Meaningful Recognition: Empowering Managers to Elevate Employees
BY Carrie Snider June 25, 2025As the modern workforce stretches across five generations, employee recognition must adapt accordingly. “Boomers expected to maybe work for one to two companies,” said Guy Westermeyer, founder of Westcomm. “Fast forward to the youngest generation, and we’re hearing about 25 companies.” That shift has transformed employee expectations—recognition must be personal, timely, and authentic.Westermeyer, whose agency supports HR teams in employee communications, says that meaningful recognition can’t be limited to a once-a-year training or an annual holiday message. “We can’t just do this during February, and then again by Thanksgiving. We’ve got to do this year-round,” he said during an executive panel discussion at From Day One’s Minneapolis conference. One of the most powerful strategies? Specificity. “If I know that dad wants to buy a zoo membership, are there ways to reward that person with buying that zoo membership?” Westermeyer suggested. Personalized gestures show employees they’re truly seen, and that managers are listening.Recognition shouldn’t just be top-down, he says. “We need to create ways for peers to give each other thanks and praise,” he said. At Westcomm, that includes a “love bomb” Slack channel, where team members can post spontaneous shout-outs. For bigger wins, he suggests curating those shout-outs into a newsletter or email roundup to help remote or hybrid workers relive the moment.Developing Everyday AppreciationAt UnitedHealth Group, panelist Lukas Mudra believes everyday appreciation is the heart of meaningful recognition. As VP of people, inclusion, and culture, Mudra sees firsthand how authenticity and small, personalized gestures can shape workplace culture more than elaborate programs. “You have to pay people, right?” he said. “That’s table stakes. But beyond that, people want to be seen—for who they are and what matters to them.”Megan Thompson, special correspondent at PBS News Hour, moderated the panel discussion about "Employee Recognition and Rewards: How Managers Can Be Empowered"Appreciation doesn’t have to be over-engineered, he says. “If you pause and truly take time to listen to your people, it’s a lot easier to align recognition that is meaningful and that matters to that person,” he said. Something as simple as acknowledging a new father for balancing work and home life can leave a lasting impact. “Those are the moments that people reflect on and that build that sense of loyalty to the organization.”In a virtual world, leaders need to be intentional. “Even if they physically need to put it in their calendar to say, ‘I need time to consider what’s happening in my employees’ lives,’” Mudra said. Whether it’s a public “shoutout,” a private thank-you email, or a stretch assignment, the key is knowing what recognition each person values.Mudra also highlighted the role of employee resource groups (ERGs) and internal platforms. “It’s not direct recognition in the traditional sense, but it’s incredible to see the engagement when people share life milestones and personal wins,” he said. “It brings humanity back into the workplace.”Embedding Recognition into Company CultureAt Xcel Energy, recognition is core to culture, not just compensation. Panelist Yen Ly explained that the company is redefining its employee value proposition, with employee experience standing alongside customer satisfaction and organizational performance.“It’s not just about pay,” Ly said. “It’s about showing appreciation—especially from leaders to employees.” Recognition should feel natural and integrated into everyday work, not like an extra task.Ly, VP of total rewards, admitted that even as a leader, she’s working on pausing to celebrate small wins. “There are always 101 things to do, but it’s important to stop and say, ‘Great job,’ even for the little things.”Xcel uses a company-wide recognition platform, but Yen noted that cultural adoption still has room to grow. She’s exploring ways to simplify the process—like integrating thank you emails with the platform for easier, more visible recognition.She also pointed out a missed opportunity in how leaders assign stretch projects. “Sometimes I give someone extra responsibility because I see their potential,” she said, “but I forget to say that’s why. That clarity matters.”Hybrid work makes intentional recognition even more critical. “It’s easier to recognize people you see daily,” Ly noted. Leaders must be mindful of proximity bias and strive for inclusive recognition across all work settings.To track impact, Xcel uses engagement surveys, but Yen stressed the importance of digging into employee comments and following up. “Even if you think you’re showing appreciation, it might not land the way you expect,” she said. “Don’t assume—ask.”Connected Recognition MomentsAt Allina Health, culture and recognition go hand in hand. Panelist Jen Bailey, VP of total rewards and HR shared services, shared how the organization recently launched a new “Compass” outlining its vision, mission, and values—and used it to update formal recognition programs. “We aligned our platforms to reflect our values,” she said. “When you see compassion or teamwork, share it.”Allina celebrates “All Together Better Month,” a time for employee appreciation and storytelling. A private Facebook page helps employees across 12 hospitals and 70 clinics connect, celebrate wins, and recognize each other’s work. LinkedIn is also used for professional recognition.Leadership modeling plays a key role. “Recognition grows when leaders are seen doing it,” Bailey said. “It creates a culture where people feel valued and want to stay.”Personalization is essential. “Ask your employees how they like to be recognized,” she said. “Some want public praise. Others don’t. Tailor your approach.”In hybrid environments, recognition must be intentional. “You don’t have hallway conversations anymore,” Bailey said. “Use IMs, emails, or team chats—just make it visible.”Allina tracks recognition impact through KPIs like turnover and engagement. “We’ve reduced first-year turnover significantly, thanks to stronger onboarding and manager support,” she said.Finally, Bailey emphasized managing change with care. “When programs evolve or sunset, explain the why and offer new tools to keep appreciation alive. Recognition should never just disappear.” Recognition is the heartbeat of thriving workplaces. When managers genuinely appreciate their employees, they build stronger cultures and lasting loyalty.Carrie Snider is a Phoenix-based journalist and marketing copywriter.(Photos by Travis Johansen for From Day One)
The Real Impact of AI on Hiring: Staying Ahead of the Curve
BY Emily McCrary-Ruiz-Esparza June 24, 2025“This pressure to do more with less can be really challenging, let alone when you start to bring in a lot of what we’re seeing today in spam and in fraud,” said Meredith Johnson, chief product officer at applicant tracking platform Greenhouse. Recruiters face more than an applicant volume challenge today: They also have to sift for the highest-quality candidates who have sincere enthusiasm for the role while lazy applicants spam hundreds employers with AI-generated resumes and bad actors try to wiggle their way into companies to steal trade secrets or work on behalf of hostile nations—a problem few recruiters ever imagined they would encounter.Johnson spoke during a From Day One webinar on the impact of AI on hiring and how talent acquisition teams can stay ahead of the curve. Greenhouse is among the companies leading the charge on combating applicant fraud while preserving the candidate experience for good-faith applicants. The company recently announced its partnership with Clear to verify applicant identity and combat fraud and spam at the top of the hiring funnel. Adopting AI for Maximum ImpactFor companies that haven’t jumped on the artificial intelligence train, the good news is that the barriers to entry are low, and the easiest tools to adopt can offload some of the most time-consuming tasks. Early stages of the hiring process are ideal for AI intervention. It’s in the setup phase that TA teams often spin their wheels, Johnson said, over-polishing job descriptions or hand-tailoring candidate outreach emails one at a time. This, she noted, is a great place to start with AI.“You might send a communication that says, ‘I hope this email finds you well. We’re currently looking for individuals with these skill sets for this role, and I was really impressed with your experience in: Enter personalization token that’s drawing from all that goodness automatically for you.’” Once the recruiter reviews and signs off, that outreach is ready to roll. And when you’ve built a solid slate of candidates, recruiters can use AI to generate questions tailored to the role and most-sought-after attributes. Though this tool has been available only for a few months, Johnson said it’s their most used AI-assisted feature, with an 80% acceptance rate, “meaning that 80% of the time, our users are just accepting, without any condition, the suggested questions that are being provided.”Of course, what every recruiter hopes to find are those candidates who are not only qualified, they’re interested and able to take on a new role. Greenhouse is now using sentiment analysis to suss out the candidates that have the greatest affinity toward specific jobs. “One of the capabilities that we rolled out with the auto-generated sentiment analysis that automatically interprets and categorizes information from the prospect email, and so it can turn back results and signals to the hiring team. How interested are they? Could it potentially be bad timing?”Journalist Emily McCrary-Ruiz-Esparza moderated the discussion with Meredith Johnson of Greenhouse (photo by From Day One)The goal is to move the best matched and most engaged talent along in the hiring process. Actually hiring stand-out applicants can be a matter of a good candidate experience, which can be a differentiator for an employer, she says, especially as companies lose good candidates among a deluge of applications.Companies may be prone to using time-saved as the primary KPI when folding AI into recruitment, but most recruiters don’t just want to move faster, they want to make better hires. Prioritizing–and measuring–the candidate experience mitigates against a hiring strategy that prizes speed at all costs. “You’re starting to get into that higher altitude of a more effective process, and that’s really important,” she said. “We want to do it with speed and have a little fun, but really, we want to get a really, really good result, and that’s what matters.”Greenhouse doesn’t operate without internal guardrails. The company runs a formal AI ethics committee that reviews all their products and updates, and they’re keen on transparency into not only what the tools do, but also what models they run on. Candidates can even opt out of some features, like interview recording and AI assistants in calls.Johnson sees challenges and opportunities beyond just sourcing, but deep “into the actual meat of recruiting.” As a hiring manager, she’s using Greenhouse’s platform to build her own team, and it’s through first-hand experience that she’s testing and developing new tools.“We think about not only solving problems in this space, but doing it with purposeful delivery and placement of AI-supported and AI-assisted capabilities,” she said. “There’s lots to uncover there where we can provide more AI-assisted time saving, efficiency, and boosting experiences in the interview process.”Editor’s note: From Day One thanks our partner, Greenhouse, for sponsoring this webinar. Emily McCrary-Ruiz-Esparza is an independent journalist and From Day One contributing editor who writes about business and the world of work. Her work has appeared in the Economist, the BBC, The Washington Post, Inc., and Business Insider, among others. She is the recipient of a Virginia Press Association award for business and financial journalism.(Photo by imaginima/iStock)
People-Centered Approaches to Workplace Productivity
BY Jennifer Yoshikoshi June 23, 2025Workplace productivity isn’t just about policies and perks anymore, it’s about fluency in human difference. As new generations enter the workforce with different expectations, the challenge for employers isn’t just keeping up, but tuning in. Jodi Hill, vice president of global talent attraction and engagement strategic initiatives at Wells Fargo says HR leaders should evolve their strategies to bring out the best in every employee.Hill spoke during an executive panel discussion at From Day One’s Minneapolis conference, where leaders shared how their workplaces lead initiatives to create environments that support worker productivity in sustainable ways.To address the needs of employees, leaders often use surveys to understand how they can better support their workers. Dustin Wellik, vice president of HR strategy and solutions for 3M says his company uses what it calls “active and ambient listening strategies.” By collecting the comments and questions that are made through communication channels, events and town halls, 3M will consolidate them for themes. “You can also start to understand tone,” he said.“If you start to get hints of anxiety that could be they don’t feel like they’re equipped or capable to perform what we need them to do, or at the volume we need them to do it,” Wellik added. “If they’re resistant, perhaps we're not quite hitting what's in it for them or incentivizing them to lean in.”At U.S. Bank, one focus is on uplifting employees through a campaign called “Innovation Week.” Kelly Johnson, senior vice president and HR advisory services lead for U.S. Bank said this is part of its attempt to create a culture that fosters innovative ideas and empowers employees to share them. “I think this really allows the team to feel comfortable and to bring those ideas forward and to create that space for change,” said Johnson.With a new generation of workers entering the field, leaders need to learn how to adjust their management styles and acknowledge differences in the way younger generations like Gen Z function and work. Dr. Colleen Flaherty Manchester, professor in the work and organizations department at the Carlson School of Management, moderated the discussion Hill said that social media is key to recruiting and attracting new workers because the younger generation has grown up with technology and media. She suggested that “Day in the Life” videos can offer a glimpse into the work day, offering potential applicants with a very raw and realistic image of what it’s like to be an employee for the company.Enhancing Wellness and Productivity Through ChangeWhen employees are struggling financially or mentally, it can take away from their ability to be productive at work. One of the ways that companies are cultivating an empowered and engaged work culture is by using demand pay or earned wage access. This benefit allows workers to access a portion of their accrued wages prior to payroll at no cost.“They now have the power to access a portion of those wages and utilize those wages in a way that puts them in a better financial situation, and they’re not coming to work stressed out,” said Steve Davis, national sales manager of business partnerships for Global Payments.Davis encourages company leaders to look into ways that they can emphasize financial wellness and benefits that can create a better culture. When it comes to ensuring that workers' needs are met, leaders should also be able to hold conversations with their staff about what challenges they might be facing and how they as leaders can help. Johnson added that it’s key to have education for leaders to train them on how to start conversions and how to engage in dialogue about employee performance, potential external stressors and what’s impacting the employee. At U.S. Bank, the company offers support circles for their employees, a group that allows individuals to connect with others who are experiencing similar things in life. This can include being a new mom, dealing with aging parents or becoming an empty nester. “I think sometimes those connections with others that you may not work with day to day, those connections can be very impactful for employees to find a safe space to talk through that get ideas, to be able to be more successful as well,” said Johnson. Aside from personal stressors, the economic and political changes can also be distracting, impacting the ability for employees to focus. In these situations, Hill encourages transparency from the company while also putting a lens on what’s impacting the organization and using that as a guardrail for conversations. “At Wells Fargo, one of the things I think we have done really well is that we’ve had our leaders be very vocal with conversations about diversity, equity and inclusion and its commitment,” said Hill. She encouraged HR leaders to hold conversations with frontline leaders and guide them on how to navigate discussion about these topics. “The volume of change and chaos out there is so overwhelming that sometimes we forget about what’s not changing,” Wellik added. He suggested that while it’s still important to acknowledge the changes, highlighting what will remain the same is equally as powerful, including company values, objectives, goals and culture.(Photos by Travis Johansen for From Day One)
The Quiet Excellence Among Federal Workers—and What Corporate Leaders Could Learn From Them
BY Emily McCrary-Ruiz-Esparza June 20, 2025The employees at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory are among the most high-performing teams on earth. They explore the farthest edges of galaxies, photograph cosmic events millions of years old, dream up some of the most advanced technology humans have ever made—and build vehicles to go where no one has gone before.More milestones are on the way. In 2027, the JPL will launch into space the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope—the most sophisticated to date—and, as the writer Dave Eggers puts it, they’re “within striking distance” of identifying not just the existence but also the location of life elsewhere in the universeThis is a world-changing pursuit for everyone born on terra firma, yet most of the folks at JPL don’t seek praise for what they do. When the writer Dave Eggers visited the lab in Pasadena, Calif., to write about its workers for the Washington Post, he noted that “no one at JPL—no one I met, at least—was willing to take credit for anything.”This work ethic, too, is worth some deep exploring. How can people making history by their excellence shun conventional appreciation? Corporate leaders in HR insist that a culture of recognition is essential to a healthy and productive workforce. True enough, yet Eggers found more dimensions of worker satisfaction that many corporate employers could learn from. Among them: an embrace of intrinsic motivation (curiosity and collaboration) rather than only extrinsic forms (compensation and celebrity); the challenges of answering big questions and solving societal problems; and the sense of leaving a generational legacy.“Yes, we are in the space business and in the knowledge business,” one manager told Eggers, “but I’ve always believed that we’re really in the inspiration business, the inspiration that we have lent out and inspired generations of engineers and scientists. It cannot be underestimated.”What’s even more remarkable, writers like Eggers have discovered: the JPL isn’t an outlier. It’s not an exotic planet among federal agencies, but representative of similar values across the workforce of 2.4 million civilian federal workers.At a time when the Trump administration has cut almost 59,000 federal employees and given buyouts to 76,000 as of mid-May, all the while vilifying the federal workforce as lazy and low-performing, a cadre of journalists have taken a closer look at who does the work that makes the U.S. government, and the country, run. The author Michael Lewis got curious about this at the dawn of the first Trump administration, when the incoming president and his team decided to skip the traditional briefing given by the previous administration on the complexities of the executive workforce. Lewis’s reporting produced a series of Washington Post stories and a bestselling book, The Fifth Risk, which explored what happens when the government is controlled by people who have little idea of how itworks.As a follow-up in 2024, Lewis and six colleagues, who include Eggers, the comic W. Kamau Bell, and Pulitzer Prize winner Geraldine Brooks, followed federal employees as they hammered through their day-to-day duties. The often-arcane pursuits included engineering structures that save miners from dying on the job, investigating cybercrime (and nabbing the criminals), burying and memorializing veterans, meticulously calculating the health of our economy, protecting our most treasured national relics, dispensing knowledge to the public, busting monopolies with verve.The series of profiles, called “Who Is Government?,” ran in installments in the Washington Post in 2024 and was published this year as a book by the same name, now a bestseller.Lewis and his co-authors describe a culture within the federal workforce that most business leaders, and HR teams, might only dream of: a high regard for management, routinely doing more with less, a painstaking commitment to measurement, high retention despite comparatively low pay, creativity and innovation with slim budgets, and a deep personal commitment to the cause of the organization. But there’s still that missing piece—no one’s singling them out for praise.One former assistant secretary of foreign affairs at the Veterans Administration tells writer Casey Cep, without apparent resentment, that to be a civil servant is to be invisible. “No one ever knows about the good you do.” What, then, takes the place of that?How Corporate America Is Different, But Could ChangeCorporate America tends to mingle with its own kind. Private-sector conferences seldom invite public-sector speakers, there are few federal bureaucratic influencers on LinkedIn, Fortune isn’t likely to profile cybercrime teams at the IRS, even though they’ve recovered billions of dollars for the American public.Yet, in many ways, the public sector has achieved what the private sector still grapples for.If anyone in the private sector knows about excellence, it’s Lawrence Price. He’s a West Point graduate, an Army veteran, and the holder of a Ph.D. in industrial and organizational psychology. In the private sector he has worn titles like “director of organizational development and continuous improvement” and “vice president of organizational excellence.” He’s currently the VP of people and culture at Brink’s, the company whose armored trucks transport wads of cash and diamonds.There are three types of corporate excellence, he said. Efficiency, innovation, and proficiency. The federal workforce, which is so large and so diverse in its purposes, contains all three.Companies that create the same product or service repeatedly want to be efficient. Bereaved families can call the National Cemetery Administration (part of the VA) most times of day or night to make funeral arrangements. Though every military member who dies is unique in their way, their burials are democratically the same: Republican and Democrat, male and female, black and white, officer or enlisted. It’s worth noting that they have so mastered efficiency with strict process and deep respect that the NCA ranks above any organization—public or private—on the American Consumer Satisfaction Index.Those that make new things want to be innovative (and are seldom concerned with efficiency). It makes sense that the JPL satisfies this criteria, but, as Sarah Vowell’s story in Who Is Government? shows, so does the Food and Drug Administration, whose CURE ID website allows doctors all over the world to report cases of rare disease and log the treatments that work and don’t work. It’s the first of its kind. And they did it on a shoestring.Companies that gather groups of experts—like a hospital or a robotics firm, for instance—want to be proficient. Most federal departments are proficiency hubs in one fashion or another. IRS cybercrime investigators are experts in digital forensics, archivists are experts in preservation and knowledge dissemination, the Department of Justice’s antitrust division is a concentration of experts in monopolies and mitigating them.All companies want some level of financial sustainability, Price noted. The same is true for government agencies, which need to meet their budgets even as they make difficult decisions between competing programs, dreams, and expectations.And all organizations want engaged employees, a goal easier for those that prize proficiency and harder for those that prize efficiency, but not impossible. Casey Cep writes that the private sector could learn a thing or two from the National Cemetery Administration, especially in the way of commitment. “There is no mission more sacred than honoring these heroes and helping their families through such a hard time, and it’s a job that [the NCA does] with excellence and compassion every single day,” Denis McDonough, the former secretary of Veterans Affairs, told Cep.Price believes that intrinsic motivation and sense of duty–a feeling that it’s a privilege to serve–are far more powerful than what corporate America might call a culture of recognition. “It’s stickier,” he said. “I’m ex-military, and it’s amazing to me what a piece of tin going on a person’s uniform—how it will motivate them, how it makes them feel seen.”Finding Motivation in the Mission It’s easy to imagine self-generating motivation if your mission is to support and defend the Constitution of the United States–an oath sworn by both military and civil servants. But what if you make windshield wipers, or build software, or paint houses? Where–and how–will employees find motivation?It may be a matter of identifying the human dignity in what the company does. Adam Weber, an executive coach in the private sector, told From Day One that organizational excellence begins with a clear vision for the future: “That flag on the moon, that deep understanding of why the business exists and where it’s headed,” he said. This needn’t be some altruistic dream nor a sappy myth about changing the world, but a clear-eyed description of the effects of what your employees do.A commercial painting business beautifies homes simply and efficiently. A sportswear brand helps keep people active and healthy. A payments software company helps people get paid on time. And a cybersecurity company ensures those paychecks stay in the accounts where they belong.The federal employees profiled in Who Is Government? are acutely aware of the downstream effects of their work, and they’re aware of who’s footing the bill. “The scientists I met [at JPL] were exquisitely aware that they’re spending taxpayer money, and they were determined to justify the faith put in them,” Eggers wrote. The sense of dignity in their work is immensely high. In corporate speak: They’re engaged with the company mission, and accountable to their stakeholders.Even so, long before the Trump administration declared open season on federal workers, their advocates decided that they could use a little more limelight in their own interest. Each year since 2002, the Partnership for Public Services gives out what’s called the Oscars of their field. At the award ceremony this week, the top price went to David Lebryk, a former top Treasury Department who “was forced out of his career position for refusing to grant Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency what he considered unlawful access to the government’s payment system,” as the New York Times reported.In accepting his award, Lebryk noted that “most of my career was spent trying to be unnoticed.” But now he was in the spotlight and wanted to encourage his successors. The night before the awards, he addressed a group of incoming federal interns, encouraging them to pursue public service, the Times reported. Eventually, he said, “things will break,” and the administration “will have to turn to people who know how to fix things.” He said he tells government colleagues to “take care of yourself, and take the long view; your skills are going to be needed in the future.”Emily McCrary-Ruiz-Esparza is an independent journalist and From Day One contributing editor who writes about business and the world of work. Her work has appeared in the Economist, the BBC, The Washington Post, Inc., and Business Insider, among others. She is the recipient of a Virginia Press Association award for business and financial journalism.(Featured photo: a portrait of employees at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, from left, Tiffany Kataria, Bertrand Mennesson, Vanessa Bailey, and Kim Aaron. Photo ©Jay L. Clendenin)
Prioritizing People: Building Human-Centered Benefits in a Complex Healthcare Landscape
BY Matthew Koehler June 18, 2025Most people don’t think of their health as a roller coaster. But Cody Fair, chief commercial officer at Noom Health, says that’s exactly what weight loss feels like for millions of Americans. “I came today to talk about roller coasters. Not the kind you ride at an amusement park, but the one that millions of Americans are on every day: the roller coaster around weight loss.”Fair’s story is personal and all too familiar. After a life-altering diagnosis in college led to 20 years of struggling with his weight, he tried everything from diets to personal trainers to meal prep to even Noom itself. “I’ve lost the same 20 pounds 20 different times,” he said. Then GLP-1 medications entered the scene, and everything changed—almost.Fair spoke about the complex and frustrating reality of weight loss and accessing GLP-1s, the new class of drugs for obesity treatment during a thought leadership spotlight at From Day One’s NYC half-day benefits conference. He recounted his personal journey as both a healthcare executive and as a patient navigating a broken system.When Fair first started taking Wegovy, the results were immediate and dramatic. “Weight was basically falling off of me,” but then came the shortage. “I would spend time every day calling pharmacies within 50 miles,” he said, trying to track down a refill. His primary care provider (PCP) bumped him to the highest dosage, warning him of side effects. “I told her, no side effect would matter to getting back to the body that I wanted. Turns out that was a lie.” Fair got so nauseated he often had to leave in the middle of board meetings. “I couldn’t go out to eat with my friends. I couldn’t go play golf.”When another drug, Zepbound, became available in Fair’s formulary, he thought the nightmare was over. But after a few months the supply would vanish, then he’d have to navigate the obstacle of prior authorization. “By the time I’m done with that, I can’t get it. It’s gone at that pharmacy.” Even when Zepbound came off shortage, a change in his company’s insurance plan reset the whole process, or he couldn’t get approved. Cody Fair of Noom Health led the thought leadership spotlight (photo by Hason Castell for From Day One)“The PBM (Pharmacy Benefits Manager) blames the PCP. The PCP blames the pharmacy. If you’ve ever seen the Spider-Man meme where they’re all pointing at each other, that is my vision of what prior authorization in healthcare in America looks like,” he said. But Fair finally found relief, not through the system, but through a colleague at Noom. He received a 90-day supply, “weight is starting to come off, energy is coming back,” he said. Still, Fair says he’s worried for when this 90-day supply runs out.Unfortunately, Fair’s experience is not a unique one. “Hundreds, if not thousands, of your employees are probably going through that same journey.” More are going through this journey across the country. “We are in a system that is broken,” he said.“This isn’t just a personal issue. This is a workforce issue.” Fair points to lower productivity and higher absenteeism. “When you struggle with your health, you're going to struggle at work. If you struggle accessing the care that you need, it's going to affect the organization overall.” Employees, Fair emphasized, “are your most valuable asset.”Noom is helping to offer a way off the ride, says Fair. The company has developed a commercial program aimed at supporting employers and their employees who feel stuck in the cycle. Noom Med with Smart RX starts by carving GLP-1s out from PBMs to bring down cost, by about $200 per script on average, he says. Employers can choose how much of that cost to cover, whether 50% or 25%.But the real value, Fair says, is in the wraparound care. “You meet with clinicians who are experts in obesity care.” Participants use Noom’s digital tools, including a purpose-built GLP-1 companion and even a body scan app that tracks fat mass and waist-to-hip ratio. “Ultimately, we believe all of these things together are how you will truly pull an ROI out of these medications,” Fair said. “And I don’t just mean your bottom line. When I take a GLP-1, I want the ROI out of it myself. Your employees want the ROI out of what they’re doing.”“What we’re advocating for is change. Investing in your employees’ health, their well-being, and their overall future,” he said. “We have the power to reshape this narrative. To create a system where no one is judged, ashamed or left behind, and where everyone has access to the care that they need.”Editor’s note: From Day One thanks our partner, Noom, for sponsoring this thought leadership spotlight. Matthew Koehler is a freelance journalist and licensed real-estate agent based in Washington, DC. His work has appeared in the Washington Post, Greater Greater Washington, The Southwester, and Walking Cinema, among others.(Photos by mediaphotos/iStock)
Employee Mental Health and Financial Wellness: How Managers Can Be Empowered
BY Carrie Snider June 17, 2025Burnout, debt, disconnection: today’s workforce is carrying more than just job responsibilities. And when these pressures surface, it’s managers who are expected to respond first—and best.At From Day One’s NYC half-day benefits conference, a panel of experts tackled a pressing question: How can companies better equip their managers to support employees holistically? From emotional intelligence to creative financial wellness tools, the conversation revealed why empowering managers may be the smartest investment a company can make.Mental Health First AidEquipping managers with the tools to support employee mental health and financial wellness may be one of the most powerful moves a company can make, says panelist Sean Masterman, VP of global employer sales at Calm.“Managers are the frontline of employee experience,” Masterman said. “Training them in mental health first aid helps create a ripple effect across the organization. It starts to normalize conversations around mental health and builds psychological safety.”One effective starting point for those conversations? Sleep.“Sleep is the number one reason people come to Calm,” Masterman said. “It’s a non-threatening entry point into broader discussions around mental health, and it helps reduce the stigma.”Masterman also emphasized the connection between financial wellness and mental health, noting that financial stress is a top contributor to poor sleep and overall well-being. “We’re not just talking about financial literacy,” he said. “We’re talking about helping people understand their relationship with money—how it affects them emotionally and mentally.”Engagement with mental health resources can vary across generations, and Calm is developing content to reflect that. “Gen Z is deeply impacted by financial insecurity,” Masterman said. “That’s why we’re creating content that speaks to people at different life stages and helps them feel seen.”Stretching Budgets to Support EmployeesEmployers today are eager to support their workforce’s financial wellness, but many face significant budget constraints and market volatility. “Companies are desperately trying to solve this problem,” said panelist Aaron Shapiro, founder of Carver Edison, a financial wellness company. “They see the data. They know how important financial wellness is, but there’s a lack of tools. Budgets are fixed, and especially over the past couple months, there’s more pressure than ever to become more efficient, increase earnings for shareholders, [and] more volatility in the market.”This tension creates a tricky balancing act for businesses. Many financial wellness programs offer value to employees, but at a cost that directly impacts the company’s budget. The panel discussion was moderated by Tania Rahman, social media director at Fast Company“For every dollar of value that’s typically delivered to employees through some financial wellness programs, it’s typically $1 of expense for the company,” Shapiro said. “So you launch a program, things are going well, but then the market shifts, budgets get tightened, and you have to figure out a way to make money go further.”Despite these challenges, innovative solutions can break this zero-sum cycle. “If we can help companies break out of that cycle, it unlocks a whole new level of possibilities and really gives companies an incredibly unfair advantage, not just from a retention perspective, but also in being able to play offense when the world is playing defense,” he said.One example is Carver Edison’s product, Cashless Participation, which helps employees boost their income without increasing company costs. “Over 87% of employees that use Cashless Participation say that it’s a more valuable financial benefit than some of the others being offered at their company,” Shapiro said. “It not only helps free up disposable income for those employees but gives them a whole new level of flexibility when it comes to managing all of the other financial priorities they have in their lives.”By tailoring financial wellness programs to fit both employee needs and company realities, organizations can better support their teams—even when budgets are tight.Emotional Intelligence in ManagementA key challenge for many organizations today is ensuring managers possess a high level of emotional intelligence (EQ) to effectively support their teams. Panelist Allison Roberts, senior director of HR at Interpublic Group, emphasized that true engagement goes beyond just overseeing work. “They need to have a high level of EQ managers, and what it looks like is truly engaging with your employees and showing them that you do care about them, not just about their work, but about them as a person,” she said.Roberts noted that emotional intelligence is often overlooked when promoting employees into management roles. This gap can lead to managers who lack the necessary skills to provide meaningful support, especially in today’s increasingly complex workplace.To address this, IPG has invested in education and training. Their learning and development team has been doing a lot over the last few years on EQ training for managers to help with understanding different dynamics. Specifically, a wide variety of generations in the workplace together, she added. This kind of training not only equips managers to better relate to diverse teams but also fosters an environment where employees feel truly supported.Roberts also highlighted the importance of leaders modeling emotional intelligence themselves. “For leaders, it’s about modeling desired behavior, and we get them engaged, then the employees will see and they’ll engage more. And a little bit of self-disclosure as well helps with opening those doors for employees to feel a little bit more comfortable engaging.”Holistic Approach to Employee Well-BeingEspecially in sectors like healthcare, supporting employees requires more than just traditional benefits. Panelist Lindsey Garito, AVP of total rewards at Montefiore Health System, talked about the importance of addressing well-being from a holistic perspective. “Financial health and financial well-being isn’t just about finances. It affects our physical health, our mental health,” she said. This interconnectedness means organizations must consider all aspects of an employee’s life when designing support systems.Garito also shared a powerful reminder: “The workplace is not a car wash. It’s not a place where you enter the doors and you’re suddenly cleansed of everything that’s going on in your life.” This insight underscores the reality that employees bring their whole selves to work, carrying personal challenges alongside their professional responsibilities. For healthcare workers, this can be especially demanding given the nature of their roles.To address these needs, Montefiore’s team focuses on proactive communication and accessible resources. They educate employees and managers and HR partners about available tools, Garito said, “making sure that they’re fully equipped to understand all of what we offer.” This approach helps ensure that support is consistent and reaches all levels of the organization.During Financial Literacy Month, Montefiore took extra steps to engage employees with a variety of workshops and on-site fairs, providing “face to face time with employees” that helps break down barriers to accessing benefits. “We get a lot of direct feedback from the employees about what they need and what they’re looking for, and then that helps inform our strategy,” Garito said.Supporting employee mental health and financial wellness is no longer optional—it is a strategic imperative for organizations committed to thriving in today’s dynamic world. By investing in manager training, fostering emotional intelligence, and implementing creative financial wellness solutions, companies can build a culture of psychological safety and holistic well-being. As these approaches take hold, managers become powerful catalysts for change, enabling employees to bring their whole selves to work and navigate life’s challenges with greater confidence. Carrie Snider is a Phoenix-based journalist and marketing copywriter.(Photos by Hason Castell for From Day One)
How to Foster a Corporate Culture of Continuous Learning and Development
BY Ade Akin June 16, 2025When Roz Tsai set out to build a culture of learning at Thrivent, she didn’t start with systems or strategy—she started with people. As head of talent, Tsai led a bold company-wide learning initiative aimed at developing every employee, from the front lines to the C-suite, and embedding a culture of growth at every level.During an executive panel discussion at From Day One’s Minneapolis conference, Tsai outlined how Thrivent built a framework for purpose-driven leadership training and embedded continuous learning into its culture. She was joined by three other leadership and human resources experts to discuss how their organizations make learning an ongoing, meaningful, and fun process.Reskilling Starts With Values“We actually started by redefining our values,” said Natalie Canadeo, the VP of HR at Epicor Software. At Epicor, that meant digging into employee surveys and conducting interviews to identify what being part of Team Epicor meant to employees. Their findings became the foundation for the company’s learning strategy, an aligned system that helped identify skill gaps and delivered targeted upskilling. Tsai underscores that Thrivent’s approach is highly intentional, with tailored programs for each leadership tier. Thrivent offers a “Leading with Purpose” program for aspiring leaders and a “Leading High Performance” program for established managers. Mid-level directors participate in next-generation enterprise leadership courses. “We want every leader to understand their role in aligning corporate strategy to their team’s day-to-day,” Tsai said.Peter Grim, the VP of training, development, and design at Sedgwick, says even the best-designed programs need infrastructure to succeed. “It’s not just about dropping a virtual course in someone’s inbox,” he said. Sedgwick has embraced a rigorous pre-teaching and follow-up process, prioritizing relevance, context, and reinforcement.Identifying Talent With a Growth MindsetDetermining which programs are best suited for each employee is as vital as developing learning programs. “We use nine-box talent reviews,” Canadeo said, referring to the classic tool many talent managers use to map employee performance and potential. However, she stresses that conversations remain the more reliable marker to gauge those metrics. “One manager might see someone differently than their peers do. That feedback is crucial,” she said.Corey Criswell, the chief leadership officer, Americas at Adeption, points to experience-based development. She focused on identifying critical learning experiences that could prepare employees for new roles during his time at Target before joining Adeption.Dee DePass, business reporter at the Star Tribune, moderated the discussion “It’s not always about content; it’s about the kind of exposure and experiences people get,” Criswell said.Tsai highlights the risk of bias in talent reviews. “There’s no blood test for high potential,” she said. Without a structured assessment process, organizations can fall into the trap of overvaluing traits like charisma or familiarity. Instead, Thrivent looks for specific signals: learning agility, hunger for growth, and a willingness to challenge the status quo.How to Make Learning StickAll four panelists agreed that making continuous learning programs an integral part of an organization’s culture is often more challenging than launching them. The solution is to create learning ecosystems with relevant courses and measure behavioral change. Companies should strive to incorporate real business challenges into their training experiences. “That way, the learning ladders back to something real,” Criswell said. She also suggests that organizations encourage learners to participate in peer coaching groups and conduct small, real-world experiments to apply their new skills, thereby creating opportunities for reflection, accountability, and immediate feedback. “The goal is to make learning active and personally meaningful,” said Criswell.Grim echoed the importance of post-training support. “Follow-up coaching is critical,” he said. Sedgwick utilizes coaching sessions and mentoring after courses to enhance retention and provide opportunities for the practical application of skills learned. He also raised a common issue: subject-matter experts aren’t always effective teachers.Tsai broke it down simply: “Practice builds fluency. Adults learn when it’s relevant, repeated, and emotional.” She describes using storytelling and leader vulnerability to create emotional anchors. “You can’t tell people to ‘build psychological safety’ and expect change. They need repetition and practice.”Making Learning Engaging and FunLearning new things becomes more challenging when it’s formulaic, so it’s crucial for programs to be engaging and enjoyable. Canadeo shared how Epicor uses role-playing to engage new managers. “We bring in senior leaders to play the part of difficult employees,” she said. “It makes it real, and a little fun.” Epicor also incentivizes compliance training with contests and swag. At Sedgwick, Grim’s team creates humorous video content starring top performers from previous training sessions. “It builds a sense of community and pride,” he said. Employees who earn training badges receive custom virtual backgrounds for video meetings. “It turns a learning achievement into a visible win.”Criswell and Tsai both agreed on the benefits of experiential learning. Their organizations use simulations and games to drive home key lessons. However, Tsai warns talent managers not to prioritize fun over learning. “Make sure the fun has a purpose,” she said. “You don’t want your training to be remembered only as the day we talked about dream vacations.”Each panelist offered a closing tip for making learning programs feel more human. Criswell emphasized the importance of genuinely checking in with people, while Canadeo urged leaders to listen more than they speak. Grim highlighted the value of vulnerability, encouraging leaders to admit when they don’t have all the answers. Tsai offered a simpler reminder: bring more warmth—and even a few hugs—into the workplace. That spirit of connection echoed throughout the session, reinforcing the idea that learning is as much about human connection as it is about content.Ade Akin covers workplace wellness, HR trends, and digital health solutions.(Photos by Travis Johansen for From Day One)
Driving Clarity and Focus Through Your Employee Value Proposition
BY Jessica Swenson June 13, 2025“What we’ve heard from our employee base is that they’re tired, that this uncertainty wears on them, that they look for answers and stability from us in times of change,” said Becca Hagen, head of human resources for Securian Financial. “For me, that’s an entry point into a different type of conversation. I see this as a great opportunity [to] step in and provide that calm in the storm; to answer those questions and give people something to hold onto.”Today’s political, economic, and social uncertainty can put undue stress on employees, causing engagement issues and creating the need for a greater sense of stability in the workplace. Tools like engagement surveys help employers understand needs, offer clarity, and create a more stable, high-performing workplace.According to Gallup’s 2024 data on global engagement rates, the percentage of employees worldwide who are actively engaged in their work is only 21%, Hagen shared during a fireside chat at From Day One’s Minneapolis conference. During the session moderated by Megan Thompson, special correspondent at PBS News Hour, Hagen discussed how they are addressing this. Securian leaders, including Hagen, set out to craft a new employee value proposition (EVP). A clear EVP can refresh a company’s internal brand and revitalize employee sentiment while providing shared language to help hold the company to its commitments. By collaborating with hundreds of employees through surveys, workshops, and other feedback loops, Hagen and team discovered “what brought people to Securian and what keeps them at Securian.” Megan Thompson, special correspondent at PBS News Hour, left, spoke with Becca Hagen, head of HR at Securian Financial Blending these internal insights with external research, they used an iterative process to create an authentic tagline that represents and informs their broader value proposition framework: Careers with Enduring Impact.To embrace the company’s legacy and purpose while holding space for new elements preparing it for its next chapter, she says, Securian created three pillars to support this new banner statement: Make a Difference, Grow and Thrive, and Succeed Together.The first pillar acknowledges the impact their work has on people’s lives and their commitment to their local communities. The company’s track record of volunteering and giving back to the community is a part of their organizational DNA and is very meaningful to employees, says Hagen.Pillar two addresses the personal and professional growth integrated into any career trajectory. It is important to recognize not only what the company offers in the realm of upskilling and professional experience, but to also support employee well-being outside of the workplace. Pillar three celebrates being a vital part of a high-performing team whose members support each other to do their best work.To ensure the integration and long-term employee engagement with this new EVP framework, Securian is investing in the development of people leaders and facilitating their personal adoption of the initiative. Through an authentic connection with the EVP and clarity around expectations, leaders will be positioned to champion the employee rollout and more effectively embed it into daily life at Securian, says Hagen, which is certain to elevate the employee experience and boost performance. “This can’t just be words on a page. This is how we aspire to show up each and every day.” she said.Hagen shared that it is by design that different people are resonating with different parts of the program. “We’re not going to be all things to all people, but we do believe that there’s something in it for everyone, and that it will restore that excitement, that belief, that hope in the future.”Another way the company is offering employees a sense of stability and clarity is with an enterprise-wide artificial intelligence (AI) readiness and digital literacy training initiative. The goal is for 100% of associates to have a baseline AI proficiency, preparing them not only for Securian’s current AI-integrated workstreams, but for future expansion. “The team has responded incredibly well because I think they feel like now they’re part of the journey. The fear of AI has melted away a little bit because it’s been replaced with curiosity and a feeling of investment,” she said. Knowing that discomfort with uncertainty is driven by a lack of control or answers, Hagen and team hope that this new framework will empower employees by providing a decision-making framework and reducing ambiguity about Securian’s values. “By giving clarity and the opportunity to sign on for what we believe is a really compelling proposition, we’re giving people something that creates certainty.”Jessica Swenson is a freelance writer based in the Midwest. Learn more about her at jmswensonllc.com.(Photos by Travis Johansen for From Day One)
Breaking the GLP-1 Cost Cycle for a Healthier Workforce, Lower Costs, and Smarter Care
BY Christopher O'Keeffe June 12, 2025The American workplace faces a costly challenge: how to offer access to high-demand weight-loss medications without overwhelming benefits budgets. With monthly prices exceeding $1,000, these treatments are becoming powerful tools in talent retention strategies across corporate America.During a From Day One webinar, Cody Fair, chief commercial officer at digital health company Noom, shared just how dramatically these drugs are influencing employment decisions. GLP-1 medications have revolutionized obesity treatment, delivering substantial weight loss for millions of Americans. But their high price tags have triggered what benefits experts describe as a “cost cycle,” posing a serious threat to the sustainability of employer healthcare budgets.Jennifer Jones, a clinical solutions architect at Noom and registered dietitian, outlined the financial stakes during the session. “Members that have obesity, their overall health care costs can be up to six times higher than someone that’s just overweight,” noting obesity's connection to more than 16 chronic conditions. With obesity rates exceeding 42% nationally and projected to surpass 50% within five years, employers face mounting pressure to act. Traditional approaches have proven inadequate. “What we’ve been doing isn’t working,” Jones said.Perhaps no one understands the frustrations of accessing these medications better than Fair himself. Despite having a prescription for two years, he was only able to obtain his GLP-1 medication for seven months total and never for more than two consecutive months. Each time, the same obstacles emerged, the pharmacy was out of stock, prior authorization created lengthy delays, or the medication simply vanished from shelves by the time approvals came through. His frustrating cycle mirrors the experience of countless patients nationwide.The root cause of these shortages may surprise those unfamiliar with pharmaceutical economics. Pharmacies are losing money on every GLP-1 prescription they fill. “We’ve even talked to the head of pharmacies at major major corporations that say, ‘I should just staple a $20 bill to the script when I send it out the door, because that’s what I’m losing every time,’" Fair said. This financial reality has led many pharmacies to avoid stocking these medications entirely.Kelly Bourdet, journalist and founder of Apparata Media, moderated the discussion with Fair and Jones of Noom (photo by From Day One)Even when patients successfully obtain these medications, the lack of comprehensive support threatens their efficiency in the patient’s daily life. Jones described what the company calls the “GLP-1 care gap,” the void between receiving a prescription and achieving sustainable weight loss.“When people have that first script, and they get that medication, that’s often the end point of the interaction with the healthcare system,” said Jones. Without guidance on nutrition, exercise, and side effect management, many patients discontinue treatment prematurely. Often, patients fall prey to a faulty system, regaining weight and potentially ending up less healthy than before.Research presented during the session suggests that combining medication with behavioral support yields approximately 40% greater weight loss than medication alone. Patients receiving comprehensive support were also 1.6 times more likely to successfully taper off the medication while maintaining their weight loss.To address these challenges, some employers are exploring alternative coverage strategies. Noom’s approach involves separating GLP-1 medications from traditional pharmacy benefit management and handling them as a distinct supplemental benefit. This structure offers more flexibility and potentially lower costs, about $200 less per monthly prescription after rebates, says Fair.This model allows employers to customize their contribution levels, perhaps covering 25, 50, or 75% of medication costs. By guaranteeing medication delivery within five days through specialty pharmacy networks, access issues that plague traditional distribution channels are directly addressed.Noom reports a 4.1 fold return on investment over two years when implementing comprehensive healthcare approaches, achieved through careful patient selection, early identification of non-responders, and supporting appropriate candidates in tapering off medications.Unlike providers who assume indefinite GLP-1 use, Noom has developed protocols that help suitable candidates successfully transition off these expensive medications. Jones reported that approximately 30 to 35% of patients, particularly those experiencing situational weight gain, can maintain their weight loss after tapering, when given proper support.“I don’t know a lot of people, honestly, that want to be on medication for the rest of their life,” Jones said. Through Noom's four-month tapering protocols and continued access to coaching, nutrition guidance, and exercise programs, patients are 1.6 times more likely to successfully maintain their weight without medication compared to those who stop abruptly, Jones says. This approach not only addresses patient preferences but significantly reduces long term costs for employers.As more GLP-1 medications approach market approval, including oral formulations that could broaden access for injection-averse patients, employers must develop sustainable strategies. The speakers emphasized that successful programs require more than just coverage decisions, they demand comprehensive approaches that treat obesity as the complex chronic condition it is. As these medications reshape the landscape of workplace health benefits, the challenge isn’t simply whether to provide coverage, but how to do so in ways that deliver lasting value for both employees and organizations.Editor’s note: From Day One thanks our partner, Noom, for sponsoring this webinar. Chris O’Keeffe is a freelance writer with experience across industries. As the founder and creative director of OK Creative: The Language Agency, he has led strategy and storytelling for organizations like MIT, Amazon, and Cirque du Soleil, bringing their stories to life through established and emerging media.(Photo by Alones Creative/iStock)
The New Era of Hiring: How to Make it Personal, Equitable, and Fast
BY Carrie Snider June 12, 2025From transforming passive talent pools into engaged communities, to using AI as a smart assistant, this new wave of recruitment puts people first while turbocharging efficiency. Today’s hiring leaders are reimagining recruitment as a strategic, personalized, and inclusive journey. At From Day One’s NYC half-day TA conference, panelists shared how they’re harnessing technology, data, and genuine human connection to rewrite the rules of hiring. Here’s what industry insiders are saying about creating hiring experiences that truly work for candidates and employers.From Talent Pools to Talent CommunitiesWhen it comes to sourcing strategies, Jessica Malachowski, VP of direct sourcing and strategic talent acquisition resources at Atrium, sees a clear difference between traditional talent pools and emerging talent communities. And for her, it’s not just semantics—it’s strategy.“If you think about the words itself, a talent pool versus a talent community—a community is where you belong,” Malachowski said. “There’s a level of engagement that happens because you feel like you belong.”That sense of belonging is what drives the effectiveness of talent communities. Rather than collecting resumes for future openings, talent communities are about building meaningful relationships with candidates over time. It’s an active process, one that involves branding, communication, and providing ongoing value. “Maybe they get a newsletter. Maybe there’s some marketing engagement that you’re giving to them,” she said. “It’s truly about building that relationship and ensuring that you’ve got quality people that are part of that community, that are truly on the ready.”This evolution in approach requires TA leaders to think more strategically—and to have a seat at the table. “If we can align our goals with the business goals, they’ll reserve us a spot at the table,” she said. Preparedness is key. When recruiters invest in two-way relationships with talent, they’re more likely to have qualified, interested candidates ready when roles open. It’s a shift that’s making sourcing more personalized, inclusive, and ultimately, more effective.Embracing Data-Driven Hiring to Support Candidates and Recruiters AlikeKim Stevens, director of talent acquisition at Employ, knows firsthand how challenging today’s hiring landscape is—for both recruiters and candidates. “There’s a ton of people that are in the job market, and in comparison to the jobs, the candidate pool is exponentially higher,” she said. “Recruiters need something to help automate communications to candidates.”This imbalance has sparked a greater reliance on data and AI to bring efficiency and empathy into the hiring process. Stevens herself was a job seeker for nearly a year before joining Employ, and that experience informs how she approaches her work. “It was defeating. You’re kind of viewed as just a piece of paper,” she said. “It’s not a recruiter’s fault, it’s just the landscape right now.”Kelly Bourdet, the founder of Apparata Media, far left, moderated the discussion At Employ, which owns platforms like Lever, Jobvite, and JazzHR, Stevens is helping shape how technology can drive more intentional, inclusive hiring. With the recent acquisition of Pillar AI, Employ is adding tools that not only transcribe interviews but also help deliver feedback and better match candidates to roles. But data is only powerful when it’s used well. Stevens emphasized the importance of reviewing candidate source data to track diversity metrics and refine outreach strategies. Ultimately, the role of AI and data not just as a way to fill roles faster, but as a means to support people, says Stevens. “Our audience is overwhelmed,” she said. “We just need to be there to support, coach, and guide.”Skill-Matching Technology New York Life is harnessing AI-powered skill-matching tools to enhance the recruiting process for both candidates and hiring teams. With more than 100,000 applicants for just 1,400 positions last year, Glenn Padewski, head of experienced hiring and executive search, understands the scale of the challenge—and the opportunity. “It’s easier to get into Harvard than it might be to get a job at New York Life based on those numbers,” he joked.To address this imbalance, Padewski’s team implemented skill-matching technology designed to elevate the experience across the board. “On the candidate side, they drag and drop their resume into the system, which then aligns them with other jobs in the organization that may be a fit,” he said.. “So not only are they seeing that one job they were initially attracted to, now they’re seeing other potential matches.” This broadens opportunities for candidates while creating a more personalized application journey.The tool also empowers recruiters by prioritizing candidates based on how closely their skills and attributes align with open roles. “This allows our recruiters to spend time with the candidates who are most closely aligned to that job description,” Padewski said. “They're stopping right at our applicant tracking system and seeing who's qualified.”Hiring managers also benefit, with streamlined tools to review and disposition candidates directly. “They can thumbs-up or thumbs-down right within the tool, triggering the recruiter to move them through the process or send a rejection email, providing immediate feedback.”The result? Faster interview scheduling, smarter hiring decisions, and a better experience for everyone involved. “We’re seeing now, from the time we’re interested in interviewing a candidate to the time they interview, it’s less than four days,” he said. Balancing Data With Storytelling Cassandre Joseph, global head of talent acquisition for R&D at Novartis, emphasizes the evolving role of technology in recruiting, especially the growing influence of AI, and the critical need to blend data with human storytelling. “There’s no more burying your head in the sand as it relates to AI,” she said. “At some point, everyone in talent acquisition needs to get started somewhere.” Joseph acknowledges that while the pace varies by organization, the first step is essential.Yet, she cautions against blind adoption of technology. “I get tons of emails about new AI tools promising to solve all our problems. But we know our companies and how they operate, and not every technology is the right technology for you.” Her advice is clear: organizations must be laser-focused on what works and cut loose what doesn’t—quickly. “If you don’t, you waste time and energy integrating a tool that actually doesn’t fit your company.”Joseph emphasized the indispensable role of the human element alongside AI. “It’s no longer enough to just look at resumes or ask basic questions. You have to understand what hiring managers truly want and align that with candidate evaluation.” She highlights that human connection and cultural fit, assessing values and behaviors, remain central: “Those questions about values and behaviors are going to be very important as we bring in technology.”Data alone doesn’t tell the full story. “If I tell you we fill roles in 40 days, and someone else says 60 days, so what? Is it quality versus quantity? Filling quickly doesn’t always mean better hires. That’s where storytelling comes in.” Talent acquisition professionals must bridge the gap by combining data insights with narrative to truly understand and communicate hiring success.AI as a Strategic ToolSteve Lavner, SVP of talent acquisition at Edelman, says AI is not a replacement, but a powerful assistant in the recruitment process. “AI is our assistant. I’m actually able to talk to AI and have the conversation about a particular search or candidate and get meaningful information back,” he said. This conversational interaction with AI tools opens new doors for recruiters to gather insights and speed up their workflows without losing the human touch.Lavner emphasizes the importance of transparency in managing candidate relationships alongside AI. “As long as we tell candidates this is part of a pipeline, and they understand that we want to get to know them, maybe not now, but maybe in five years, it creates trust and keeps the communication open.” This approach not only respects candidates but also builds ongoing connections in competitive fields, like financial communications, where knowing the right people matters.Despite the exciting possibilities, Lavner cautioned against ignoring the risks and biases AI can introduce. “We have to be aware that there could be bias in AI. The human part is crucial here. We must ensure diverse slates and keep pushing for diverse hires.” He separates diversity and inclusion from politics, focusing instead on tangible outcomes: “Sameness is not good. We want a diverse group. That’s what we do, and that’s what we have to keep doing.”Lavner called for vigilance: “The law of unintended consequences comes to mind. We have to stay diligent and keep this human, because unexpected issues will come up.” In his view, AI is a strategic tool that, when combined with skilled human recruiters, can transform talent acquisition, helping to identify the right candidates while maintaining the essential human connection at the heart of recruitment.As the talent acquisition landscape continues to transform, success hinges on blending innovative technology with authentic human engagement. By fostering inclusive talent communities, embracing data with purpose, and using AI as a strategic assistant rather than a replacement, organizations can create recruitment processes that are not only efficient but truly candidate-centric.Carrie Snider is a Phoenix-based journalist and marketing copywriter.(Photos by Hason Castell 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)
Measuring the Impact of Your Leadership Development Programs
BY Christopher O'Keeffe June 09, 2025How do you measure the true impact of leadership development? Despite significant investment in leadership development, many organizations continue to struggle with quantifying its impact. As companies pour billions into cultivating future leaders, measurable indicators of return remain elusive Only 24% of organizations feel like they’re doing a good job of measuring the impact of their leadership development programs, emphasized leadership experts at a From Day One webinar. At Otter Tail Corporation, a Minnesota-based holding company with utility and manufacturing businesses, CHRO Paul Knutson transformed the company's leadership approach after joining in 2012. “The board had just gone through their long term strategy, and one of the three imperatives had to do with developing our talent,” Knutson said. “The talent at our leadership level was lacking, and those that had been in leadership roles were not staying as long as we had wanted them to.”The revamped program Knutson implemented identifies and connects high potential leaders across divisions empowering employees to solve real business challenges between previously unconnected avenues of collaboration. This cross-functional approach has generated unexpected bottom line benefits for Otter Tail throughout the frameworks of their enterprise, he says. “We wanted to create a sense of belonging within the corporate enterprise, to create an enterprise mindset so that people within each company weren’t thinking only about themselves or only about their company,” he said. Fostering a culture where the norm is reaching out to colleagues in other divisions creates a denser organizational network that accelerates innovation and decision-making.Real Problems, Real ResultsAt Sundt Construction, a 135-year-old employee-owned builder with 4,300 employees, leadership programs directly tackle business challenges.“Our executive team identifies pain points from our strategic plan,” said Melissa Moreno, vice president, director of administrative talent development at Sundt. “They tell our leadership teams, ‘Here’s a problem. It’s your opportunity to solve it.’”Erik Williams of MDA Leadership spoke with leaders from Otter Tail Corp., and Sundt Construction (photo by From Day One)This approach produced tangible results when one team addressed field engineer training deficiencies. They created a boot camp program that has become an essential part of Sundt’s operations. “That program is now in its fourth year,” Moreno said. “Many of the leaders who developed it are now instructors, and over 130 field engineers have completed the training.”Enacting Measurement Principles Progressive companies using advanced measurement techniques can trace the ripple effects of leadership development across their organizations. By going beyond traditional surveys and tracking cross-functional collaboration among leaders, they’re seeing improved employee retention.“Your measurement strategy needs to match your program objectives,” said Erik Williams, principal consultant at MDA Leadership. “If you’re trying to break down barriers between departments, measure cross-functional interactions. If developing future executives is the goal, track promotion rates and succession readiness.”At Otter Tail, all leadership program participants reported spending more time developing talent on their teams after training, with 65% of their managers independently confirming this observation.Despite economic pressures, companies like Sundt Construction are doubling down on leadership development. Its strategic plan through 2035 includes continued investment in its leadership pipeline. “The outcome of these types of programs, where you get leaders, you give them the opportunity to develop, to accelerate their leadership capability, to stack hands with one another. And over time, those relationships continue to deepen,” said Williams.For organizations considering similar investments, the panelists offered practical advice. “Start with an effective assessment process,” Knutson said. “Self-awareness is the foundation of development.”Moreno emphasized the importance of manager involvement. “Definitely include the managers of the participants. Early and often, they need to understand how they impact the success of their employees going through this program, what the expectation is for them, and how they can help them throughout the process.”For skeptical executives demanding ROI evidence, Knutson offered his perspective: “Be clear about what’s not working and the cost of it not working. What’s going to happen if we don’t take care, if we don’t meet our needs, if we don’t fill this gap.” Especially today, leadership development may be less about creating individual stars and more about building networked teams equipped to navigate uncertainty together.“The organizations that thrive will be those that can rapidly assemble diverse perspectives around emerging challenges,” Williams said. “That doesn’t happen by accident, it’s cultivated through intentional development that connects people across traditional boundaries.”Editor’s note: From Day One thanks our partner, MDA Leadership, for sponsoring this webinar. Chris O’Keeffe is a freelance writer with experience across industries. As the founder and creative director of OK Creative: The Language Agency, he has led strategy and storytelling for organizations like MIT, Amazon, and Cirque du Soleil, bringing their stories to life through established and emerging media.(Photo by Nansan Houn/iStock)
Peace of Mind: How Employers Can Help Workers Get Their Final Wishes in Order
BY Tabitha Cabrera June 06, 2025Have you thought about your end of life wishes? “As of 2025, 24% of Americans have a will, although 67% of Americans acknowledge that this is a very important document,” said Paul Fried, founding member of I Made the Arrangements.Fried spent a year and a half building a website focused on end-of-life planning. Through the lens of human resources, this kind of benefit, like offering a will and encouraging employees to document their plans, can create a meaningful partnership between employer and employee, he shared during a thought leadership spotlight at From Day One’s Minneapolis conference. It also gives employers a way to approach support with compassion—recognizing that employees are whole people with complex lives. By offering a tool to ease the logistics of difficult life circumstances, companies can show care beyond the workplace.Paul Fried, founder of I Made the Arrangements, led the thought leadership spotlight The website includes features like a “wish capture,” where users can document their end-of-life preferences and share them as a PDF. It also offers a will builder with advanced directives. Employees can then designate a wish keeper, or someone who will receive access to these documents after the employee’s passing. The employees can write their own eulogy, obituary, or video eulogy, final thoughts, e-mail your children every year, and upload videos that can be synced with music. “While over six in 10 (63%) older adults say they have had an end-of-life conversation with a loved one, far fewer have made end-of-life preparations like preparing a last will and testament (36%) or a living will (33%),” according to Cheryl L. Lampkin in Thoughts on End of Life: For Most, Concerns do not Equate to Action. Moreover, less than half of the adults aged 45 and older who have not made these or similar preparations, say it is very likely they will.Most employees don’t leave jobs because of pay, they more often leave because they are not appreciated, Fried says. End of life planning support helps build a genuine feeling of appreciation and value for workers, says Fried. Employees might not remember how much their bonus was, or how many steps they took in a wellness app but they will remember the company and the employers that helped guide them through life’s most challenging situations. Fried created I Made the Arrangements with a clear goal: to take the stigma out of end-of-life planning and turn a traditionally taboo topic into something approachable and empowering. By offering creative, compassionate benefits like this, employers can do more than support their teams, they can strengthen employee loyalty, deepen trust, and improve retention by showing they care about the full arc of their employees’ lives.Editor’s note: From Day One thanks our partner, I Made the Arrangements, for sponsoring this thought leadership spotlight. Tabitha Cabrera, Esq. is a writer and attorney, who has a series of inclusive children's books, called Spectacular Spectrum Books.(Photos by Travis Johansen for From Day One)
Authentic Marketing That Actually Resonates With Gen Z
BY Willow Pawlisch June 05, 2025Sol de Janeiro’s skin and haircare products might not be in everyone’s house yet, but ask Gen Z and you’ll quickly learn it’s the gold standard for brand authenticity.At its core, authenticity means transparency, communication, and a deep understanding of the consumer base. Interaction with customers is essential for any brand claiming to be “real,” and AdAge has dubbed Sol de Janeiro the darling of Gen Z for passing this authenticity test.Long considered a buzzword, authenticity has proven its worth: it helps build loyal customer bases who return and recommend products to others. In fact, 86% of consumers say authenticity matters when deciding which brands to support. Gen Z especially values authenticity, and brands that don’t adapt risk losing their trust. However, the difference between succeeding and failing at authenticity marketing might be simpler to navigate than it first appears.A Case-Study in Authentic Marketing: Sol de JaneiroSol de Janeiro threw its hat in the fragrance and body care ring just about a decade ago with bright colors to appeal to younger audiences, body-positive messaging, and a diverse, disruptive stance on the industry. It has since become a household name for Gen Z, with a focus on quality and viral skin routines fitting into their desire for an authentic consumer experience.“Our brand ethos stems from the beaches of Rio de Janeiro, where we accept, embrace, hug and celebrate everybody, every curve, every fold and every truth,” founder Heela Yang said to the Moodie Davitt Report. “Treating our skin every day comes as naturally as showering or brushing our teeth. It is more than a daily habit, but an exciting and invigorating part of our day.”Advertisement of Cheirosa 59 highlighting the meaning behind its name and its signature scent notes (photo via Sol de Janiero)They used the full breadth of their authentic marketing when they launched their new scent Cheirosa 59 and its accompanying product line in early 2024. The product sold out in store-fronts and online during its launch week.The brand appeals to authenticity by paying homage to its Brazilian roots, featuring diverse body types and skin tones in its imagery, naming most products in Brazil’s native language, Portuguese, and using bright color-coding by scent to make its wide selection easy to navigate for new consumers. The brand goes beyond imagery to build a consistent and recognizable persona.With Cheirosa 59, the brand kept things consistent with naming their scent after a significant year in Brazilian culture, and introducing the new scent through influencer and pop-up events encouraging the testing of the scent's perfume, body butter, and shower oil.The secret to Sol de Janiero’s success in Gen Z with each scent launch is meeting customer expectations, a grassroots approach to social media, and alternating emphasis on body positivity or experiential campaigns. They also offer refills for products at a fraction of the cost to conserve plastic in manufacturing. It appeals to a desire for sustainability and affordability: important qualities in Gen Z audiences.So while they might not be recognized by all generations, for Gen Z they hit a perfect storm of experiential marketing, social-awareness, and trend-setting.Common Mistakes in Authentic MarketingTrying and failing at authenticity can backfire, especially when a company gets called out. It results in bad reputations, losing customers, and being written off as a brand entirely. A poll found that 20% of people have unfollowed brands on social media when they felt they were inauthentic. So how can brands avoid the pitfalls of inauthentic authenticity?At a time when purchases have increasing political implications, Gen Z seeks reassurance that the brands they choose are morally aligned. However, when taking a moral stance is not true to a brand’s persona, it can drive consumers away.A survey of 800 Gen Zers found 47% of respondents agreed that a brand that advertises around an unrelated cause is engaged in no more than a sales ploy. The balancing act of authenticity is a desirable goal, but the real goal is finding a brand-aligned moral stance and sticking to it.The main culprit is a lack of commitment to brand morals. Target serves as a prime example. The company has long touted its support for the LGBTQ+ community through its annual Pride collection, launched in 2013, along with advertisements celebrating Black History Month. This past year, it took a step back from their previously established moral stance, rolling back their DEI and LGBTQ+ support initiatives. This was done out of fear of federal backlash, leading to a similarly negative backlash: boycott campaigns, lawsuits, and a drop in stock price by as much as $27.27 per share. It seems the only thing worse than not taking a moral stance is taking one and eventually backing out. Another common mishap in authentic marketing is passively partaking in trends. “There’s nothing worse than companies jumping on every Twitter trend for likes while ignoring their own actions,” Lynn Rosenthal, CEO and founder of Periscape VR said to Rolling Stone. “Companies need to stop acting like teenagers and realize they have a social, ecological, and ethical obligation to the world. Focus on your customers and workers. That will deliver lasting returns, both financially and socially,” she said.A clear example of Gen Z’s aversion to fake branding morals was their reaction to numerous corporate Twitter accounts posting for International Women’s Day. In response, a bot program flooded the comment sections with reminders about each company’s gender wage gap.Companies often lean on moral stances and trends to prove their authenticity to Gen Z, but low-effort attempts in these areas risk backfiring over time.How to Authentically Market to Gen ZThe most common way a brand will appeal to Gen Z’s authenticity is by giving their brands a face through influencers. However, influencer-based marketing can lead to more problems than revenue. Between over-saturation of sponsored content and managing the reputation of the influencer, there are a lot of ways to go wrong when making a social media personality the face of your brand.Some studies have found that sponsored influencer posts actually drive down brand engagement while unsponsored influencer posts seem to perform exceedingly well in building brand reputation. The difference is a very fine line.The way to create unsponsored influencer content is through focusing on electronic word-of-mouth. By encouraging content creation, exposure, and quality of content surrounding the brand, brands can cater to increases of organic, user-generated content.An example of this done effectively is Cotopaxi, an outdoor gear brand focused on sustainability and accessibility. Most of their branded content focuses on outdoor lifestyles and how their products are made using recycled fabrics. Their sponsored influencer content is posted directly onto their corporate account to avoid claims of “selling out” while they respond consistently to feedback from consumers in the comment section about product design. Another brand doing this well, especially for Gen Z is athletic clothing company, Gym Shark. Gymshark’s philosophy is to sponsor influencers who create fitness content wearing their clothing, rather than content that deliberately advertises the product. They also focus on long-term partnerships with influencers instead of paying for one-off videos.“It’s all about being authentic,” Gymshark’s Head of PR Stephanie O’Neill said. “The vast majority of Gymshark ambassadors were once fans and consumers of the brand. Who better to represent the brand than those who actually love Gymshark?”It’s no mystery that brands with a two-pronged approach to social media content tend to fare better in terms of building rapport with Gen Z. They have tailored corporate promotions and unique influencer campaigns to make a web of content that creates a feedback loop of normal people making content around the product too. The Case for AuthenticityGen Z, ages 13 to 28, continues to grow as a consumer base. For marketers, the biggest challenge is delivering an authentic, unique experience to each individual within this group.By leveraging transparency in marketing strategies, understanding the consumer base, and having clear communication with returning customers, brands can achieve a more authentic brand experience, but misusing those marketing tactics can always backfire if the brand doesn’t commit fully to using authenticity strategies. Authentic marketing is just one approach to engaging Gen Z and their preferences. It’s important to assess whether authenticity marketing fits your brand or if other strategies might better resonate with this audience.Either way, it’s clear that individuality, consistency, transparency, and communication are the true markers of authenticity that Gen Z values.Willow Pawlisch is From Day One’s summer fellowship reporter. She's a student at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, double majoring in Journalism and Latin American Studies/Language. (Featured photo by Makidotvn/iStock)
How to Shape Your Workforce for Peak Performance
BY Ade Akin June 04, 2025David Bator, managing director at Achievers Workforce Institute still remembers his first encounter with José Morales. They met at an annual customer conference, where Morales, then executive director at Cineplex, shared a story that stayed with him. Over 22 years, Morales had risen through the company’s ranks, starting from one of the most unglamorous roles in the theater: scooping popcorn.“I asked him how many jobs he’d had in 22 years. And he said he’d had 10,” Bator said during a thought leadership spotlight at From Day One’s NYC benefits conference. His first job was scooping popcorn, and his second was teaching people how to. Bator says he went on to pry if Morales had any education that prepared him to excel at scooping popcorn and teaching others how, but, unsurprisingly, that wasn’t the case. Morales credited his ability to empathize, collaborate, and problem-solve, plus Cineplex’s ability to recognize these skills, for his rise up the corporate ladder. Morales developed his skills on the job because the opportunities were there—and because the company created space for growth. That, Bator noted, is the difference between employee engagement and employee experience: engagement is the outcome, but experience is what makes it possible.David Bator, managing director at Achievers Workforce Institute, led the session “Employee engagement is the commitment an individual makes to doing the job they’re paid to do,” he said. Bator went on to define employee experience as “the responsibility we all share to create conditions so that employees can be engaged in the first place.” Organizations can’t measure engagement without first building an environment that enables it, he says. Bator’s four C’s of shaping employee experience challenge traditional notions of engagement by emphasizing connection, celebration, compensation, and choice as the pillars of an efficient workforce. Only 15% of employees think their organization effectively connects them to colleagues, despite the explosion of collaboration tools like Slack, Trello, and Google Docs. Bator urges leaders to make improving connections between employees a top priority. He recommends investing in platforms that provide easy access to people, skills, and resources, and regularly conducting meaningful manager one-on-ones. Bator notes that surveys compiled by Niagara Institute show employees are twice as likely to feel like they belong when connected to the rest of their team, and 28% say being connected gives them the confidence to tackle unexpected challenges. Celebration is the second “C” of employee engagement. It’s a catch-all phrase for recognition, award, and reward. Bator cites data from Achievers that shows employees who receive frequent, impact-driven recognition are more than three times more likely to be engaged, and more than five times more likely to feel they belong. The data also shows that workers who are recognized at least monthly are ten times more likely to recommend their manager and less inclined to job hunt even if their salaries lag behind market rates.“It’s better than nothing, but it’s worse than average,” Bator said, challenging the annual award status quo. When surveyed, 58% of employees reported annual awards felt repetitive, while 71% said the same people won each year. 58% wanted consistent recognition at least monthly. “What gets recognized gets repeated,” Bator said, citing data that reveals recognition tied to DEI programs led to a 300% increase in engagement. Bator says while employee pay matters, it’s not the sole driver of engagement. One survey shows 75% of workers would prefer a job that made them feel valued over one that paid 30% more. Only 53% felt fairly compensated for their roles, but that number jumped to 73% among employees who were recognized monthly. Bator coined the term emotional salary to include the daily moments that make employees feel seen, valued, and supported beyond what raises and promotions can provide. Choice is Bator’s final “C,” and he notes that while 21 to 26% of employees enroll in wellness programs, more personalized benefits shaped by frequent feedback drive 50% higher engagement and 88% increased feelings of value. “We’re leaving one-size-fits-all programs for an era of hyper-personalization,” he said, urging organizations to survey employees at least quarterly on what they need to thrive. Bator closed his presentation by returning to his popcorn anecdote about his friend José Morales of Cineplex. Morales has held over ten jobs with Cineplex over 22 years, from scooping popcorn to an executive role, because his employer recognized his open-mindedness, collaborative mindset, and problem-solving skills. “Our role in talent and HR is to create conditions so people can do the best work of their lives,” Bator said. Editor’s note: From Day One thanks our partner, Achievers, for sponsoring this thought leadership spotlight. Ade Akin covers workplace wellness, HR trends, and digital health solutions.(Photos by Hason Castell for From Day One)
The Push for Flexible, Personalized Benefits: How Employers Are Adapting
BY Emily McCrary-Ruiz-Esparza June 04, 2025Once seen as back-office support, HR and benefits teams are now central to both business success and the employee experience.“Employees come to us as if we’re an educated consumer, understanding the health issues that they’re facing, that their colleagues are facing, requesting certain products and services,” said Stevi Evans, senior director of benefits at Weight Watchers. That’s a good thing, as far as she’s concerned. Not only does it indicate trust in the HR department, it also means that she can hear from employees, first hand, about what they need. “It’s definitely a new dynamic that has helped employees stay more engaged.”Evans and her colleagues in corporate benefits gathered for a panel on flexible benefits during From Day One’s NYC half-day benefits conference. The group traded ideas on personalizing benefits and communications, and staying flexible as needs change. Know Your PeoplePanelists agreed: A solid benefit program begins with knowing your employees.That’s been true at fitness club brand Equinox. It was Covid that forced the company to be flexible. With gyms and fitness centers closed, a large slice of employees (both part- and full-time) were unable to work, but the company wasn’t about to revoke benefits,” said Alana Kotlyar, Equinox’s senior director of global benefits. “So we’ve also provided the flexibility to reflect on what’s happening in our world when we’re setting hourly thresholds” that qualify workers for benefits. A fitness instructor can’t work 30 hours per week–that much exercise is humanly impossible–which is what qualifies an employee as “full-time” under the Affordable Care Act.Rather than follow the 30-hour rule, Equinox now sets thresholds by role. “It varies by job. We do two ACA measurement periods, which is atypical for an employer, because we understand the seasonality.” And the company now offers a basic health package, which includes mental health care, to all employees at subsidy. It’s “nothing glamorous–but it can get a lot of things done,” she said.Megan Burns, lead benefits solutions consultant at wellbeing benefits platform Benepass, says that the flexibility of lifestyle spending accounts (LSAs) can increase long-term engagement. LSAs are dollars that employees can use for any number of things determined by the employer. Think gym memberships or courses or childcare or even groceries. “It crosses so many different broad wellbeing areas,” she said. Plus, employers can opt to issue dollars on a monthly, semi-annually, or annual basis.Journalist Emily McCrary-Ruiz-Esparza, second from right, moderated the discussion In fact, “sometimes we don’t realize how valuable a broad solution can be,” said Evans of Weight Watchers, who recently expanded the list of items eligible for the company’s wellness reimbursement to include groceries for part-time employees. “Sometimes the basic necessities are what goes a long way for people, compared to buying the newest sneakers or the newest pair of Lululemon leggings,” she said. “We used data [about our employees] to make that decision, and it worked well for us.”According to Benepass’s 2025 benchmarking report, financial health represents an emerging category in terms of employer spend,” and “It’s because of the feedback they’re getting from employees,” said Burns. Marketing Flexible BenefitsOf course, communications and long-term engagement is a concern for any benefits team. “A lot of people come to us looking for the newest channel,” said Guy Westermeyer, owner and founder of marketing agency Westcomm. “The bad news is, there’s not a newest channel. It’s still all the same channels.” What really matters is personalization and segmentation. For instance, one of Westcomm’s clients is a hospital system in Louisiana. It employs 40,000 people, but once applied a single communications strategy. “They were telling employees about benefits they weren’t eligible for.”Another client had been translating its benefits information from English into Spanish without considering the nuance of language. Puzzlingly, the Spanish-speaking demographic of its workforce wasn’t enrolling in medical plans, but it wasn’t a problem of desire, it was a problem of translation. “They were electing life insurance because they thought that covered their life–and thought that covered their medical,” Westermeyer said.By knowing your workforce–mistakes like these can be avoided.“We try to hit them where they are and the way that they ask to be communicated,” said Emma Stern, head of global benefits at Bausch + Lomb, which employs both office workers and frontline workers. They put benefits information on paper, pin it to bulletin boards, and link to it via QR codes. And where employees “have stand-up meetings in the morning with site leaders, so we get [benefits] on that agenda,” Stern said. And more recently, the company lined ticker-tape on TV screens with benefits info. Everywhere, in a myriad forms, employees can get their hands on good information.Kotlyar noted that employers interested in personalizing benefits don’t need to go shopping for new vendors to make it happen. “The simplest place to start with personalization is in your own current ecosystem,” she said. Vendors change and evolve over the years, they add new programs and services, they find new ways to solve problems. Or, you can work with them to come up with new solutions. “You can push your current vendors, from a negotiation perspective, to do a little bit more, stretch them a little bit.”Emily McCrary-Ruiz-Esparza is an independent journalist and From Day One contributing editor who writes about business and the world of work. Her work has appeared in the Economist, the BBC, The Washington Post, Inc., and Business Insider, among others. She is the recipient of a Virginia Press Association award for business and financial journalism.(Photos by Hason Castell for From Day One)
Breaking Barriers to Personal Growth: Identifying What Holds Us Back
BY Emily McCrary-Ruiz-Esparza June 03, 2025If a company is truly able to reward risk-taking among employees, “the number-one thing they do is provide a measure of psychological safety,” said Matt Pepe, the VP of people at Barcelona-based pharmaceutical company Ferrer, which develops therapies for underserved conditions–an enterprise that requires ingenuity and creativity. In psychologically safe workplaces, Pepe said during a From Day One webinar on breaking barriers to personal growth, “it’s OK to go out on a limb and fail. But it’s hard to get to that point.”It helps if company leaders set the tone, says Pepe’s fellow panelist Laura Magnuson, the VP of clinical engagement at virtual mental health platform Talkspace. “As leaders, we can build psychological safety in the workplace by modeling vulnerability: Admit when you’re not sure what the answer is,” then pursue a solution in conjunction with the employee.Success can be measured and observed. Lawrence Price, the VP of people and culture at security firm Brink’s, said that evidence of a risk-taking environment tends to show up in two ways. First: internal mobility. Look at the share of open jobs that are filled with internal talent and the number of short-term projects people take on outside of their typical duties. “That tells me that they’re willing to allow people to try new things and to try to explore those opportunities,” he said. Second: continuous improvement processes. “How often [employees] are creating cross-functional teams to drive innovation and improvements inside the organization, which requires some level of experimentation.Of course risk-taking requires curiosity, which employers can encourage. “As far as the people leaders go, we need to make sure that they’re coming into 1:1s with their direct reports with a level of curiosity to understand what’s going on with that employee, not just in the workplace, but outside of the workplace,” said Sony Das, VP of learning and organizational development at Hollywood production company Lionsgate. Panelists spoke about "Breaking Barriers to Personal Growth: Identifying What Holds Us Back" during the webinar moderated by journalist Emily McCrary-Ruiz-Esparza (photo by From Day One)She likes to ask her team to reflect on the previous week. “What tasks or projects were you involved in that filled your cup? What made it enjoyable?” With that information, managers can steer their employees toward roles and tasks that they not only enjoy, but that they excel in. “Some people are working jobs, and some people are working careers,” said Rebecca Degner, the assistant VP of HR at professional services firm Genpact. And both are OK. It’s simply a matter of hearing what someone wants from their job and helping them find their way. “Have regular check-ins with employees as much as possible,” she said. It can be hard to find the time, so Degner has an open-door policy: “Anybody can schedule time on my calendar at any point in time to talk about their career.”Culture is both an influence on and product of the way employees work with and relate to each other. Talkspace’s Magnuson posed this question to employers: Is your culture rigid and resistant to new ideas, or is it flexible? Further, do employees work in a series of closed loops or can they collaborate freely? Whether there’s cross-pollination can tell you a lot about company culture. This also goes for the way people talk. What’s the tone? Do employees one-up each other on stress? Do employees brag about exhaustion and burnout as badges of honor? A culture of strain is not a free one, nor is it an innovative one. If employees are to take risks, they have to have the energy and mental space to do so.Editor’s note: From Day One thanks our partner, Talkspace, for sponsoring this webinar. Emily McCrary-Ruiz-Esparza is an independent journalist and From Day One contributing editor who writes about business and the world of work. Her work has appeared in the Economist, the BBC, The Washington Post, Inc., and Business Insider, among others. She is the recipient of a Virginia Press Association award for business and financial journalism.(Photo by Iconic Prototype/iStock)
Revolutionizing Talent Acquisition: The Human Edge in an AI-Driven Era
BY Ade Akin June 03, 2025Pat Griffin, the chief revenue officer at Randstad Digital, didn’t get the smooth search improvement he expected the first time he tested an artificial intelligence screening tool on a live candidate pool. What Griffin noticed instead was that an entry that perfectly matched every data point, like degrees, keywords, and experience, was flagged as “low fit.” For Griffin, that moment illustrated the promise and pitfalls of AI in talent acquisition, a topic he spoke about during a thought leadership spotlight at From Day One’s NYC half-day TA conference. The real advantage lies in “unique human connection” in a world focused on integrating artificial intelligence into everything, says Griffin. While AI can help to accelerate initial resume scans; it can also miss nuanced indicators such as tone, passion, and cultural fit that highlight a candidate’s true potential. “We can deploy AI agents to identify skill gaps or run pattern matching across hundreds of profiles, but only a recruiter can read between the lines,” he said. He cemented his argument by sharing a story about a top candidate who hesitated when asked to describe a professional setback, despite having impressive credentials on paper. An AI agent would have penalized the applicant for that, but a seasoned recruiter noticed her vulnerability and resilience, qualities many organizations find valuable. That recruiter's intervention showed that the human touch is essential in the screening process. Pat Griffin the chief revenue officer at Randstad Digital | Torc led the thought leadership spotlightGriffin says the use of AI in the recruitment process doesn’t replace recruiters. Instead, it empowers them by helping them to notice trends in application flow, pinpoint diversity gaps, and forecast hiring needs. “We’re using next-gen tools to model volume and quality of candidates, predicting when talent pools will dry up,” he said. “That lets us proactively build a digital community before roles even open.”Griffin highlighted a pilot program where Randstad Digital Torc used data innovation to identify emerging roles in software security. A targeted outreach campaign was created within weeks, with a 40% increase in qualified leads. “That’s not magic,” Griffin emphasized. “It’s a recruiter armed with insights, using AI in concert with their own expertise.”Griffin says the days of blackhole application portals and ghosting candidates are long gone and that having a smooth application process that prioritizes applicant experience is vital. He cautions against overreliance on AI as chatbots handle more roles like scheduling, answering frequently asked questions, and delivering personalized coaching tips for interviews. “We’ve seen AI agents misinterpret simple questions, leading to frustration. You still need someone monitoring those conversations,” he said. Randstad Digital introduced a hybrid recruitment process to combat the limitations of artificial intelligence. AI handles routine tasks, while human recruiters step in at critical touchpoints. “If a candidate expresses uncertainty, that triggers a handoff to a human,” Griffin said. “That balance improved our satisfaction scores by 25 percent.”Griffin tackled the role of AI predictions in the hiring process, noting that while machine learning excels at sifting through data and forecasting trends, it struggles with contextual judgment. “We saw false positives in early models, candidates flagged for 'overqualification' who turned out to be perfect fits after conversation,” he said. That led to the creation of new guardrails, such as all automated disqualifications requiring human review. Companies should view technology as a recruitment tool, not a replacement for recruiters, says Griffin. He highlighted three pillars for transforming any organization’s recruitment process. Organizations can integrate AI strategically by starting with pilot projects, such as improving search results for niche roles, and then scaling the models that prove successful. At the same time, it's essential to invest in upskilling by providing recruiters with training in data literacy and the ethical use of AI, ensuring that innovation is balanced with human judgment. Finally, fostering a digital community through ongoing engagement with potential candidates via social platforms and virtual events can help nurture long-term interest and relationships.Griffin urges recruiters to remember that the recruitment process is all about connecting with the right people. “AI agents are powerful, but they aren’t human,” he said. “When we prioritize unique human connection, we future-proof our hiring models and deliver an exceptional candidate experience.”Editor’s note: From Day One thanks our partner, Randstad Digital Torc, for sponsoring this thought leadership spotlight. Ade Akin covers workplace wellness, HR trends, and digital health solutions.(Photos by Hason Castell for From Day One)
The Din of Stress: How Benefits Leaders Can Help Workers Cope With Instability
BY Ade Akin June 02, 2025When Rachel Marling moved to New York to study photography at Pratt Institute, a career in human resources was far from her mind. However, like many others working entry-level jobs, she discovered that career detours can lead to unexpected destinations.“I joke with my colleagues that it’s the natural segue into HR,” Marling said during a fireside chat at From Day One’s NYC half-day benefits conference. The unorthodox start gave her a deep understanding of the intersecting paths of life and work.Marling joined New York Presbyterian Hospital in 2018 after spending over 13 years at a management consulting firm. Less than two years later, she dealt with the disruptions that came after Covid-19. The world has been in flux ever since, forcing businesses and workers to adapt as best they can. “And we’ve come past that hump, but I’m not sure that all of the anxiety and the agita is gone,” she said. Marling, now the VP of total rewards at New York Presbyterian Hospital, shared insights and experiences about how leaders can help navigate instability and the unknown. One way she does so is by focusing on employee well-being. From a business perspective, it’s in the employers’ interests to keep their workers motivated. This is a challenging burden to bear at a time when businesses and people face hardships like soaring prices, high rents, and instability from ever-changing government policies.Rachel Marling, VP of total rewards at New York Presbyterian Hospital, spoke with Steve Koepp, editor in chief of From Day OneHealthcare providers like New York Presbyterian need their staff to be mentally present so patients receive the highest quality of care. “Nurses are a big part of our workforce, and nursing does still skew female in particular age brackets. So, thinking about the demographics of our employee body, we have invested a lot in what I will call family-friendly benefits,” Marling said. The benefits include daycare subsidies, college coaching for older kids, and elder care services. Such programs help lighten the load of caregivers, allowing staff to focus on patient care while at work. The programs pay off by reducing adverse outcomes like absenteeism, presenteeism, and employee turnover.While it’s tempting to view additional employee benefits as unnecessary overhead that organizations can avoid, Marling has a different take. “We can’t spend money we don’t have, but investing in your workforce is the same as investing in equipment that you need,” she said. “You can’t run a business without people, and those people need to be healthy, they need to be plugged in, they need to be engaged.”Marling suggests negotiating with service providers to manage costs. “We all in our organizations are looking at market volatility and costs and saying, ‘What does this mean for us?’ Your vendors are doing that too,” she said. “So don’t be afraid when you’re going to contract, or even if your contract isn’t up. If there’s something that you want or you need, ask for it. The worst they can say is no.”Some service providers guarantee specific outcomes or returns on investment, she says. “You can, of course, hold them to those terms. So that’s something that you should absolutely ask about if you’re going down that avenue.” Vendors also offer flexibility in their pricing models. Some accept annual retainers and charge clients for every employee who uses their services, while others charge a flat fee regardless of the number of employees who use their services. Employers should invest in models that work for them and their workers.Marling also addressed how AI is changing how we interact with data. “Because of HIPAA reasons, we’re not in our claims data,” she elaborated. This is where AI comes in, keeping patients anonymous while executing pattern recognition to predict and hopefully improve patient outcomes.Healthcare organizations can use the results to shape wellness programs for individuals who may benefit from such interventions statistically. To ensure HIPAA compliance, healthcare providers also use AI-powered tools to execute patient outreach functions.Ultimately, wellness and productivity tools are most effective when used with intention. Marling urges leaders to be purposeful in how they support their teams, offering encouragement while also recognizing the challenges employees face both at work and at home.“It really makes a difference in how people show up, right? Are they coming to work feeling supported, feeling that you get it, or is work becoming another source of stress for them? You can’t fix their financial problems, but you can make them feel heard and appreciated,” she said. Ade Akin covers workplace wellness, HR trends, and digital health solutions.(Photos by Hason Castell for From Day One)
Building a Culture of Learning That Promotes Reskilling
BY Carrie Snider May 30, 2025The need for continuous skill development is essential for survival and growth in today’s world. Reskilling employees to meet evolving demands is no longer a one-off training initiative but a core part of cultivating a thriving corporate culture of learning. At From Day One’s Dallas conference, industry experts gathered to explore how organizations can embed reskilling into their core. Embedding reskilling into a corporate culture starts by reframing how organizations view talent—through the lens of skills. Kymberly Kuebler, VP of talent at Aimbridge Hospitality, shared how her company is shifting toward a skills-based workforce, beginning with redefining leadership.“One of the key competencies [for leaders] is ‘develop talent,’” Kuebler said. “That’s an expectation we set for all of our leaders.” But setting expectations isn’t enough. Aimbridge provides managers with practical tools to translate expectations into action. “We have an apprentice program to learn how to be a general manager of a hotel,” she said. “Part of the expectation is that their leader has a guide about how to check in with them, so we’re giving the managers the questions to ask so they can facilitate that learning along the way.”Kuebler stressed the importance of application over theory, citing the enduring 70-20-10 learning model where 70% of development happens on the job. Without embedding application, learning won’t stick.Technology also plays a pivotal role, she says. Aimbridge used AI to analyze and rewrite job descriptions based on top skills, accelerating what would have taken months into weeks. Their approach turns skills-based strategy from buzzword to business imperative. “What hasn’t changed is that 70-20-10 model, and 70% is application. If you’re not building that into how people are learning, then they’re not really learning.”Cross-Functional Alignment is KeyCreating a culture of continuous learning and mobility demands alignment across functions. Melanie Stave, SVP, career development & mobility practice leader, at LHH, emphasized that HR, talent acquisition, recruiting, learning and development, and organizational development must be synchronized. “They all need to know what everybody’s doing, so that the talent management process is defined from the top, and they have a plan,” Stave said.Clear communication, especially with managers, is vital. Managers are often the “lost population” in talent strategies, lacking visibility into their teams’ skills or clarity on mobility opportunities. Stave urged organizations to provide managers with better support to drive development effectively.Christine Perez, editor at D CEO Magazine, moderated the discussion Transparent communication helps alleviate employee fears around technology-driven change. Rather than a cold, impersonal process, mobility should feel like a “white glove service” that keeps the human element front and center.With alignment, organizations foster a culture where employees feel safe to express their career aspirations openly. It creates a culture where people don’t fear looking for a new job, instead they love it, but also love growth, she says. Retention Tied to Internal MobilityRetention isn’t about perks; it’s about purpose. Arthur Lucien, VP of learning and development for the Expert Engineer Program at JPMorgan Chase, highlighted internal mobility as a key retention driver often overlooked in today’s talent wars.“There’s this fantasy that if you’re good at what you do, someone will find you and give you what you’re looking for,” Lucien said. “That doesn’t always happen.”JPMorgan Chase targets mid-level performers who want to grow but are often neglected. “Your mid performer, the person who’s good but wants to be great, they get left behind all the time,” he said. Losing these employees means losing potential top talent.Lucien warned of the “deployment cliff,” employees earn new skills but managers are unprepared to help them apply those skills. Partnering with managers to provide tools, time, and transparency is crucial to avoid losing talent after development.Tracking Individual Development Plans (IDPs) is also key. “If we don’t know what people are working on, we’re on the clock until they leave,” he said. Leverage AI as a Tool for EfficiencyMike Sample, head of global strategic L&D at JLL, described how curiosity led him into AI and transformed his role. “I didn’t know what AI was,” he admitted. “I tend to be a late adopter. So I decided that I would learn a little bit about AI. I learned what a large language model was, and that helped me out a lot.”Sample sees AI not as a threat but a tool to create “white space,” freeing up time from mundane tasks to focus on creative, meaningful work.“Look at what you do, and then see what AI can help you do,” he said. “Some of the fear just comes from the unknown. But what if I could show you a way to save time doing something you don’t even like doing?”All that said, efficiency isn’t only automation; it’s engagement. Sample stressed listening to employees and encouraging a learning culture based on inquiry. “Never tell what you can ask,” he said. “When people feel engaged, they learn more.”AI doesn’t replace human skills like problem solving, critical thinking, and collaboration, he added. His advice for organizations? Start small, be consistent, and lead by example: “Learn the thing you know least about. Say out loud that you’re a little bit afraid of it. Go for it—and then teach someone else.”Learning as a Strategic ImperativeFor Molly McKinstry, VP of sales, North America, at Udemy, education is essential. “Learning is not a box check exercise,” she said. “It is a strategic, incredibly fundamental part of high performing, durable organizations that directly connects to business outcomes.”This starts with trust. Employees want to know their company invests in their future, not just their productivity. “If we are investing in their own skill development, I can't think of a more omnipresent way to show that trust,” McKinstry said.Learning must be personal, ongoing, and data-driven. It should be tailored to where employees are on their skill journeys and happen continuously—not just quarterly. Analytics should measure ROI through retention, mobility, innovation, and engagement.Digital access is vital. “People want to be able to learn when they want to learn, how they want to learn, where they want to learn,” she said. This empowers employees and addresses leadership’s gap in managing emerging technologies.“55% of employees do not believe their leaders are ready to bring Gen AI in a really intentional and strategic way,” McKinstry noted. Leaders must learn alongside their teams, foster vulnerability, and make learning fun.Reskilling requires a strategic, organization-wide mindset that incorporates skills-based development, aligned leadership, empowered managers, and smart use of technology. Companies that embed reskilling into their culture will retain talent, foster growth, and maintain competitive advantage in today’s evolving marketplace.Carrie Snider is a Phoenix-based journalist and marketing copywriter.(Photos by Steve Bither for From Day One)