Too many employee benefits aren't even that beneficial! Kayla and I discuss the importance of offering useful benefits to your employees and how to get more creative about picking benefits that help them live their whole life better, not just their work life!

Topics discussed:

• Why employees don't use your benefits (they don't remember what they are) 
• How to find out what your employees think is missing from your current benefits package 
• How to convince your CEO a travel perk or other creative benefits are NOT silly
• People-first companies can live up to their promise through the  personalization of the benefits offered
• A Love Letter from Millenials to GenZ (we tried, we love you) 
• Psychological safety in companies and on teams 
• Did we forget what engagement even means?

Resources mentioned:

• Employee Surveys Webinar Workshop 
• Rockstars vs Superstars episode
• Beating Burnout at Work - Book 
• Measure What Matters - Book 
• Connect with Kayla on Linkedin
• Connect with Kayla on Instagram 

Watch this episode on Youtube

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A return back to work is a BIG change. Not many companies get it right! This episode helps you navigate the decision and conversation with your CEO and do your part of the partnership, which is to help them think the decision through from a people-first lens. What could go wrong? What effect would this have on employees? Are we prepared for this?

Studies to show your CEO: 

• 64% of employees would quit if asked to return
• Remote-work-persisting-trending-permanent

Topics discussed:

• How to speak to your CEO (verbal sparring) 
• Harnessing your influence over the CEO (with references!)
• Thought exercises for returning to work - is this a good idea? 
• The value of AMAs (Ask Me Anything)
• Communicating the change with the team
• Monitoring employee feelings through the transition 
• Asking for more headcount for YOU to do this well

Resources mentioned:

• Tips for sending engagement surveys 
• Employee Hierarchy of Needs podcast episode
• Soft skills podcast episode ft. Scott Asai) 
• Radical candor (book) 
• Fierce Conversations (book) 
• HR vs People Ops podcast episode
• Watch this podcast on YouTube

Watch this episode on Youtube

Follow Christie Hoffman (Host) on TikTok and Linkedin, and subscribe to the show for the latest content!

A return back to work is a BIG change. Not many companies get it right! This episode helps you navigate the decision and conversation with your CEO and do your part of the partnership, which is to help them think the decision through from a people-first lens. What could go wrong? What effect would this have on employees? Are we prepared for this?

Studies to show your CEO: 

• 64% of employees would quit if asked to return
• Remote-work-persisting-trending-permanent

Topics discussed:

• How to speak to your CEO (verbal sparring) 
• Harnessing your influence over the CEO (with references!)
• Thought exercises for returning to work - is this a good idea? 
• The value of AMAs (Ask Me Anything)
• Communicating the change with the team
• Monitoring employee feelings through the transition 
• Asking for more headcount for YOU to do this well

Resources mentioned:

• Tips for sending engagement surveys 
• Employee Hierarchy of Needs podcast episode
• Soft skills podcast episode ft. Scott Asai) 
• Radical candor (book) 
• Fierce Conversations (book) 
• HR vs People Ops podcast episode

Watch this episode on Youtube

Follow Christie Hoffman (Host) on TikTok and Linkedin, and subscribe to the show for the latest content!

This week's episode is about how it's inevitable to make mistakes during a layoff (so don't beat yourself up!). They move fast and a lot of people are affected, all employees want to see is an emotionally available leadership team and a place to put their heavy emotions.

Topics discussed:

• Use the AMA format (Ask Me Anything) 
• Rebuilding trust with the team
• Not addressing low morale is like mold growing in the walls - just because you ignore it, doesn't make it go away. It grows and gets worse 
• You can have small engagement wins even in bad /trying times

Resources mentioned:

• Employee Hierarchy of Needs podcast episode

Follow Christie Hoffman (Host) on TikTok and Linkedin, and subscribe to the show for the latest content!

Scott Asai is a TEDx speaker and leadership coach on the importance of soft skills in management. When your employees have a leader who is empathetic, an active listener and a strong communicator, they're much more likely to thrive and be productive and happy employees.

Gallup says 70% of the employee experience is the relationship between the employee and their manager, it's time to make sure managers are equipped to meet this responsibility with next level-leadership!

Topics discussed:

• Soft skills are what drive your career forward, not your hard skills
• Questions managers need to ask themselves 
• The realistic amount of people a manager can manage well 
• Why managers need to be willing to ask for feedback 
• Open-Ended questions to ask in 1:1s for feedback

Resources mentioned:

• Watch Scott's TedX presentation on soft skills
• Want Scott to workshop your managers? Reach him here!
• Follow Scott Asai
• Brunei Brown - Author
• Good to great - Book
• Rockstars vs Superstars podcast episode
• Take a Personality test
• Human Sigma - Book

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Do your managers lack training? (I'll answer for you... YES.) Have a feeling it's probably causing your people and teams to be disengaged?  (I'll answer for you again, probably ALSO YES.)

In this episode, Eric Williams, a seasoned leadership coach, shares his best practices   on how one-on-one (1:1) meetings between managers and their team members can help build a culture of trust, collaboration, and high performance. When managers know how to hold effective 1:1s, they can become a valuable extension of you and your leadership team's people-first philosophy. 

Key Topics:

• What makes a 1 on 1 effective (and what doesn't) 
• Seemingly obvious things most managers don't know (ex: talk LESS!)
• Getting to know the whole employee, outside of work too 
• Employee Engagement comes from mostly relationships and the basic human need for connection 

Resources Mentioned:

• Do hard things by Steve Magness
• Eric's Titktok: @Businesscoacheric
• Movie: Hoosiers
• Any book by Patrick Lencioni
• Any book by Tom Rath
• Managing transitions by William Bridges
• Link to Eric's reading list
• Radical candor by Kim Scott
• 140 Icebreaker questions
• Eric's website
• Eric's LinkedIn
• Eric's Instagram (212consulting)
• Eric's public email: [email protected] (haven't checked this email)
• Webinar/workshop on the art of a proper 1 on 1
• Watch this video on YouTube

Follow Christie Hoffman (the host)  on TikTok and Linkedin, and subscribe to the show for the latest content!

The CEO and HR should be partners in disengagement crime. Not only should you be reporting directly to this person, but you both also need to care deeply about the employee experience and how making small improvements leads to higher employee engagement levels.

Listen to Pingboard's very own CEO (Laith Dahiyat) talk about why his relationship with our Head of People Ops works as well as it does, and some tips on how to best communicate, work with and get on the same page as your CEO.

Key Topics:

• How to build trust with your CEO
• The perfect mix of data and gut instinct
• What to do if you don't currently report to the CEO 
• The art of the AMA format in All-Hands
• Snackbox-gate: what happened at Pingboard (a win for the people!)

Resources Mentioned:

• 1:1s workshop webinar
• Rockstars vs Superstars episode
• Icebreakers blog post (for better 1:1s) 
• Employee Surveys episode
• Compensation Planning episode
• Employee Hierarchy of Needs episode
• Follow Laith on Linkedin
• Watch this episode on YouTube!

Follow Christie Hoffman (Host)  on TikTok and Linkedin, and subscribe to the show for the latest content!

Don't accidentally promote a rockstar vs a superstar! If you do, make sure they know the role will be completely different. The big takeaway here is to be workshopping all your people managers so they can regularly learn from and build on each other's experiences!

Key Topics:

• Superstar vs. rockstar 
• What to do if a new people manager isn't leading well 
• Guidance on management training for all your people managers

Resources Mentioned:

• View this podcast on YouTube!

Follow Christie Hoffman (Host)  on TikTok and Linkedin, and subscribe to the show for the latest content!

Are you a people-first company, or revenue first company? Your CEO might say you're a people- first company, but living it and saying it are two different things. Getting on the same page with your CEO will help make sure you have an ally and partner to help you actually drive engagement this year! [Watch on Youtube]

Key Topics:

• People-first vs. Revenue First Companies
• How to ask your CEO for more HR headcount
• How to get the CEO to be your ally!
• Why HR is the biggest revenue lever a company has

Resources Mentioned:

• Employee Hierarchy of Needs
• Engagement survey workshop
• Slides from the engagement survey workshop
• Slide to show your CEO 
• Book: Fierce Conversations 
• The 3 types of employee Surveys 
• Automate your Surveys 
• Watch this episode on Youtube

Follow Christie Hoffman (Host)  on TikTok and Linkedin, and subscribe to the show for the latest content!

Daan van Rossum (CEO, FlexOS + author of FutureWork Newsletter) explains how generative AI is changing the game in HR. No more writing job descriptions from scratch, scrambling to write witty internal comms, or coming up with creative solutions to your EX problems alone.

Your productivity will skyrocket if you take the time to learn how ChatGPT and various other AI tools can help you get the job done faster. It's still you - you are not being replaced, you're just partnered with high powered intelligence to work smarter, not harder!

Key Topics:

• What is Generative AI?
• The different applications of AI for HR (images, copy, ideas)
• Is AI replacing HR? (spoiler - NO. But you *might* get replace by another person who learns how to use these tools to their advantage!)

Resources Mentioned:

• A breakdown of The Generative AI Landscape
• 2023 Trends: How HR can work smarter, not harder with Generative AI and ChatGPT
• Daan's Linkedin
• FutureWork Newsletter
• Christie's stained glass cat image Dall-e created

Follow Christie Hoffman (Host)  on TikTok and Linkedin, and subscribe to the show for the latest content!