We're Only Human

"And as I have these conversations with hiring managers and my peer executives, I often ask them things like, 'Who is the best person that works with you that comes from a non-traditional background--would you take more of them?' And of course the answer is always yes. You can! You can do that. And why not risk the possibility of getting somebody amazing?"Peter Sursi, Talent Executive, Federal Bureau of Investigation We're Only Human -- Episode 129 In today's talent market, employers need to be willing to flex, change, and iterate. "The way we've always done it" was always a poor strategy, but today it could be crippling. In this episode of the podcast, Ben talks with Peter Sursi, a talent executive with the FBI. Peter's belief is that employers should open up their hiring to nontraditional backgrounds. This not only supports diversity efforts, but it also helps to diversify talent pipelines and create a more rich and varied set of skills that your organization can tap into. Listen to Peter's passionate plea for companies and hiring leaders, and take him up on the challenge to "risk getting someone amazing" into your next hiring funnel.  Links and Show NotesConnect with Peter on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/petersursi/ This episode is a replay from our 2021 State of Hiring in Today's Talent Market event. To hear the entire event and get 3.0 HRCI/SHRM credits, get the free replay on demand here: https://lhra.io/hire21 Check out our new research on The Great Reprioritization: https://lhra.io/blog/data-preview-the-great-resignation-nope-its-the-great-reprioritization-new-research/ See the show archives and sign up for episode updates

"No one likes leaving the comfort zone, but change forces you to leave your comfort zone, your known area. That is also an aspect of why it's important to start early because you also need to transport the vision for why you change, why you transform things, because if people don't understand why things are changing and what is the greater strategy, they will find it even harder to change themselves and their behavior." Manuela Brede, Senior Consultant Transformation & Change Management at SiemensWe're Only Human -- Episode 128 Changing workplace technology, practices, or almost any factor in the employee experience is guaranteed to create friction. Why? Because humans are inherently drawn to stability. New data from Lighthouse Research & Advisory shows that while all employees don't want remote work, many of those that have it want to keep it. Today's discussion with Manuela Brede of Siemens dives into change, change management, organizational transformation, and more. With a robust background of insights into how human and organizational behavior integrate, listeners will quickly pick up on key ideas to help communicate and reinforce change of all types.  Thank you to the team at IBM for connecting us with Manuela. IBM is doing tremendous work with organizational strategy and transformation for organizations like UnitedHealth Group, Takeda Pharmaceuticals, PayPal, and more. https://www.ibm.com/about/transform-your-work/  Show notes: Listen to our show archives and get free updates on new episodes: https://lhra.io/podcast  See the show archives and sign up for episode updates

Kent Plunkett, CEO of Salary.com, dives deep into the world of compensation and talent intelligence. He discusses how data-driven strategies are essential for addressing pay equity and retention in today’s competitive job market. The conversation highlights the rise of AI-enabled talent intelligence, transforming HR practices and enhancing employee management. Kent also emphasizes the importance of aligning compensation with career growth and skills, paving the way for equitable pay and effective talent management.

"That's step one is you have to build that partnership. And hopefully now that the iron is hot,  strike it. If you have been supporting your business and organization through this pandemic,  how do you take advantage of that and make sure that now your voice is in the room. Make sure that now you're using your voice and you're saying some of these things. I think HR has a unique perspective to your point--we don't cause a lot of these issues, but we help solve a lot of these issues."Julie Salomone, VP of Global Human Resources, Televerde We're Only Human -- Episode 126 In all the factors that wrap into what a company does, the people are the key enablers, doers, and makers. And HR is the keeper of the people. In this heartfelt episode, Julie Salomone of Televerde and host Ben Eubanks discuss how HR can step up and drive success for all initiatives, both talent-oriented and not. Julie talks about what inspires her as an HR leader and offers a clear call to action for today's talent professionals to step up and lead during challenging times.  Resources: Connect with Julie: https://www.linkedin.com/in/julie-salomone-mahr-phr-3096212/ Learn more about Televerde and their unique approach to talent: https://televerde.com/who-we-are/model/ See our show archives, sign up for free updates, and more: http://lhra.io/podcast See the show archives and sign up for episode updates

"The job of a talent acquisition leader is actually like five or six functions put together. You're a marketing leader doing outbound and branding. You're a sales leader, leading a team of individuals having conversations, converting candidates, or an operations leader by coordinating and scheduling and setting up interviews through the funnel. You're an analytics leader, trying to build dashboards and reporting." Teddy Chestnut, BrightHire We're Only Human -- Episode 125 In the hiring process, we collect a lot of data. We look at costs, timing, responsiveness, candidate qualities, and so much more. But the majority of companies don't capture much, if anything, around interviews. And when they do, that happens on a notepad or piece of paper, which is virtually impossible to analyze.In this episode of We're Only Human, Teddy Chestnut from BrightHire talks about how his company is enabling powerful insights from interviews at a massive scale, allowing business leaders to use that data for DEI hiring, process improvement, and so much more. Links and resources: Check out our most recent podcast on 20+ hiring strategies for a tight talent marketLearn more about the BrightHire teamSee our show archives, get updates on We're Only Human, and moreSee the show archives and sign up for episode updates

Thousands of people have been our dataset this year that we've been talking to and analyzing and understanding what's happening. There's so much research and evidence here to help you. Transparently, I've never seen a market like we're in today. I hope this gives you some good insights and good ideas to solve for the current challenges and an extremely difficult hiring market.Ben EubanksChief Research Officer, Lighthouse Research & Advisory Host, We're Only HumanHost, HR Tech Talks Livestream Show We're Only Human -- Episode 124 In the rare solo episode, Ben talks directly to talent and HR leaders who are struggling to find the right staff in the unprecedented job market employers are facing. This episode brings a ton of resources to bear:Ben's hands on experience in recruiting hard to find talent in the special operations aviation communityInterviews with more than a dozen forward-thinking talent and HR leaders that are taking a proactive approach to the current situationData from more than 800 employers from this year's Talent Acquisition Trends research at LighthouseTake notes! And if you have had a conversation with someone in the past 30 days about the challenges of hiring, take a minute to share this episode with them. After all, a rising tide lifts all ships! Show notes/resources: Free PDF handout: 20+ Strategies and Tips for Hiring in a Tight Markethttps://upstarthr.com/talent-mobility-case-studies-and-research-podcast/ Sprint Recruiting Book: https://amzn.to/3sL6O7C LHRA research on talent acquisition priorities for 2021/2022: https://lhra.io/blog/report-we-asked-800-employers-about-virtual-recruiting-new-research/ See the show archives and sign up for episode updates

"I think openness to failure is as important as openness to success, because if you're not open to failure, you're not open to trying new things. Full stop. You're going to keep rolling out the same trite things that maybe aren't the best things. So it's really as important to try new things, and where you give yourself the credibility is the fact that you are measuring and you are looking at whether or not this works objectively."Caitlin Bigsby, Visier We're Only Human -- Episode 123 Want to be more successful? Fail more often. In a recent conversation with an executive that works with numerous high-performing organizations, he explained that the critical differentiator for the best firms is a willingness to iterate and experiment, knowing that some of those will inevitably fail. In today's episode, Ben speaks with Caitlin Bigsby about the importance of analytics, measurement, and data when it comes to HR and talent practices. Caitlin shares how to identify problems that data can solve, what to do next, and how to leverage evidence as a powerful tool for positive change in the business.  Connect with Caitlin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/caitlin-bigsby Connect with Visier: https://www.visier.com/ Learn more about We're Only Human and check out our archives: https://lhra.io/podcast See the show archives and sign up for episode updates

"An HR manager can do whatever they need to do.  We do have a vision, and the vision is that all administrative tasks should be done in less than 15 seconds."Leila Laidani, Aconso We're Only Human -- Episode 122 In the last year, companies have shifted much of their work processes to a digital format. However, legacy files and workflows don't always transition so easily. In this episode, Ben talks with the team from Aconso about how using secure, digital storage solutions can help HR leaders to not only protect and preserve sensitive information, but use their time more effectively than shuffling paper and documents.  Learn more: Check out the Aconso website: https://www.aconso.com/ Check out the We're Only Human archives, subscribe, and more: https://lhra.io/podcast See the show archives and sign up for episode updates

"You need to have a competitive pay and benefits offering. When you go to do that, the employer ends up paying for a lot of things that go unused just because there's too much to communicate. What's just amazing about the time and space we're in now is you can really use personalization to surface opportunities from among and within those programs and benefits at the right time, in a way where it's really a health and benefits journey of one."John Halloran, CEO at Mobile Health We're Only Human -- Episode 121 Each of us is unique. Our day-to-day needs, our lifestyles, and even our stress levels vary greatly. But one thing is certain: wellbeing is applicable to every single one of us. In this episode, Ben and John discuss the importance of creating customized health journeys for employees (for instance, targeting a personalized need for mental health, fertility, or nutritional suggestions).Beyond that, the discussion brings in ideas for how HR leaders can drive the right engagement with the workforce by leveraging wellbeing and wellness across a variety of opportunities. John brings up a powerful case study where EY and KPMG created an initiative using low-code tools from Mobile Health to engage their remote workforce, proving that these practices work for remote, hybrid, and in-office workers. In today's talent-driven market, this focus on wellbeing is a "must have," not a "nice to have."  Connect with Mobile Health: https://www.mobilehealthconsumer.com/ Learn about Anthem Blue Cross's partnership with Mobile Health: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/mobile-health-announces-8-year-preferred-partner-agreement-with-anthem-blue-cross-and-blue-shield-301341535.html  Learn more about the We're Only Human podcast, subscribe, and see our archives: http://lhra.io/podcast  See the show archives and sign up for episode updates

"I had a client that in February of last year had 72 employees, all in Boulder, Colorado. By September of last year, they eliminated their office and went remote. They went from having all their employees in one state to having those same 74 employees, but across 14 different states."Jordan Conley, President, Obsidian HR We're Only Human -- Episode 120 In the United States, approximately 98% of the employers that exist have fewer than 100 employees. It's easy to get caught up in the headlines that focus on enterprise companies, but a massive segment of the economy (and job market) are tied to small businesses. In this episode, Ben talks with Jordan Conley, President of Obsidian HR, about the challenges facing small businesses today. The discussion covers topics like outsourcing for a greater focus on strategic HR, how remote work makes compliance and HR work more difficult, and more.  Connect with Jordan and Obsidian HR: https://www.obsidianhr.com/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/jordanconley/ Thanks to isolved for connecting us with Jordan!Learn more about We're Only Human, subscribe, see our archives, and more: http://lhra.io/podcast See the show archives and sign up for episode updates