Better People Podcast

In this episode, HR executive from One Inc, Jeffrey Robinson, discusses the challenges and opportunities of managing a distributed workforce. They emphasize the importance of clear communication, performance management, and empathy in remote settings, as well as building trust and celebrating successes. They also share tips for recruiting the right people and developing a passionate team in HR.

Jeffrey Robinson is currently the Chief Human Resources Officer at One Inc, where he develops and executes HR strategies aligned with the organization's goals. With extensive experience in talent management, performance management, and organizational development, he provides strategic leadership in articulating HR needs and plans to stakeholders. Here are a few of the topics we’ll discuss on this episode of Better People:

Robinson's diverse career in different industries has helped him understand the importance of the people and talent that drive every business from an HR perspective.
Robinson's passion for recruiting stems from his early career experience in recruiting tellers in New York and Chicago and extended to exploring different ways to retain talents through training, onboarding, compensation, and benefits.
One Inc has a distributed workforce with about 400 employees in the US and Mexico, 200 employees in India, and 60% of employees working remotely.
Performance management is an opportunity for improving engagement and feedback.
Empathy and vulnerability are key components of successful remote leadership.
Empowering employees to understand their roles and purpose is crucial to keep them engaged

Resources:

OneInc
MidAtlantic Employers’ Association (MEA)

Connect with Jeffrey Robinson:

LinkedIn

Connect with our host Margaret Uhrich:

LinkedIn

Quotables:

16:49 - I think the challenge is in building cohesiveness, stickiness from an organizational perspective, and not just on the broader level, right? We have a mission, we have values, we have an organizational strategy that people can go to one inc.com and, and, and see who we are, what we do.
18:03 - When we were all in the same building, we could all get around the water cooler, right? Get a cup of coffee and I could say, Hey Margaret, how are you doing? What's going on in finance? Right? What's going on in marketing? What's going on in sales? Right? And, and that's not the way it's done anymore. Now you have to be more mindful of opportunities to bring employees together to share information, have a level of transparency that's a two-way street between employees and, and managers and their direct reports and the organization to our employees as well.
19:55 - And communication obviously runs through so many things. It's the communication of just updating your employees, so they know what's going on. It's the social communication that, so people just feel connected, and they get to know each other. It's the transferring down of really important information. It's the sharing successes.
25:19 - So you're getting all this feedback from your employees, and you have to care enough about them to look at what you're getting and to say, is there a message here that I have to be picking up on? Is there an opportunity to train them because they might be missing something? Is there an opportunity for me to say, Hey, you don't seem like you're having a great day today, is something going on? Or is there an opportunity to praise them and recognize them for something that they've done?
31:59 - Jeffrey: You're just looking for how do you contribute, how can I contribute to this organization? How do I, how do I fit? And so it's you and your manager creating that level of connection and that level of focus. Clear priorities, clear goals. What are we trying to do here? Why does it matter? All of those things absolutely, positively have to happen in order for someone to feel good about their, their work and want to jump on these Zoom calls and, and, and want to be engaged in these, in these meetings and want to contribute to those meetings.. Margaret: Yeah, understanding what your role is, what your purpose is, great to understand what the company's purpose is, but you as an employee to be fully engaged. You're right.

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In this episode, Dr. Lisa DeRoché discusses the significance of mentoring in HR and her dissertation on entrepreneurial behaviors. She emphasizes the need for building relationships, empathy, and leadership support in HR mentoring programs. Dr. Lisa also provides useful tips for starting and growing successful mentoring partnerships in organizational settings.

Dr. Lisa DeRoché is the Chief People & Equity Officer at Roosevelt Institute, where she shapes the culture of a team driving progressive research to strengthen democracy. With a focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion, she provides strategic direction for human resources and advances innovative HR systems and processes. Here are a few of the topics we’ll discuss on this episode of Better People:

Mentoring is a powerful HR development tool that assists career advancement and promotes positive outcomes such as job satisfaction for employees.
Taking a risk and being vulnerable can lead to wonderful experiences in professional growth and building trust.
Entrepreneurial activities include creating new programs and products, innovative hiring, expanding business functions, opening new businesses, and using data.
Leadership support, engagement, and communication are essential to the success of mentoring programs.
Patience, compassion, role modeling, offering safe spaces, and creating a sense of community are critical behaviors that foster entrepreneurial attitudes.
Start informally and promote it internally
Engage in working through a plan that suits your organization's culture

Resources:

Roosevelt Institute
MidAtlantic Employers’ Association (MEA)

Connect with Dr. Lisa DeRoché:

LinkedIn

Connect with our host Margaret Uhrich:

LinkedIn

Quotables:

11:02 - “You have to be willing to use your voice even when immediate trust is not there. Y you know, and that's one of the, you know, points of my HR experience that has always been a challenge, both as an employee, you know, individual as well as a manager and a leader. The opportunity to build trust with, you know, another is, is potentially the block that can stop or start a career and or your engagement and being happy in your day-to-day work.”
31:04 - “As I've grown and matured in my career, I've always felt as if you have to please everyone, right? And I recognize in the various environments that I've worked in that, you know, it's important to please everyone, but you'll never get to that point. It's impossible to please everyone. You have to remove the mindset of, you know, the fact that you are attempting to please everyone, but go in with the mindset that you are a trusted individual, especially as an HR leader”
25:20 - “But so many people are like, are in that place where, how do I get started? What do I do? What should it look like? What would you tell somebody? What would be the, you know, one or two pieces of advice that you could give somebody who is thinking about creating the first mentorship program in their organization?”
29:06 - “And you know, what I tell the members that I talk with and, and that I support in rolling out mentorship programs here at our organization is, yeah, it doesn't have to cost anything really other than some time initially. And you can start small and those people, you know, if you even pair up have one pair to start, they will benefit from it. You will do something good, right? And, and so it's worth it to start. It's, it's just worth it to just start at, at whatever level and then have it grow organically and, and all along the way people are just really benefiting from it.”
10:07 - Lisa: You don't, you know, you haven't met these people before and that's really the hard part, you know, it's like going to a cocktail party and like, oh, I have got to get out here and talk to people, right? So it was really a wonderful opportunity.. Margaret: Interrupt. So, so yes, take the risk, right? Enter the relationship, start, you know, do it. But I think, and maybe this is part of the risk that you're talking about, I mean, you allowed yourself to be very vulnerable.

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In this episode, Holly discusses the importance of employee engagement and training in her organization. Michele from Philabundance then joins her to share how they combat food insecurity and rely on community and volunteer efforts, as well as the importance of workforce planning and development through initiatives like Employee Engagement Day.

Michele Gilbert is the Chief People Officer at Philabundance, overseeing human resource strategies and driving employee engagement and well-being initiatives. Her leadership has resulted in the implementation of talent acquisition programs, employee onboarding, and a comprehensive wellness program, making a significant impact on the organization's success and work environment. Here are a few of the topics we’ll discuss on this episode of Better People:

Philabundance services around 137,000 people every week by providing them food.
Employee Engagement Day was created to train all staff members monthly on a variety of topics, including personal development and other departmental knowledge.
Remote work and technology utilization pose challenges that require creative solutions.
Performance management training is necessary for sustainable growth and success.
Celebrating successes is essential for boosting employee morale and motivation.
Food insecurity is often linked with other issues such as healthcare access and mental health
The organization relies on volunteers and donations to continue their work

Resources:

Philabundance
MidAtlantic Employers’ Association (MEA)

Connect with Michele Gilbert:

LinkedIn

Connecting with Holly DePalma:

LinkedIn

Quotables:

10:58 - “I also found that by having a dedicated day a month when people had training ideas, we already knew what day it was going to be on. Right? So we don't have to go find a day in the calendar when we want to do a training for all staff. We know we have dedicated time already set aside for that.”
22:28 - “We want to make sure that people really get comfortable with the tools that we're developing, that we get them really feeling like this is something that will aid them in their work and not be another task for them to do and check off on the list. So we'll focus a lot of time and attention on getting that piece right. We've walked away from performance management during the pandemic.”
03:27 - Holly: “Tell me about, you know, sort of what's your, you know, we talk to HR people all the time who are, comp specialists or, my real favorite thing is employee relations. What is your sort of north star, if you will, in as it deals with people?” Michele: “I enjoy doing the training and development piece. I do like the human resources concept of employee relations, but that's kind of at the point where we don't always get to fix everything.”
15:19 - “So you mentioned in that discussion, you mentioned a topic that most people in HR are kind of wrestling with these days. And that is the, you know, some people in the office, some people at home, some people you know, and, really, the need for organizations to be flexible. So talk to me about how that plays out in your organization. What are you, what are some of the challenges you're having and some of the successes?”
26:37 - Holly: “And, you know, stepping as back into the HR discussion for, you know, if there is a young, young in his or her career or their career, what is your advice for somebody who's just starting out? What would you, what would you sort of recommend is the most important thing? Sure.” Michele: “Try it all right. I think that's the piece that you don't regret. Just keep trying. Go to those interviews that you think you might not make. Do the trainings you didn't think you could do. Keep going.”

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This episode, IQ Solutions Vice President of Human Resources, Jillian Bernstein, talks about leveraging data for employee engagement and well-being, manager engagement, and the importance of work-life balance and kindness in career success.

Jillian Bernstein is the Vice President of Human Resources at IQ Solutions, a federal contractor focused on communications and web design for federal health agencies.

Prior to this, Jillian progressed from an HR Generalist to Vice President within the HR team at Walker & Dunlop, and then spent ten years of practicing HR in the real estate finance world. Here are a few of the topics we’ll discuss on this episode of Better People:

How to use data for DEI and benefit analysis
The importance of pulse checks and stay interviews in addition to surveys.
The amount of time employees spend at work compared to their home.
How to use work groups to build employee connections.
Ways to create employee loyalty.
How companies should treat their employees.

Resources:

IQ Solutions
MidAtlantic Employers’ Association (MEA)

Connecting with Jillian Bernstein:

LinkedIn

Connecting with the host:

Holly DePalma on LinkedIn

Quotables:

18:23 – “So what do you feel your pull is? Like what's, what's exciting to you? Do you want to be helping with different innovation work? Do you want to help with different business development opportunities? Do you want to help come up with diversity, equity, and inclusion and belonging activities and get involved in the company that way? So really this is a great way for us to outreach to our employees and because sometimes people get so focused on the project that they're working on, this also allows them to have kind of more breadth in terms of who they're interacting with on a day-to-day basis.”
29:16 – “I do feel like we've had such a transformation and I don't know if it's more Gen Xers kind of coming into the ranks, but even my boss who I reported to, our chief financial officer, and he's a baby boomer, but he has been ever since day one at, at IQ. I remember the first week I was there, my son had started kindergarten and got sick in the classroom, and it was, I was so embarrassed because it was my first week, I was like, I am so sorry, but I need to go pick up my son. And he's like, go family, go, go, go. And I was like, I don't know that I could work anywhere else that doesn't have that. And I think if companies don't provide a family first mindset, that we really are doing our employees a disservice.”
32:40 – “I truly believe as an HR professional, again, if you're not coaching, and you're not seeing the employee as a whole person, then we're not doing our jobs as an HR person in terms of how we're structuring policies. And I think you'll get more loyalty out of employees if you have the flexibility that if you have a one-year-old at home and the one-year-old isn't feeling good that day, you're going to need to stay home. And that's okay.”
42:44 – “Just bring kindness to work with you every day and in your interviews and in your career. You just want to be gracious and kind. And I think that honestly will take you so far. And I think the other aspect of kindness is showing a kind of, not overly eager, because that could be off-putting for some people, but like a tempered solid eagerness to learn and to also be a little bit humble if you ever make a mistake and be like, I want to learn how to do that and do that better. And I think that that goes a long way too.”
34:19 – “You have to be intentional about it and that's why we saw it getting really carried away and we, we needed to kind of make sure that people rolled back, and our typical workday is 8:30 to 5:30, assuming an hour, people take an hour for lunch. But we have early birds, we have night owls, and that's okay. We want people to work when they're able to work and, and juggle family priorities too. So the thought really is like, just get the email ready, send it during that window though. And that way you can kind of feel like you did what you need to do. And then in the morning before you run off to take your kids to school, send all those emails that you worked on last night at 10 o'clock if you want, but don't do it then.”

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In this podcast episode, EmpiRx Health’s Chief People Officer, Alisia Gill, shares insights on transparent hiring practices, fostering inclusivity in the workplace, and measuring and addressing violations of core values.

Alisia Gill is the Chief People Officer at EmpiRx Health, a dynamic company driven by a groundbreaking pay-for-performance financial model that ensures guaranteed savings. With a customized approach to population health management and an exceptional, personalized customer experience, EmpiRx Health boasts impressive client retention rates that exceed the benchmarks set by the industry. Here are a few of the topics we’ll discuss on this episode of Better People:

The importance of establishing a clear North Star to guide the organization towards its goals
The importance of transparency in creating a sustainable company culture
How to invest in managers for a better workforce
Why managers should receive coaching based on 360 feedback surveys
The value of senior leaders undergoing extreme ownership training
How to recognize managers as culture carriers and people leaders
How to foster ongoing conversations with clear expectations for success

Resources:

EmpiRx Health
MidAtlantic Employers’ Association (MEA)

Connect with Alisia Gill:

LinkedIn

Connecting with Holly DePalma:

LinkedIn

Quotables:

03:41. “Let's figure out how we can think about human capital management in a more integrated fashion, because the organization isn't going to do what we needed to do if we haven't figured that piece out. We need to have our people ops part. We need to have our learning and development, because we're developing people who don't have to give us the best that they have to offer. They don't have to, they can just show up to work and go home.”
04:53 “There needs to be an individual's North Star so that everybody knows where they're headed and going in the same direction. And no one feels misled. Nobody feels confused. You don't have all these ridiculous inefficiencies. You find more opportunities to collaborate. Innovation becomes possible. All these things, if you get the people part.”
13:27 “If you are like me, you're a culture fit. And really, this phrase is really culture add and really understanding. We want you to understand what we do here and how we do it, and, like you said, does this make you say, ‘I'm gonna self-select out?’ Or does this ignite your, your sort of excitement and your feelings here?”
26:12 “Many companies that would never hire a learning specialist, company less than 10 years old, they’re not caring about that. But we care about that because we know that our employees care about that. They, they, everyone wants to believe that when they get off the, you know, on their career trajectory with, they want every role that they have to be advancing themselves professionally. They don't want to feel as if they've gone backwards or stagnant.”
36:46 “We also have a partnership with a company called Valor Performance. We have an executive coach for every single people manager in the company. They meet with them twice a month to work on things that are based on 360 feedback survey that's part of that work, where every employee has an opportunity to provide feedback anonymously, and all the stuff that happens in those coaching sessions with our people managers are the things that get worked on.”

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Dave Glenn, VP of HR for United Methodist Communities, discusses his successful recruitment and retention strategies, which utilize technology such as an app that gamifies employee referrals and an AI algorithm for a caregiver retention model. He also prioritizes data and AI in refining their hiring processes, emphasizes the importance of middle management in retention, and continuously strives to learn and improve.

David Glenn, the Vice president of HR at United Methodist Communities, joins us for this podcast episode. With over 100 years of providing care to seniors, United Methodist Communities embodies values of compassion, respect, stewardship, and service, which are evident in every aspect of their work. Here are a few of the topics we’ll discuss on this episode of Better People:

Incentivizing employee referrals for recruitment via text, email, Facebook, LinkedIn, WhatsApp, and Twitter.
Utilizing employee referrals has led to a great retention rate compared to job board hires.
The goal of expanding this program to other industries in the future.
Using data to refine hiring questions and processes for better retention.
The importance of pride, work mission, and safety for employee satisfaction.
Embracing change and new ideas to improve efficiency and employee satisfaction.

Resources:

United Methodist Communities
MidAtlantic Employers’ Association (MEA)

Connecting with Dave Glenn:

LinkedIn

Connecting with Margaret Uhrich:

Margaret Uhrich on LinkedIn

Quotables:

03:37 – “But basically our applicant tracking system shoots out all of our job openings to the folks who have enrolled in this app, and then they can refer their friends and family, their social media followers to our jobs. And what it does is if when that goes out, it goes out through s m s text, email, Facebook, which I know a lot of employees are not on Facebook anymore. Their grandparents are, but not them. That's LinkedIn. WhatsApp, I believe, and Twitter. And so, so they could send it to any or all of those media, and if that person responds to that link, they get credit for it. So the system recognizes who, who referred them and then gives 'em credit. So, so it kind of gamifies it a little, it, it tracks, you know, how many people have sent jobs out and how many have come back, been interviewed or been hired so that we can reward folks for their diligence.”
5:57 – “So when you post a job on Indeed, it doesn't discriminate. You know who, who's getting that advertised, right? It goes out to everybody. But with this app, our individual employees, we would hope they would refer people like themselves, you know, their family members, their friends, perhaps they're like-minded. And if our employees are committed, hopefully we’ll get somebody similar who would be a great hire. So those people tend to respond, greater percentage of them respond, and they're quicker to hire. And as I'll, I'll point out in a few minutes, our retention rates are much greater for those individuals.”
8:08 – “Yeah, so I'll give you some examples. For instance, 12 month retention. The first year, typically from our Indeed hires, we retain about 63%, but through employee referrals, 78%, once you get out though to two years, typically we retain 35%. So it drops almost in half. But employee referrals 63%, so 35% versus 63%. And then when you go out three years, 26% for job boards, 57% for referrals. So we hang on to these people much longer when they come referred.”
10:47 – “So not only is it really helping you with your recruitment, I have to imagine it's helping to engage those really committed employees that you have. Definitely. And I think it helps their retention if their friends are working there or a family member. I mean, there's some families, we have two and three members of the family working in the same building.”
19:30 – “You can have the best senior leadership, but if you don't have good middle management, you're going to fail. So we've established something we've called UMC University, where quarterly we bring managers and potential managers in and train them on various aspects of management, the nuts, and bolts things, the HR law, you know, which I usually do, but there's, there's finance, there's IT. But then getting into things like emotional intelligence and, and other leadership qualities, bringing in other speakers. So we're just getting into it actually in a couple weeks, our second round of training. So we're very intentional about that, and we're going to keep that going forever, hopefully, and, and really help to develop these folks.”

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This episode, OmniCable’s Chief Human Resources Officer, Cora Walker, talks about the importance of acknowledging company culture during significant company changes, the need for investment in leadership to create an engaged and positive work environment, and how to create a positive company culture.

Cora Walker is the Chief Human Resource Officer at OmniCable and is a strategic business partner with generalist and talent acquisition experience in highly demanding, client-centric environments.

Cora has been recognized for her ability to cultivate relationships and collaborate in complex, matrixed organizations to achieve business objectives. Here are a few of the topics we’ll discuss on this episode of Better People:

Why company culture is so important.
How a company's culture is created.
The importance of your employee's mental and emotional well-being during changes.
Creating a one-pager blueprint for a company’s culture.
The value of investing in leadership development.
Why looking after your employees and leaders is fundamental to a company’s success.
What evidence of cultural buy-in from employees signals.

Resources:

OmniCable
MidAtlantic Employers’ Association (MEA)

Connect with Cora Walker:

LinkedIn

Connecting with the host:

Holly DePalma on LinkedIn

Quotables:

09:35 – “Tomorrow you're going to come, and we'll be owned by someone else, but ultimately you will come here and do the same job, you'll have the same opportunities, right? And the next day you're going to do that, and the following day you're going to do that. We kept hearing this very nagging, like, ‘oh yeah, but what about our culture?’ I don't understand, what about the culture. Right? Nothing's going to change. And for them, the change had already happened, right? They, they were so invested in employee ownership, that's what they associated with culture. And we failed miserably to acknowledge and accept that for them. And so we just kept saying, it's fine, it's all fine. The culture's the same. Meanwhile, they're like, ‘no, no, no. We've already experienced the loss.’ It can't possibly be the same, cause it's not here anymore.”
11:59 – “Culture as a leadership topic kind of made a comeback at the end of 2020. And frankly, we didn't do a great job. We talked a lot. People had tons of ideas. We talked about those ideas. We moved along our merry way. We grew, we grew, we grew. And all along the growth process, even with our parent company, right, who has an incredible culture, we did a lot of talking, and we didn't do anything very differently except for say we wanted to do some things differently. And so 2021 sort of came and went.”
14:55 – “Consistently people leaving told us, ‘I had no idea what to expect here. I didn't know.’ And, and I think part of that was because we didn't know how to recruit and interview and bring people on. If you've been here 20 years and over that 20 years you've trained 10 people, because that was about the rate we were hiring at, no problem. But if tomorrow we ask you to train five people and then the following week two more new ones come in, and then you start to go, ‘whoa, whoa, whoa, this is… my job's not training, my job's running this machine.’ Right? Yeah. So that was a lot of it. It was just a lot of those observations from the travel and the hiring pieces and our, our honestly miserable failure in 2021 to, to keep up with staffing and our, our turnover increased.”
37:56 – “Culture forms no matter what, right? The culture just naturally happens. If you want it to be a specific way, you have to be intentional about it, and kudos to you and to your organization really to take the time to do that.”
39:36 – “It's hard to do when you don't feel safe, comfortable, you're unsure of the answer. I might look like an idiot, what if someone calls me out? But at the end of the day, we're people, right? Human beings, if I can't extend the benefit of the doubt, regardless of how I feel internally, then what? Right? Then you're creating more of things that don't work for humans. And so I think that's probably the biggest thing is just you'd be willing to put yourself in a situation to call it out more and recognize that sometimes that's not going to make you the most popular person in the room, and that's okay.”

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Holly and Margaret will share their insights and lessons learned from years of managing people and consulting with employers around their people challenges. They will be joined by leading HR and People Leaders who have successfully tackled this important business strategy. If you are responsible for any aspect of your employer’s people process, you won’t want to miss these high-energy, engaging and informative interviews.

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