TalentCulture #WorkTrends

What is wellness? The definition has been thrust into high contrast by COVID-19 and our changing work landscape. Working remotely or not, employers tending to employee well-being are finding themselves at the cutting edge of employee experience when their wellness offerings fit the needs and lives of their people.    At #WorkTrends we’re looking at some of the companies who are focusing on wellness as a key differentiator -- in terms of employee performance and experience, and also customer experience. And we’re looking at how the pressures and challenges today are helping to catalyze a new definition of what wellness means. It’s not a matter of offering isolated benefits or perks anymore — it can’t be. As companies shift to flexible and remote working out of necessity, they’re finding the need to provide a through-and-through culture that embodies their values — and wellness is an enormous component.  Today I’m bringing Arthur Matuszewski, VP of Talent, Better.Com to #WorkTrends to talk about how he and his company are innovating a wellness culture that employees thrive on. It has demonstrable benefits in terms of customer success, and some of its most popular elements may surprise some in this audience.

Work is all about relationships — you and your boss, you and your managers, you and your teammates, you and your direct reports, and everyone else. Every single one of the relationships we have at work (as well as everywhere) has to be carefully managed, or it can go south fast. At work, compound that need to manage your relationships with the pressure of the workflow, and there’s little margin for error. And teams are becoming the functional nucleus for more and more organizations.  81% of employees work on teams — cross-functional, multi-layered, remote, hybrid, of all shapes and sizes. And no team can function without great management and great relationships.  But here’s the good news: managing is a skill like any other. There are effective strategies and approaches for every kind of managing we do: up, down and across — to improve our work, our effectiveness, and our relationships.   Today we’re going to learn from an expert on the workplace — in fact she’s an expert on so many facets of technology and teams that it’s hard to keep track.

The COVID-19 pandemic has triggered intense economic and social disruption and it’s far from over. And our work landscape has changed and will continue to evolve. For businesses, steering through COVID-19 and navigating this new work landscape requires savvy and careful strategizing. More than ever, HR is playing a critical role. And you need the best information you can right now — from managing a newly remote workforce, facilitating furloughs and layoffs, and helping the business leverage provisions of the CARES Act, understanding and tapping into the Paycheck Protection Program.    This is a new normal that can seem like anything but normal, and among many HR practitioners, there’s a very real need for guidance and support. One very effective strategy is HR outsourcing. But it’s not about giving up control. It’s about the value it can bring to the business.  Today I’m bringing Tom Hammond, VP, Corporate Strategy and Product Management at Paychex, to #WorkTrends for this sponsored podcast on the why and the how of outsourcing HR. We’re going to talk about the best strategies for surviving these tough times, and supporting our businesses and our employees through it. In light of COVID-19, we’ll be looking at a range of outsourcing models — such as professional employer organizations (PEOs) and administrative services organizations (ASOs). We want to help our listeners understand how these solutions can support them right now — when we really need them.

Right now organizations are seeing their mettle tested and one thing that’s helping them keep their workforces aligned, engaged and supported is a great company culture. We’re going to talk with organizational culture expert Josh Levine about what makes a company culture matter now — such as how leaders play a key role, and why being there for your people may also mean shifting priorities for the duration. Messaging and zingy purpose statements aside, companies that operate from a foundation of truly essential values and demonstrate caring and perspective are the companies who are going to do better in the long run. Can we say that a culture of caring is good for business? Right now, I think we can. And Josh Levine has a lot to say about what we can all do to strengthen our culture — and strengthen our connections to each other as we work remotely, work differently, and work together.

The world of work is in the midst of a reckoning. From finance to retail to hospitals to energy to technology, there’s not one sector that has not felt an impact of the COVID-19 pandemic of its toll on the economy . But we’re evolving, and quickly. Weeks in, many organizations are past that sudden pivot to remote teams and are now stepping back from doing triage to think about what’s truly important for supporting our people. That includes technology, security, and knowledge — as in learning the skills, approached, and technologies we need to know to function. Laying the framework for a successful shift to what happens now, and in the future, depends on expanding on the lessons we’re learning right now.    Today I’m talking to Michelle Boockoff-Bajdek, Chief Marketing Officer at Skillsoft, to #WorkTrends for this sponsored podcast on the key to remote workplaces that allow your people to excel, thrive and grow. We’re going to talk about the challenges for leaders and managers to engage and support their remote teams, why knowledge is so important right now to all of us.

On today’s #WorkTrends podcast we’re talking about the skills our workforce will need for the future — and why we need them now. The skills we’re going to need to achieve in the workplace of the future have everything to do with attributes, behaviors, habits and mindset that support collaboration, creativity and innovation, and empathy. And the new workforce is trending to high-performing, sometimes cross-functional teams, with less hierarchy and more independence. To thrive in this context, we need to harness our incredible potential as humans — and be able to use our skills to excel. This is going to matter increasingly, as we face the hybrid workplace of the near future. Today’s guest, Angela Maiers, is here to get us mapping to the skills of the future. Angela is an edupreneur, a futurist, an author, an innovator, and the founder of Choose2Matter, a global nonprofit.

As younger-gen (I’m not saying young gen intentionally) and Next Gen hires come into organizations and show their incredible aptitude and promise, we’re certainly justified in wanting to reward them and promote them. Continuity is on our minds right now as we search for the light at the end of the tunnel of this current crisis — and look for how we’re going to sustain our organizations for the future. And it’s the bright stars in our own workforce that may wind up leading the way. So how do we best develop them? How can smaller organizations keep pace and provide access to coaching and support? The answer may lie in AI.  An AI-driven digital coach named Amanda is actually proving to be a phenomenal solution for companies looking to train, develop, and educate front-line managers, supervisors, and upcoming leaders. It was launched by  Kevin Kruse of LEADX using technology powered by IBM Watson. We’re going to talk about what it is, how it works, and why it’s leveling the playing field for organizations no matter their size. Both 80% of those polled on whether or not they wanted robot coaching, and the same percentage of those polled on whether or not they want human coaching said yes, they do. The bottom line isn’t machine or person. It’s having a coach, period. And the results with Coach Amanda are really compelling.

Even right now, even with everything, we need to amp up our workplaces like never before. Culture keeps us together — but you can’t create a great culture if you’re not leading like a rockstar, and treating your employees like MVPs. So many organizations are morphing right now into remote and fragmented workforces — by necessity. But we’re really looking for the glue that will keep us together. Tell you what we all need to keep the beat: Culture. A culture that celebrates empathy, emotional intelligence, innovation, alignment and growth Culture is a dynamic reality that can make our people feel awesome and want to keep on rocking. Or, it can make them want to go join another band.    Culture also sets us on a course for the future. And all the organizations I know are obsessed with what the future holds. Culture helps us attract the next superstars to our organization, helps the leaders connect with the rest of the workforce, and supports the employees who have the promise to really go the distance and be the next leaders. And that’s what Jim Knight is all about. He’s a standout expert on workplace cultures and rockstar leaders. So we’re going to talk as well about how you can become that leader — who creates an amazing workplace culture, embodies it, and keeps it evolving, current, and sustaining for the long-term.  And hey, we love those bands that have stood the test of time and stayed relevant through the decades, am I right?

Business readiness has taken on a whole new meaning right now as we grapple with an absolutely massive upheaval facing our lives as well as our work. Even a month ago we were discussing the importance of digital workspaces and remote capabilities as a key item on the wish list. Today it’s a necessity. We need to provide a structure for our employees to do their best work no matter where they are. This is a tremendous challenge for leaders and managers: how can we maintain continuity, support and sustain productivity, and adapt, really, on a dime? What it takes is incredible innovation and ingenuity. But the good news is we don’t have to reinvent the wheel. There are powerful and effective ways to provide central, interconnected workspaces, maintain communications and stay secure, by shifting to digitally empowered solutions that keep us ready for nearly anything. Being business ready is on everyone’s minds, and I’m thrilled that today I’m talking to someone who knows how to help. We’re talking to Tim Minahan, the Executive Vice President, Business Strategy and Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) CITRIX, about the importance of business readiness — and the best approaches to achieving it. Flexibility, adaptability — it’s like gymnastics for business. But it’s also a matter of survival. This podcast is sponsored by Citrix.

Today internal communication is transforming right before our eyes and ears. It’s getting a powerful boost from new technologies such as AI, augmented and virtual realities, and changing not only what we say but how we say it. The future of communication — even how we reach out to each other — and everyone in our organizations — is going to see rapid growth and radical improvements. In fact we’re already experiencing them today.. We’re talking to organizational communication expert Shel Holtz, a pioneer in the field who’s now the Director of Internal Communications for WEBCOR Builders in California. He’s been pushing us forward ever since we started using the intranet (you’ll find out why) and is here today to talk about how new technologies are transforming communication — and why we’re never turning back.