Capital H: Putting humans at the center of work

Mergers and acquisitions come with their fair share of challenges—especially during the integration phase. The promise of new talent pools may seem crystal clear during negotiations, but creating a cohesive organizational culture is not so straightforward in practice. How can leaders of merged companies architect reward programs that engage and retain employees? Our guest for this episode is Ben Jackson, the assistant vice president of Health & Welfare Benefits Operations for AT&T.

Talent Acquisition has seen an explosion in tech tools designed to help source, recruit, and hire the right people faster. But too often, either the human factor gets in the way of sound decision-making or the technology itself lets biases creep in. Join us as our guest, Kate Glazebook, CEO and Co-Founder at Applied, discusses the many, often surprising, ways bias keeps organizations from making the best hiring decisions and how behavioral science is helping them battle back.

Your workforce probably looks different today than it did previously. Today organizations have a dynamic ecosystem of freelancers, contractors, gig workers, and flex-time employees. This new reality is challenging traditional methods of performance management. Our guest, Jennifer Beihl, senior manager, Performance Development and Culture for GE, helps us explore this new landscape, discussing how GE is strengthening their employer–employee relationship through performance management transformation.

Leading as a social enterprise is not only about an organization’s role in society but also about how it operates within its own walls, with its own people. Work is an inherently human endeavor, and cultivating this human focus is front and center in social enterprises. This includes things like giving people a sense of purpose and meaning at work, operating ethically, fairly, and transparently, and building teams that foster personal relationships and human connections.

Welcome back to Capital H. In Season 2, we’ll be focusing on a key business imperative from our 2019 Global Human Capital Trends research, which is the need for organizations to reinvent themselves with a human focus. We’ll hear from business and industry leaders of organizations that are navigating the challenges and opportunities – all while focusing on the human element at work.

What does it take to attract, retain, and develop top talent in today’s highly competitive job market? This episode explores how organizations are going above and beyond traditional employee engagement programs to create “simply irresistible” employee experiences. Our guest, Craig Mundy, Vice President of Human Resources, Strategic Business Units for Ingersoll Rand, shares how Ingersoll Rand transformed its employee experience by introducing an integrated career management and rewards system.

Today, CEOs are taking a public stand—not just for shareholders but also for employees, customers, the environment, and the communities they serve. Our guest, Nick Aster, founder of TriplePundit, discusses why it’s more important than ever for CEOs to take a stand on social responsibility. How can CEOs effectively navigate the often blurry line between saying enough and saying too much? And what are the risks and rewards they face? Join us as we dig in to the many facets of CEO activism.

Staying ahead of the digital curve requires new ways of thinking and doing—it’s as much about mind-set as it is about the latest technology. And it’s more than making incremental improvements: It’s time to think and act big! We’re joined by Dr. Reza Moussavian, senior vice president of the HR division “Digital & Innovation” at Deutsche Telekom, who will tell us how an enterprise-wide digital transformation and adopting a digital mind-set has infused innovation throughout the company’s cultur

It may be time to rethink everything you thought you knew about corporate learning. Companies today are reshaping their learning models to deliver new value to employees and the business, making learning more real-time, on-demand, and embedded in the flow of work. Meriya Dyble, managing director of connected learning, explains how ATB Financial has been creatively reimagining learning in this way—including peer-to-peer learning -- to radically personalize the learning experience.

We see the changes organizations are making to adapt to external pressures as they transition to social enterprises, but how are they addressing the inevitable shifts that are occurring within their own companies? When operating as a social enterprise, financial performance and social purpose go hand in hand. Deb Hicks, chief people and culture officer at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, is here to tell us about her organization’s efforts to tackle issues of diversity & inclusion and accessibility.