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onlyHuman

We’re Only Human Podcast

HR is a challenging field. It’s easy to forget that in spite of the tools, technology, and resources at our disposal, at the end of the day we’re only human. How can we tailor our approach so that we take into account the diverse needs of individuals while still moving forward as an organization in a highly competitive landscape?

We’re Only Human is a podcast focused on the intersection of people and technology in the workplace. We talk with practitioners, vendors, consultants–a wide spectrum of voices to help us all learn and improve our practices. Topics can range from talent acquisition trends to improving performance management practices, new research on engagement, or even case studies of successful organizations with leading practices in HR, talent, or learning.

"And speaking of changing expectations and what's socially acceptable, this challenge of ghosting is going through the roof, and I've got bad news for you. It's gonna get worse. When we look at the data on ghosting, we see that it's actually age correlated. So someone who is 25 is more likely than someone who's 35, who's more likely someone who's 45, and so on. So the people who are 55 years old and older in the workplace are the least likely to ghost an employer.  And guess what? They're gonna steadily age out. And the ones who are doing...
Published on: 2023-05-23
By Ben Eubanks
"It's a big differentiator. And I think the organizations that figure it out--the organizations that get it right--are the ones that are gonna be able to attract people. And I think organizations that don't are gonna have more of a struggle because that becomes more important as we think about just making conscious choices: how do we wanna spend our days? How do we wanna spend our working lives and what do we want to accomplish? Mike Trusty, VP of Talent and Learning, Fannie Mae We're Only Human -- Episode 157   Digital transformation isn't a new concept, but it's...
Published on: 2023-04-17
By Ben Eubanks
There's certainly the opportunity cost that comes with assigning someone from your learning team or frankly finding anybody to work on this if it's not gonna fix the problem. There's also the frustration that comes with that. I've experienced that personally and as a leader of learning professionals. It is really frustrating to spend your time and effort doing something that you think is not gonna work. Ben Sieke, Director of Talent Development and Learning, Delta Dental We're Only Human -- Episode 156 When training is the answer to a problem, it can improve performance, satisfaction, and results.  When it's...
Published on: 2023-03-07
By Ben Eubanks
 "So there's a massive amount of insights coming from this. We measure things like net promoter score -- we have an average NPS of around 73, which as we all know is pretty great. And a big one for me is that 41% of people we actually go on to hire actually have used the platform once or more than once. That's a really big figure to show this is actually supporting employees to apply with us and attracting them to us and being successful in getting a role with us." Lisa Brignall, Head of Talent Acquisition GB at Coca Cola...
Published on: 2023-02-17
By Ben Eubanks
 "The joke is pilots get in the plane, they read their checklist, and they take off. They push the [autopilot] button and sit back and wait for the plane to land itself. But when something goes wrong, suddenly the pilot's got to take control. And then everybody's life's in that pilot's hands. I think autopilot turned off for compensation people 18 months ago." Bryan Briscoe, VP Global Compensation at Marriott International   We're Only Human -- Episode 154   There's not a company in existence that hasn't needed to take a fresh look at compensation in the last year. The...
Published on: 2023-02-04
By Ben Eubanks
We can talk about DEI and belonging in that space. We can talk about culture, but really those powerful impacts that can happen internally and externally are really dictated on the leadership. When I think of leadership, I believe leadership is an example of love, trust, and grace.  George Rogers, Chief Culture Officer, Lighthouse Research & Advisory We're Only Human -- Episode 153   There's no shortage of conversations today about DEI and the newest addition to that set of perspectives--belonging. But one of the challenges talent and DEI leaders have is making belonging more than just a buzzword or...
Published on: 2023-01-18
By Ben Eubanks
"Our main priorities right now are not unlike all people leaders. We're focused on hiring and we're focused on retention. On the hiring front, it's less about volume hiring. I think that everyone's slowing down just a little bit. With this economy we're focused on smart hiring and making sure that we're bringing in the right people for the right roles. Making sure not just to check a box or to make sure we're getting people in, but we want them to be happy in that role." Allison Lee, Chief People Officer, Persado   We're Only Human -- Episode 152...
Published on: 2022-12-12
By Ben Eubanks
"One of our ramp agents interacted with our CEO during one of his station visits and mentioned that he had taught himself how to code and that he was interested in technology. Our CEO was able to come back and connect him with recruiters and with our career mobility center [to] learn about a new program that we were just standing up. That employee actually moved from a ramp agent into this program, and our CEO was the one to call and make him an offer."  Kelby Tansey, Manager of Recruitment Marketing, Southwest Airlines We're Only Human -- Episode 151...
Published on: 2022-11-28
By Ben Eubanks
"One day he challenged me and he said, 'Listen, I want you to help our 477 store directors be great. But listen, I don't want you to go and teach them about engagement. They don't need like a history lesson. But I want you to teach them how to be engaging.' As I've navigated through various organizations, what I realized is that most organizations have the same challenges around manager performance." Kamaria Scott, Manager Enablement Expert at Accenture We're Only Human -- Episode 150   During a recent livestream event, when first-time managers was brought up as a conversation topic,...
Published on: 2022-11-02
By Ben Eubanks
"What I've seen over the last six to 12 months is that companies are literally craving this information to understand: are they still competitive? Because they've made so many moves, whether it was with pay or benefits, they want to understand where they stack as it relates to their competition."  Terry Terhark, Founder and CEO, NXT Thing RPO We're Only Human -- Episode 149 If you want to be an Olympian, you'd look at what Olympians do and learn from their approach. If you want to achieve that same world-class level of success in hiring, you should look at what...
Published on: 2022-10-13
By Ben Eubanks
And so we experimented and said, let's have a trial run at being a manager. We took about 25 people that wanted to be a manager as a cohort.  We said, okay, for a period of six to nine months, we would give you a small team you'd be responsible to learn how to interview and make hiring decisions. Then you get to decide whether or not you want to continue the manager path or not. Pat Wadors, Chief People Officer, UKG We're Only Human -- Episode 148 Managers are an essential part of getting work done. But many times...
Published on: 2022-09-19
By Ben Eubanks
"I guarantee there is a direct correlation between a fantastic culture to business success.  They are always together. I would say that the strong culture is the insurance policy of every business." Ronni Zehavi, CEO, HiBob We're Only Human -- Episode 147 What if we had a way to shield our businesses from unnecessary turnover, disinterested staff, and other similar challenges? It turns out that we do. It's called culture. In some new research, we found that just 52% of HR leaders say their technology supports the employee-focused culture they desire. That's a big gap.  In today's interview with Ronni Zehavi...
Published on: 2022-08-29
By Ben Eubanks
"When we select leaders, what we have found is leaders may have great, innovative ideas. They may be very driven to achieve. But if they're not inspiring people, if they're not demonstrating those interpersonal qualities that people see them as servant leaders, we've noticed that people are not willing to follow them. So we really emphasize that [serving] is exactly the quality that we want to see in leaders." Ji-Yun Kang, Leadership Assessment and Selection, Mayo Clinic We're Only Human -- Episode 146   All of the data indicate that a leader can make or break someone's experience at work....
Published on: 2022-08-19
By Ben Eubanks
"The first thing is 100% look for difference [when mentoring]. If you are only looking for more of the same, you are hurting yourself. Cloning was bad in Star Wars, and cloning is bad in real life. The second one is related: get away from the rock stars and the duds when you are mentoring." Lt. Col. Chaveso "Chevy" Cook, PhD, Executive Director, MilitaryMentors.org   We're Only Human -- Episode 145   Mentoring has been a bigger conversation in the last year as more companies are looking for ways to develop women leaders, move diverse professionals up the ranks, and...
Published on: 2022-08-11
By Ben Eubanks
"The more that we could be pushing that on the business side to say beyond revenue and profitability, what is the quality metric? What is the wellbeing metric? Obviously, employee engagement many companies measure. Are we measuring the investments in learning that we're putting out there for our people, even if they are people that end up leaving, if we're improving the future employability of a workforce, surely that's a good business and  society metric." Bhushan Sethi, People & Organization Joint Global Leader, PwC We're Only Human -- Episode 144 In the last 24 months, HR and People leaders have...
Published on: 2022-08-04
By Ben Eubanks