you trust them because they’re consistent, they show up for you,” Sibblies said. “That’s our responsibility as employers. Show up for people, be consistent, be open with them. Culture truly matters.” 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 Hason Castell for From Day One)
Designing Holistic Benefits: Balancing Cost With Real Impact
BY Katie Chambers July 02, 2025“The world is evolving. Our companies are evolving. How we do work evolves, and different people need different things to help support their journey to feel healthy, safe and secure,” said Kim Nero, EVP and CHRO of GATX Corporation.During a panel discussion at From Day One’s Chicago conference, industry leaders shared how HR teams are innovating to control costs, meet diverse employee needs, and reassess benefits through new tools and feedback methods.With five generations working side by side, today’s workforce requires a more tailored approach to employee benefits that reflects a wide range of needs and priorities. Many employers are opting to provide expansive benefits packages that allow employees to activate whatever benefit makes most sense for their current circumstances, be it retirement saving, family planning, or elder care support. But employers should be careful to make sure their offerings are fair and comparable, no matter an employee’s life or work circumstances.“Our hourly associates have exactly the same benefits as our salaried employees,” said Michele Miller, SVP and CHRO, Ideal Industries, Inc., citing equal health and retirement benefits and PTO. “That's really important around the wellness that you need to be able to have your passion projects, support your family, take care of yourself,” she said. “No one’s family is more or less, and that’s been so powerful.” Panelists spoke during From Day One's session titled "In Employee Benefits, Balancing Cost Efficiency with Good Employee Outcomes" This is also crucial from a DEI standpoint. “It’s important for our employees to know and be able to trust that we have their best interests at heart, and for them to feel like they have secure, safe and healthy lifestyles while they’re with our companies,” Nero said. “And that requires a lot of open dialogue between employees and us. There’s education and awareness both ways.” Leaders should remember, says Jon Lowe, chief people officer at DailyPay, that “fair doesn’t mean equal.” “When we think about this narrow description of what benefits look like, we’re really only talking about half of half of the American population,” Lowe said. He advises thinking beyond the traditionalist view of insurance as “medical, disability, and vision” and expanding into mental health, skills training, and beyond to approach each employee holistically. Financial education and savings benefits should be part of that approach. “The resilient, adaptable employee is one who has the financial reserves to not be terrified about missing a paycheck. And that’s where you come in,” said moderator Karl Ahlrichs, HR leadership columnist and consultant.Tracking Programmatic Success Of course, the ROI on these programs is important. Leaders should be open and direct with employees about whether the benefits are working and the importance of measuring their success. “If you’re paying for these programs, there’s a conversation you need to have with your employees, which is, ‘We’re all in this together. These costs, whatever they’re going to be, we’re sharing them, and we need to work together to figure out how, overall, we get those costs down.’ And there’s a tradeoff there, which is you make sure that your data is available, and you can tell that story back to your finance team,” said George Spurling, CEO of Budgie Health. One problem with ROI measurement is accurately assessing positive outcomes of preventative care. For example, how can one prove that having free access to Ozempic for weight loss, rather than a diabetes diagnosis, prevents an employee from getting expensive-to-treat weight-related illnesses down the line? Miller suggests letting science drive your health benefits strategy. It’s important to have ample benefits that accommodate all lifestyles and stages, so not every benefit will be used by every employee. That means standard metrics might incorrectly imply that a program isn’t being used enough if only some, not all, employees activate it. HR should make sure this is communicated effectively to CFOs and decision-makers. “Sometimes people push back on some of our programs, [saying] that we don’t have high utilization, but I say, ‘we have appropriate utilization’ because we’re not trying to fit a one-size-fits-all,” said Sherry Nelson, senior director, benefits and well-being at TransUnion. Her team uses surveys to gauge and demonstrate whether employees are getting what they need in the moment they’re in now. Communication as Employee EmpowermentWith a diverse range of benefits comes the challenge of communicating all the many bits and pieces to employees effectively and consistently. “You may have really great benefits, but in the middle of the year when you have some sort of devastating back pain, you’re not going to remember that at the beginning of the year, on page 12, there was something about [physical therapy],” Spurling said. “How do you get all of this complexity and get it to the right person at the right time?” AI can help, searching the employee handbook and manuals for benefits programs and providing detailed information to employees on demand. “But it’s only as smart as the data it has, and if it doesn’t know what your claims experience is, if it doesn’t know what dependents you have, if it doesn’t know information about you as an individual, then it’s just like you’re having a conversation with a really smart person that knows nothing about you,” Spurling said. So, there still needs to be human oversight and availability. TransUnion makes mental health first aid part of its manager training to encourage leaders to get involved directly with employees who need help, and to have the knowledge to direct them to appropriate resources, Nelson says. Post-Covid, leaders and workers are more open and vulnerable with each other, leading to better dialogues about support, “There’s been some liberation to do that without judgment,” Nero said. Having so many benefits options to choose from can lead to decision paralysis on the part of both the employer and the employee. Lowe advises looking ahead to workplace and lifestyle trends, such as the rise of part-time “gig” workers and people working well past traditional “retirement age,” and planning accordingly. “Three-and-a-half years is the average tenure of the American worker, and it’s probably not going up,” Lowe said, citing portability as an attractive quality of a benefits package. “As we think about the composition of what our organizations look like, benefits will need to include creating value for that portion of the population.” 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 Tim Hiatt for From Day One)
How Women Can Build “Experience Capital” to Overcome Obstacles to Career Success
BY Katie Chambers June 11, 2025Despite years of inclusion initiatives, the statistics for women in the workforce today are bleak. “At the entry level in the United States and around the world, for every 100 men who are promoted, there are 89 white women, but only 64 Latina women and 54 Black women,” said Kweilin Ellingrud, senior partner, director of McKinsey Global Institute, and head of diversity and inclusion at McKinsey & Company.Ellingrud, also the co-author of The Broken Rung: When the Career Ladder Breaks for Women—and How They Can Succeed in Spite of It, spoke during a fireside chat at From Day One’s Minneapolis conference. Since about 70% of employees across the talent pipeline are entry level, and 48% of them are women, this “broken rung” along the career ladder leads to a major disparity in representation among leadership roles. Her new book, based on extensive research, identifies the broken rung as more pervasive than the glass ceiling in holding back women from career success. Ellingrud reveals the problem’s underlying cause and where the solution lies: women need to build their “experience capital” to level the playing field and maximize their earning potential—and employers need to do more to address these inequalities in the workplace.How Experience Capital Can Help Women Thrive Ellingrud points out that women’s high achievements in early life often don’t translate to later career success, due in part to that broken rung. “Women today in the U.S. and most developed countries, receive about 59% of college degrees, are 70% of valedictorians, have higher average GPAs, [the] majority of master's degrees, and majority of PhDs. Women academically have been outperforming men for 40 years,” she said. But that 59% drops down to 48% in entry-level corporate roles, and even lower as they move up the ladder: women hold just 39% of first manager roles and 29% of C-suite roles, she says. “Women are much more likely to be heads of HR, CFO, CIO, chief legal counsel, [and other] important, critical support function roles. But they’re much less likely to run the biggest P&L or the biggest business unit,” she said. Why does that matter? When CEOs are promoted from within, they usually come from those numbers-forward positions. Currently, only 10% of Fortune 500 CEOs are women. Kweilin Ellingrud, co-author of The Broken Rung signed complimentary copies of the book for session attendeesEllingrud says that the solution to this disparity is “experience capital: the wisdom you build on the job.” She cites a study of corporate roles that shows half of your lifetime earnings come from your education and what you bring to your first job, and the other half comes from experience capital, or what you learn on the job. “If women can build more and equal experience capital to men, we will catch up in terms of our career progression,” she said. This can also help close the gender pay gap. About 80% of the gap can be traced to two main factors: roughly one-third stems from women spending fewer years in the workforce, often due to childrearing responsibilities, while the remaining two-thirds is linked to the types of jobs and work arrangements women tend to choose. “Women, when they jump jobs, are much more likely to decrease in income quintile [and] men are much more likely to increase in income quintile. That could be because we’re choosing less competitive jobs,” she said. “But we also may be trading off things for flexibility, for deeper alignment with our values.” These are all good, valid choices, she says, but women need to find ways to continue building experience capital to subsidize their desire for flexible, meaningful work. Building Experience CapitalThe number one thing you can do for your experience capital in your early career is not choosing a role or a boss, but picking the right company. “It’s correlated with 50% higher lifetime earnings,” she said. The right first company will invest in your learning and development, provide cross-functional rotations to stretch your skills, and have a clear strategy for your growth. Another smart early career decision is “making bold moves,” or choosing roles or projects that use stretch skills far beyond your comfort zone. And women should make choices that put them in the “power alley” or “the cash register of your industry,” like a profit and loss role. “If you do start there, your lifetime income is likely to be 20% higher,” Ellingrud said. Even if you don’t stay in the power alley forever, that perspective will help you across other roles. Finally, “go where the jobs are,” said Ellingrud. Fields like AI, healthcare, and transportation are growing, while female-dominated areas like customer service and office administration are shrinking. Networking is a crucial skill, she says. “Women and people of color tend to be over-mentored and under-sponsored,” she said, getting lots of advice but few tangible opportunities. “70% of jobs are not even posted, so if you want to make a bold move, it's probably somebody who knows you who’s going to bet on your potential to rise to the occasion.” Women should also focus on building technological skills that go beyond automation but dig deep into how tech can interact with and transform a team. “It’s not Gen AI that’s going to take your job, it’s someone who knows how to use Gen AI,” Ellingrud said. Soft skills like negotiation, empathy, relationship-building, and inspiring a team are also highly valuable to making you an extraordinary manager. And women can succeed by developing their own entrepreneurship. This doesn’t necessarily mean creating your own business, but instead could look like starting a new imitative, creating a department, or launching a new product within a larger organization. The last factor for creating experience capital is preparing for the inevitable. What is the big inevitability for women in the workplace? Bias. When faced with two resumes that are identical in every way except for the name at the top, Jane Doe vs. John Doe, even women “will ascribe greater leadership and higher future potential to John Doe, because we’ve been so socialized in our notions of what leadership looks like,” Ellingrud said. This bias extends beyond the image of traditional leadership and into what is known as “the motherhood penalty.” When Jane Doe’s resume lists her active participation in a parent-teacher association, she is 87% less likely to get called in for an interview because we assume she will not prioritize her work. Remarkably, knowing that a man has children can work in his favor, as he becomes viewed as more trustworthy and stable, even more so the more children he has. That’s “the fatherhood bonus.” This means women need to be thoughtful in their approach to maternity leave so that they don’t lose momentum and keep building experience capital.They also must take their health into account. “Women, on average, live longer than men. We also live 25% more years in poor health” Ellingrud said, as they are more likely to be misdiagnosed or not taken seriously when they have a concern. Women have lower retirement savings, so they live less comfortably later on, and are less likely to be involved in financial decisions, even when they know just as much as their male partners. All of this comes down to smart planning for the future. Ellingrud and her co-authors compiled more than a decade of research and interviewed 50 women before deciding to write the book. She hopes that the information can empower women to make better career decisions. “Every time I would share [the research], I felt like it was new news to so many people,” she said. “And if you don’t know the facts, how can we make the best decisions and tradeoffs for ourselves?”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 Travis Johansen for From Day One)
Learning to Talk Openly About the Challenges That Women Face at Work and in Life
BY Katie Chambers May 22, 2025When the Trump administration announced on April 23 that The Department of Health and Human Services would be terminating contracts with all four research centers working on the Women’s Health Initiative, the largest research study of its kind, the backlash was so immediate and vocal that the administration reversed course the very next day. Women’s healthcare feels constantly under attack, but is crucial to more than 50% of our population. Whether they’re dealing with motherhood, miscarriages, reproductive choice, menopause, and more, women still face overwhelming cultural pressure to stay silent about their challenges. In her new book “Normalize It: Upending the Silence, Stigma, and Shame That Shape Women’s Lives,” psychologist and author Jessica Zucker, PhD, brings an unflinching new look at what needs to be said more openly at a time of backlash—and how employers can respond. She shared highlights during a fireside chat at From Day One’s April virtual conference.Breaking the Silence Women are impacted personally and professionally by the stigma around their healthcare—but this can be minimized by being open about “taboo” issues. “Telling our stories lets us know we’re not alone, [and] it also creates a collective pool of knowledge that can help us grow personally, and as part of that growth, learn how to get our feelings heard and our needs met,” said moderator Lynne Peeples, science writer and author.Zucker does this herself by being open about her own experiences: she had a miscarriage during her second pregnancy at 16 weeks, during which she had to cut the umbilical cord herself coached by a doctor on the phone, bring the fetus in a bag to the doctor’s office for testing, and undergo an unmedicated D&C.“This informed and changed my professional and personal trajectory,” she said. “I had been sitting for years with women talking about the isolation, the alienation, the feelings of disenfranchisement in the aftermath of loss. But until I went through it myself, I just couldn’t relate.” She learned from research that many women who experience a miscarriage blame themselves, feel ashamed, and experience a sense of body failure. To combat these mental health issues, she began the “I Had a Miscarriage” campaign with the New York Times. “That was a compassionate urging for women around the world to think about, ‘If you’ve gone through an experience like this and you haven’t shared it, why not?’” Dr. Jessica Zucker, right, spoke with journalist Lynne Peeples during the fireside chat (photo by From Day One)Our hustle culture glorifies the notion that we can do anything we put our minds to, Zucker says, but reproductive health is mostly beyond our control. It’s a dichotomy that often leads to frustration and feelings of failure. Zucker is pleased to see celebrities like Oprah Winfrey, who had a recent special on menopause, talk more honestly about women’s health. “I do think that the advent of celebrities and others being open about their stories does invite and hopefully urge people to think about their stories, share their stories, and to understand that this can happen to anybody,” she said. How HR Can Help In her book, Zucker shares a psychological study in which people watch two versions of a visibly uncomfortable woman giving a presentation while undergoing a hot flash. When asked if she’s alright in version one, she says she is just warm. In version two, she says she is fine, just going through menopause. Respondents noted that she seems like a more confident leader in the second version. So why aren’t women more empowered to be that straightforward in the workplace? HR can help, Zucker says, by encouraging employees to be open, asking caring questions, and checking in. “In a society where we think ‘productivity all the way,’ it’s tempting to push down our pain, but I think it does backfire,” Zucker said. “If HR was there to acknowledge what somebody's going through, it doesn't mean that they have to be a therapist, it’s just asking the question and holding space and acknowledging what somebody is going through [that makes a difference].” Workplaces should hold space for feelings of grief, despair, and vulnerability among employees, recognizing all the ways that might manifest. “Everyone is different in how they process and when they decide to share their story. How can we be sensitive to that?” Peeples asked. Know that your colleagues might not be ready to share in the same way you would be and proceed gingerly but directly to leave space for psychological safety without causing shame.“Just ask: ‘How are you doing? What are you going through? Is there anything we can do to support you? We are here for you,’” Zucker said. “Let them know there is this culture of openness and availability of support, even if the person doesn’t think they want it right now, or even if they never take it.” Focusing on Mental HealthIn her book, Zucker shares that when faced with someone else’s grief, 70% of us don’t know what to say. “We end up relying on platitudes,” she said. Instead, it’s better to be honest and caring, avoiding statements like “At least…” or other phrases of toxic positivity. It shuts people down, allowing shame to seep in. And shame, Zucker says, is what can lead to more self-destructive behavior, like addiction or dysfunctional relationships. The more space women are given to express themselves, the better their brains will function. “Putting feelings into words, rather than keeping them bottled up, literally changes the way the brain responds to stress by diminishing activity in the amygdala, the part of the brain that processes emotions like anxiety, fear, and stress,” Peeples shared from Zucker’s book. When given the freedom to share their feelings, people become more focused and more present. And with better brain function comes increased workplace productivity. “The more we keep inside, the less present and the less productive we are,” Zucker said. She hopes that the movement for more honesty in conversations surrounding women’s healthcare will become a positive cycle. “I can’t tell you how often I hear somebody say, ‘I shared such and such, and then this person told me the same thing had happened to them.’ And that exchange is so enlivening. It’s so validating,” Zucker said. “The person inevitably feels less alone. And hopefully it inspires them to keep talking about it, because if we keep talking about it, the stigma can melt away.”That cycle can begin in the workplace. “If we come to our work and our colleagues with a sense of openness, authenticity, candidness, it goes a long way. If we can model that as leaders, then the people who work for us may be able to do the same for those who work under them. Those people will become leaders too, eventually,” Zucker said. “Leading with empathy and heart, even if it doesn’t seem like it fits with the role, is very important.” Katie Chambers is a freelance writer and award-winning communications executive with a lifelong commitment to supporting artists and advocating for inclusion. Her work has been seen in HuffPost and several printed essay collections, among others, and she has appeared on Cheddar News, iWomanTV, On New Jersey, and CBS New York.(Photo by SDI Productions/iStock)
The New Essentials of Worker Productivity That’s Sustainable and Attainable
BY Katie Chambers May 20, 2025“How do you stay productive?” It’s a burning question in our hectic modern culture, and one that moderator Alexa Reed, digital editor at Dallas Business Journal, posed to speakers during a panel discussion at From Day One’s Dallas conference. The varied answers were both practical and philosophical, everything from staying hydrated and responding to emails within three hours, to taking extreme ownership and finding purpose in your work every day. If you’re noticing disengagement within your workplace, it’s best to turn to the source before launching any new initiatives. “Have you addressed the factors in your organization that caused disengagement in the first place? Because if you’re not careful, you could drop your people back into the exact same environment,” said Jonathan Thorp, chief learning officer at Quantum Connections.“Make sure you take stock: Are the objectives of the work at hand clearly defined? Are the resources clearly articulated? And most importantly, is the culture aligned with what you're trying to do and what you’re [seeing] in your workspace?” he said. Once you better understand the cause you can then create a strategy to re-engage. And don’t view disengagement as a bad thing, he says, instead, use it as a signal to know when it’s time to act. Regular leadership communication with employees can help them better understand the meaning and impact of their work, says Anitha Ramesh, head of HR at Tech Mahindra. But don’t just talk. Listen to your employees to understand what best motivates them, then invest in their answers. “It may be developing in a new area [or] giving them a stretch opportunity. For some, it may be compensation,” said Lisa Jennings, global head of HR, news and media at Bloomberg. Leaders and managers should carve out one-on-one time for authentic employee listening in addition to surveys, says Je’Mone Smith, VP, HR and diversity at Agiliti HealthCare. “[Make it] about the employee: What’s working, what’s challenging, and how can I help you?” Smith said. “And if [leaders] stick to that consistently, studies show that’s probably the number one driver of engagement in terms of the tools that are afforded to a manager conducting those one on ones.” EAPs (Employee Assistance Programs) not only provide benefits but can also offer insight into where employees need the most support, helping you better direct resources to where they are needed most. “Engaging with your EAP vendor or your insurance vendor a little more than what you do currently [helps with] understanding the underlying issues. Ask ‘What are the top trends you are seeing from our workforce?’” Ramesh said. “Then roll out specific programs.” The Impact of Employee Well-being on ProductivityEmployees’ mental well-being is top-of-mind, especially in the post-pandemic era, and can have a marked impact on productivity and engagement: happier workers are better workers. Bloomberg has developed an interesting strategy that makes well-being itself a way to engage with the workplace through its Mental Health Advocate program.“We give all our employees the [optional] opportunity to be trained and certified in mental health awareness. We bring in an outside provider [that offers] a half -day rigorous training and an exam,” Jennings said. Then they can be the “eyes and ears” in the office to notice when someone might be exhibiting signs of needing professional mental health support.Alexa Reed, digital editor at Dallas Business Journal, moderated the discussion among leadersIt’s also crucial to help employees feel connected to their work, no matter how scattered they might be due to hybrid or remote circumstances. Ramesh says employees feel more connected when they know that their company cares about them. Tech Mahindra accomplishes this through a program that incorporates all different types of personal well-being, including mental, physical, emotional, financial, spiritual, occupational, and social. And location councils help to recreate larger programs from the corporate level in a more localized way for a distributed workforce. Happy, engaged, and productive employees are a boon to talent acquisition and attention. “If you have engaged employees, they’re proud of what they do, they’re proud of where they work. So they’re the best recruiters for the company,” Smith said. “About 20% of our jobs that we [at Agiliti HealthCare] fill are based on referrals, and typically, retention is improved when people are referred. Turnover is reduced when people are referred to the company by someone that they know,” he said. The Role of Technology in Productivity Technological advances such as AI have the power to greatly increase employee productivity when used effectively. Panelists suggest careful check-ins with employees throughout the product implementation process to understand exactly how new technologies are working—or not.“We want to make sure that when we communicate what the new technology, the tool, [or] the training is, we have a two-way dialogue to ask the users, ‘What’s your expected outcome and what you need in terms of resources, training and time to actually pull off a successful launch?’” Thorp said. “It’s not just about utility. It’s about the entire UX range. It’s about the holistic experience.” Cultivating the Next Generation of Leaders Employers should be looking to the future not only in terms of technological advancements but also workforce development, priming the next generation of leaders for success. Smith strongly recommends hiring from within whenever possible, not only to save on the cost during the hiring process but also because those employees already have “buy in” with the company culture. Smith identifies two key qualities of great potential leaders: those who can communicate effectively with colleagues at all levels (“from peers to direct reports to the C suite”), and those who can listen and be fully present despite all the usual modern distractions. To encourage internal growth and mobility, Bloomberg offers its Embed Program, which allows employees to try out different teams or departments. “It’s a way for us to drive retention, drive people to feel like we’re investing in them,” Jennings said. “We’re giving them an opportunity to explore something internally, and it also leads to internal mobility opportunities. It’s been a great motivator and a great way for people to explore different internal roles, instead of us losing people to the market.” The program is open to employees starting in their fourth year, the time when the company has noticed people often get ready to move on. Similarly, Agiliti Healthcare offers Talent Tuesdays, which let hiring managers present internal career opportunities to current employees to spark their interest in moving within the organization. Leaders are so important, not only for the company’s longevity but for encouraging culture and inspiring workers within. Supervisors, Thorp says, should make their team members feel seen, heard, welcomed, and appreciated as the unique individuals they are. “It’s making sure people feel valued, and that you see them as a human being that has issues, that they need flexibility one day, or they need support in another way. It’s about making people feel that you care about them,” Jennings said. “That you’re not just here to churn out work, but that you're viewed as a person, and that you're being invested in by the organization.”Katie Chambers is a freelance writer and award-winning communications executive with a lifelong commitment to supporting artists and advocating for inclusion. Her work has been seen in HuffPost and several printed essay collections, among others, and she has appeared on Cheddar News, iWomanTV, On New Jersey, and CBS New York.(Photos by Steve Bither for From Day One)