Becoming a B-Corp certified company represents a commitment to people, planet, and profit — and that can make you an attractive employer for both candidates and employees, explains today’s guest Paul Hunter, Responsible Business Lead, Kin + Carta. Responsibility and sustainability are baked into the Kin + Carta brand.  “Just as people are starting to prioritize responsibility more in the ways that they purchase goods and services,” says Paul, “they're also prioritizing it more in choosing where they work.”  Millennials and Gen Z have long been hailed as the most purpose- and cause-driven generation of workers; this interview with Paul bears that out. Not only does Paul make the power of becoming a B-Corp for recruitment indisputable, but it tells the story of how one company did it — and did it well.  KEY HIGHLIGHTS  Limiting global warming to only 1.5 degrees Celsius will take commitment from businesses Why Gen Z and Millennials value environmental responsibility in workplace values How building B-Corp certification into your brand yields profitable partnerships What your data retention strategy is costing the environment What the B-Corp certification process is like — and how to begin Check out these resources we mentioned during the podcast: The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Report   Meet the 2020 Consumers Driving Change: Why Brands Must Deliver on Omnipresence, Agility, and Sustainability, a report by The IBM Institute for Business Value and The National Retail Federation   Gies College of Business at the University of Illinois  Find every episode of Technically People on Apple, Spotify, and more. Find us on our website and join the conversation on LinkedIn. Listening on a desktop and can’t see the links? Just search for Technically People in your favorite podcast player.

For many employees, the thought of an upcoming performance review, at least if a company handles it traditionally, is likely to bring up anxiety, cynicism, or some combination thereof. It doesn’t have to be that way, says today’s Technically People guest, Rhiannon Staples, CMO at hibob.   “This shouldn't create angst,” she says. “This isn't a test. This experience shouldn't be negative for the employee. It's not a way to grade or rate them.”  A semiannual or annual formal review can and should be an incentivizing, motivating conversation employees are excited to have. It can and should be a conversation that drives engagement and, in turn, retention. And in fact, there’s a formula (of sorts) to make that happen.  “If you were to stop and ask someone their perception of a performance review,” says Rhiannon, “historically speaking, they'd say that half the conversation is reflecting on the past — what you've achieved, what you could have done better — and 50% of it is focused on the future.” Rhiannon has a better ratio. Specifically, she advises managers to spend 80% of the conversation on the direction an employee wants to take their career, how they’ll get there, and how the company can support them. That leaves 20% of the conversation for reflecting on the past, including what an employee achieved and what they might have done better. “That conversation feels a lot more like mentorship,” she says, “and it's a lot more about growth than assigning or ranking people within the business.”  No part of the conversation about the past, incidentally, should come as a surprise. “Feedback and continuous engagement with employees on performance, on goals, on objectives should be happening throughout the year,” says Rhiannon. In fact, giving continuous feedback before and outside of the formal review frees it up to be a celebration of employee strengths and a time to chart their path forward.  “We want employees to come into these conversations not with worry and fear,” adds Rhiannon, “but with optimism. And we want them to be invested and excited to share: Here's what I really did well — and to be transparent and open enough and confident enough to talk about where they feel they could have improved.” Tune in to the episode to learn more ways to take the angst out of performance evaluations, creating a more human, modern and motivating experience for your employees. KEY HIGHLIGHTS  Performance reviews should create optimism about the future, not angst about the past Pitfalls HR practitioners should avoid when rolling out an evaluation process (Hint: Don’t get mired in the logistics)   Empowering managers to make their evaluations more effective Ongoing feedback is the preferred mentorship style for Gen Z and Millennials How performance evaluation should happen in a remote/hybrid world Find every episode of Technically People on Apple, Spotify, and more. Find us on our website and join the conversation on LinkedIn. Listening on a desktop and can’t see the links? Just search for Technically People in your favorite podcast player.

Who among us hasn’t been fooled by a shiny resume? A candidate might feel like a sure thing on paper or in an interview. But when that new hire doesn’t work out, managers are nonplussed: What did we miss?  According to today’s Technically People guest, Shanan Fennema, Executive Advisor at Culture Index, what you missed is personality.   Culture Index is an assessment (not a “test,” it’s important to note) that measures employees’ and candidates’ work-related traits. It’s designed to help companies make successful hiring decisions and improve retention and team performance.  In a candidate selection scenario, companies using the tool consider a candidate’s traits against a benchmark of traits that are likely to yield success. Shanan emphasizes this is not about a candidates’ “passing” or “failing,” and the assessment doesn’t trump experience and expertise. Rather, it’s one more tool in your arsenal for making smart selection decisions.   Employees who take the assessment answer questions not just about their personality but about the extent to which they feel they need to modify who they are at work. If an employee feels they need to change dramatically, they could be stressed or dissatisfied. Knowing this, a manager can triage before an employee is compelled to leave.  Culture Index also helps team members understand each other. What makes each person on the team tick? Why do they do what they do? When team members “get” each other in that way, even the most dramatically different personalities can work exceptionally well together.  In fact, teams thrive when personalities are diverse, and some of the best collaborations emerge between people who might be considered opposites.   “The beauty is that yin and yang,” says Shanan. “That’s where companies really get the benefit from this. It’s not that we want to one-size-fits-all our organization. Rather, we're going to honor and understand that the different ways we approach things is where we hit home runs.”  To learn more about the role of personality in hiring, retention, and performance, tune in to the episode.  KEY HIGHLIGHTS  Managing employees according to their personalities  Why personality is not a “warm and fuzzy” proposition but directly tied to growth The stability of personality over a lifetime Manager personality as it relates to attrition Why pass/fail does not apply  Find every episode of Technically People on Apple, Spotify, and more. Find us on our website and join the conversation on LinkedIn. Listening on a desktop and can’t see the links? Just search for Technically People in your favorite podcast player.

As a leader, would you rather make business-critical decisions based on your often biased and incorrect gut instincts? Or on data that can predict with a high degree of certainty which candidates are likely to succeed, for instance, which employees are likely to leave your company, and which strategies will best retain people? It’s a rhetorical question, but it gets to the power of people analytics. In today’s episode, guest Brett M. Wells, PhD, the global head of people analytics at Perceptyx, shares how this discipline uses data (census surveys, pulse and lifecycle surveys, performance reviews, and more) to help leaders make sound decisions, including about attracting, selecting, and retaining talent. Organizations have never had more access to data, but it’s overwhelming, noisy, and difficult to interpret. People analytics finds the signal amid the noise, giving organizations insights they can act on. As an example, it can determine criteria that predicts success for specific roles at specific organizations, whether that’s experience, knowledge, skills, abilities, traits, or a mix thereof. The success rate for hiring is often cited as 50%. According to Brett, people analytics bumps that to 70%. “You're already using certain criteria to make selection decisions,” he says. “You can see under the people analytics microscope which of those factors are more indicative of success.” Another application that would make any HR team swoon: Perceptyx can predict which employees will leave an organization, and their reasons why, within the next 12 months with 85% accuracy. That leaves enough time for a company to intervene before employees set sail. “We get a really good sense of which way the wind is blowing for them,” says Brett. “Are they committed to the organization? Do they have intrinsic joy at work? Those that do not are 300% more likely to leave the organization in the next 12 months.” In this far-ranging conversation, we also explore Brett’s theory of “officism.” As hybrid work becomes the likely norm, officism is the prospect that leaders could come to view people who opt to work remotely as less committed than their in-office peers, who would then potentially be promoted faster and further. Given that parents, women, caregivers, and people with chronic illness and disabilities tend to benefit from and prefer remote work, the specter of officism raises equity issues. Painting a picture of the implications for just one of those groups, women, Brett says: “All of a sudden, you start seeing the glass ceiling arise again, and if anything turn into a concrete ceiling, because the office in large part is heavily male dominated [if officism were to take hold].” Listen in to learn Brett’s recommendations for getting ahead of this potential blow to workplace equity before it's too late. KEY HIGHLIGHTS - Predictive criteria for the success of any candidate - The attrition risk for remote employees who never worked in your office (and what to do about it) - People analytics as a means to improve DEI - Why years of experience is a poor indicator of success - The benefits of bringing on a leader dedicated to the remote experience Read Brett’s article in Forbes: - What ‘Officism’ Means For The Hybrid Workforce (And How To Curb Its Effects) Contact Brett: - [email protected] or LinkedIn Find every episode of Technically People on Apple, Spotify, and more. Find us on our website and join the conversation on LinkedIn. Listening on a desktop and can’t see the links? Just search for Technically People in your favorite podcast player.

No matter your thoughts on remote work (“It’s the future!” “It’s the end of us!”), one thing is clear: Work-from-home is here for the foreseeable future — and people teams need to be creative, empathic and flexible in building culture for remote and hybrid employees.  Today’s guest, Debbie Gunning, Vice President of People at Human Interest, has been managing the complexities of a geographically distributed workforce since Covid began. Two years ago, Human Interest was a 50-person office in San Francisco. When the company entered a period of rapid growth, its hiring needs accelerated. Today, Human Interest boasts nearly 500 employees, two thirds of whom are full-time remote workers.  “Hiring remote workers allowed us to scale faster,” she says. “When you have really aggressive hiring goals, you can open up a candidate pool that you maybe couldn't tap into before.” Debbie sees value in both in-office and remote work — and her San Francisco employees will return to the office in a hybrid capacity when the time is right. But she challenges the perception that remote is detrimental to productivity. Moreover, she posits that one of its benefits is retention. “Office life for some people means an hour commute or more per day, probably an hour on the lower side,” she says. “If you can use that time for work, for wellness, to connect with the people you love, you're going to be more productive and happy. And if you're more productive and happy, you're probably going to stay a lot longer in your current role.”  That said, Debbie recognizes the need to create opportunities for remote employees to stay connected. She shares the details of a forthcoming Human Interest remote program intended to replicate the sense of interpersonal connectivity that in-person employees develop organically.   For HR teams that are drawing up plans for remote, hybrid, or in-office arrangements, she offers this advice: Instead of creating a blanket return-to-work plan, take time to understand the unique stressors of individual employees, then create options that accommodate them — to whatever extent you can.  “I challenge all of us to put on a variety of lenses — to put yourself in the mindset of all sorts of different people that are employed at your company,” says Debbie, who specifically calls out caregivers and people with health conditions. “Listen, learn, and use that in building out a plan.” KEY HIGHLIGHTS  How remote allowed Human Interest to scale faster High-touch remote onboarding to make the experience more engaging  The benefit of appointing a designated team to manage the remote experience The kind of return-to-work policy that keeps employees happily retained A program for Human Interest’s remote workers designed to replicate the sense of connectivity that in-person employees enjoy Providing leadership opportunities for remote employees Check out the study we mentioned during the podcast: A 10-Mile Commute Can Hurt Your Health  Find every episode of Technically People on Apple, Spotify, and more. Find us on our website and join the conversation on LinkedIn. Listening on a desktop and can’t see the links? Just search for Technically People in your favorite podcast player.

Today’s guest, Dick Burke, says companies can’t expect to fill their technical roles at the speed required without turning to foreign national talent. The CEO of Envoy Global, which helps employers streamline the process of sponsoring foreign nationals, notes that 78% of students pursuing master’s or doctoral degrees for computer science are foreign nationals.  “You should be thinking of this as a whole other pool from which to fish,” he says. “While it can be complex, there are a lot of fish in that pool.”  Dick shares tactical tips for HR professionals who want to take advantage of the benefits of foreign national sponsorship. He also dispels misassumptions about foreign national sponsorship, as well as misassumptions about immigration in general.  “Don't we want the Sergey Brin’s and the Jerry Yang’s and the Elon Musk’s and the Luke Nosek’s — don't we want those people on our team?” he says, underscoring that the dialogue around the topic needs to divorce illegal from legal immigration. “I would think so. And don't we know that folks who create patents and win Nobel Prizes are disproportionately foreign nationals?”   KEY HIGHLIGHTS  Primary sponsorship scenarios, starting with foreign nationals who are already in the U.S., including students. Notable research on the topic, including the fact that 82% of HR professionals expect their foreign national headcount to increase or remain the same in 2022  How to navigate the pain points often cited by HR professionals, such as cost, persistently insufficient availability of H-1B visa slots and a lack of predictability in the regulatory environment   The need to recognize that the economics around the topic isn’t a zero sum game; immigration doesn’t take jobs but makes them  How to build onboarding that’s welcoming to foreign national talent See these resources we mentioned during the podcast: Envoy Global Immigration Trends   Learn about employment-based visas available in the U.S.  Find every episode of Technically People on Apple, Spotify, and more. Find us on our website and join the conversation on LinkedIn.  Listening on a desktop and can’t see the links? Just search for Technically People in your favorite podcast player.

Ade Akin-Aina, CHRP, Founder of the Africa Talent Project, and Talent Lead at Wave Mobile Money DESCRIPTION Today’s guest Ade Akin-Aina, a global talent acquisition leader who was recognized on the Financial Times’ list of top 100 black and minority ethnic leaders in technology, founded the Africa Talent Project in 2016, when she saw the need to help place leaders in fast-growing businesses in sub-Saharan Africa, particularly in the tech space.  The Africa Talent Project places professionals who live in sub-Saharan Africa with companies either in other African countries or in the countries they already live. Increasingly, Ade is also placing talent from sub-Saharan Africa with companies in Europe and North America — while the reverse has also begun to trend: Professionals in Europe or North America, looking to make global impact, are reaching out to Ade and accepting roles at startups across Africa. “There are so many inspiring companies tackling challenges that are unique to Africa and have a great impact in healthcare, edtech or fintech,” says Ade, who by day serves as the Talent Lead for French-speaking markets at the fintech unicorn Wave Mobile Money. “And then you pair that with the tech industry’s really narrow definition of available talent. Everyone's so focused on who's in their backyard. And they're overlooking a massive population that doesn't sit in New York or San Francisco that's more accessible right now.”    KEY HIGHLIGHTS  Broadening the definition of available talent The innovative work African companies are doing Ade’s learnings on how DEI needs differ in Africa versus in Europe or North America How the Africa Project changed one professional’s life Attracting top talent by providing growth opportunities Looking past your own backyard in your talent search Ade’s advice as a global TA leader for fellow practitioners Find every episode of Technically People on Apple, Spotify, and more. Find us on our website and join the conversation on LinkedIn.  Listening on a desktop and can’t see the links? Just search for Technically People in your favorite podcast player.

Employers are facing a shortage of tech talent exactly as they’re investing more heavily in tech than ever, intensifying their need to hire more skilled professionals.  In a 2020 McKinsey survey, 87% of companies say they’re experiencing skills gaps now or expect to in a few years. One third say they know how they’ll overcome this, citing a range of skills gaps: data analytics, IT management, executive management, HR and math skills, among others.  Our guest this week, Fahim ul Haq, Cofounder and CEO of edtech company Educative, says that hiring to fill gaps isn’t an option when there just aren't enough professionals out there. Instead, the answer lies in hiring coachable talent who may be just slightly below the bar, then upskilling and reskilling them.  “The idea is to convert your silver medalist into gold medalist,” he says, noting that this investment in people’s futures makes you more attractive to candidates and boosts employees’ retention and engagement.   In the episode, Fahim also offers advice to help non-technical recruiters attract technical talent more effectively: Learn relevant technical language, he says, as well as engineers’ general preferences, like the desire to ship code without a lot of red tape.  “Understand that ‘react’ is not a verb,” he says. “It’s a JavaScript framework developers use to build websites. Understand that ‘rust,’ for us, is not something that happens to iron. You know, I'm making fun of this, but I have heard recruiters use terms in weird ways and it can be a turn-off for candidates.”   One approach is to tear a page from Educative. Employees there interact with technologists every day, whether customers or the instructors who author courses. So all employees take a Python course to grasp general concepts.  “Angular” is not just something that’s pointy. And recruiters who know this will make deeper connections with tech candidates.  EPISOD HIGHLIGHTS  The cold hard truth if you think it's risky to hire less seasoned talent with the intent to upskill Why hiring and training "silver medalist" talent leads to better retention A trend in which companies are giving candidates courses before their interviews, giving them the best shot at success The need for recruiters to show they understand what matters to engineers, from shipping code quickly to working on new tech Per McKinsey, among companies that offer reskilling programs, 48% say the programs have enhanced bottom-line growth RESOURCES Beyond Hiring: How Companies are Reskilling to Address Talent Gaps (McKinsey, 2020)  Find every episode of Technically People on Apple, Spotify, and more. Find us on our website and join the conversation on LinkedIn. Listening on a desktop and can’t see the links? Just search for Technically People in your favorite podcast player.

To find and reward hidden talent among your engineering team, look past the self promoters and dive instead into the data.  That's according to guest Kathryn Murphy, who at the time of the recording was the EVP and GM of Pluralsight's engineering productivity insights product, Flow. Flow uses data to help engineering leaders understand how their engineering teams collaborate.  By pulling data like code commits, ticket data and pull requests, Flow not only reveals team dynamics but individuals who contribute at a high level without announcing it over a loudspeaker. This allows leaders to recognize and reward them — a critical factor because these quiet influencers can often be from underrepresented groups.  For instance, Kathryn tells the story of an engineer who wasn’t sure she was on par with her new team after a decade-long hiatus from the workforce. But the data behind her work — again, the code commits, ticket data and pull requests — showed that she was in fact extremely talented and proficient.  The data set her free, says Kathryn, who adds: “It's too easy to define a high-performing contributor as the person who stayed up all night, working on a production issue, or the person who's really loud about all the new things they're doing. We often ignore the more quiet but meaningful contributors: the people who are helping others, the people who are learning new skills, the people who are working cross-functionally.” When you honor these less flashy but high-impact behaviors, you create a culture of trust. That’s an important lesson for every leader, whether you're VP of engineering, a CHRO who wants to learn how engineering teams operate or any leader who seeks to reward those who contribute significantly with a below-the-radar personality. Episode Highlights: Using data to gain visibility into the dynamics of remote teams  The need to redefine what it means for employees to have influence   How data helps leaders support employees from underrepresented groups How to onboard engineers faster for higher-performing (and happier) teams Why data can put employees’ performance fears to rest How to ensure data insights are used as a force for good  Check out these resources we mentioned during the podcast: Reach Kathryn on LinkedIn or at her current company, Twilio  Find every episode of Technically People on Apple, Spotify, and more. Find us on our website and join the conversation on LinkedIn. Listening on a desktop and can’t see the links? Just search for Technically People in your favorite podcast player.

“Many people think their work is their worth,” says Robbie Green, MSIO, Executive Coach at Talking Talent, who goes on to make clear: It’s not. In this first-ever sequel of the show, part 2 of the previous episode with Talking Talent’s Teresa Hopke, Green offers ideas to help leaders overcome workaholism and set boundaries so they can support employees’ own efforts to do so.  Enjoy this sample executive coaching session in podcast form. It’s full of “Robbie-isms” like this gem: “Setting boundaries teaches people how to treat you. Some folks learn slower than others, but that doesn't mean you should cancel the class.”  Episode Highlights: How leaders can show empathy even if they’re not natural empaths  Learning to lead amid unprecedented uncertainty   Why understanding that “your work is not your worth” makes you a better leader Setting good examples for employees to foster their wellness Why some people struggle to set boundaries and how to learn this skill Setting work-life parameters that actually work The need for leaders to accept that they don't have all the answers — and to courageously say so Check out these resources we mentioned during the podcast: Reach Robbie on LinkedIn or at Talking Talent  Why keeping TABs on remote workers is key to building culture of trust (Remote Report)  Effect of a Workplace Wellness Program on Employee Health and Economic Outcomes A Randomized Clinical Trial  Find every episode of Technically People on Apple , Spotify and more. Find us on our website and join the conversation on LinkedIn. Listening on a desktop and can’t see the links? Just search for Technically People in your favorite podcast player.