A few years ago, I was counseling a young woman working in risk assessment. She was skilled and extremely competent, but she reported feeling stuck in the role that she’d been in for two years. 

She couldn’t picture her future, and wanted more autonomy and the opportunity to expand her critical thinking abilities. 

As a result, her motivation and engagement levels had dramatically declined and she was contemplating exploring opportunities elsewhere.

This situation is all too common in today’s competitive job market where people are looking for more than just a job—they want a clear pathway for growth and development.

This is where job leveling comes into play.

Job leveling isn’t just about job titles and compensation, it’s about creating a structured framework that provides team members with a clear understanding of their career progression and therefore increase the likelihood of they’ll stick around.

For this reason, and a couple more, we recently ran a job levelling project at my current company, a large multinational consultancy. Here I’ll take you through what we did and why.

• What is job leveling?
• Benefits of job leveling
• How to create a job leveling framework
• How to communicate your framework

What is job leveling?

At its core, job leveling is the process of establishing a structured system for categorizing jobs within an organization based on their relative value and complexity. It involves evaluating various factors such as job responsibilities, required skills and qualifications, level of decision-making authority, and scope of impact on the organization’s goals and objectives.

By assigning each job to a specific level or grade, job leveling enables organizations to create a systematic and transparent approach to managing job roles and compensation.

A typical job leveling framework consists of multiple levels or grades, each with its own set of criteria that determine the appropriate placement of jobs.

These criteria are typically defined based on factors such as job complexity, level of accountability, and the organization’s overall compensation philosophy. 

The framework is typically created by human resources in collaboration with key stakeholders, such as department managers and senior leaders, to ensure that it aligns with the organization’s business goals and objectives.

The benefits of job leveling

There are several benefits to implementing a job leveling framework in an organization.

Fair and equitable compensation structure

First and foremost, job leveling helps establish a fair and equitable compensation structure by ensuring that jobs of similar value and complexity are assigned to the same level or grade, regardless of the department or function they belong to. 

This helps minimize potential pay disparities and promotes transparency and consistency in compensation practices, which can boost employee morale and engagement.

Clearer career paths

Second, job leveling provides a clear career progression path for employees. By defining different levels or grades and the skills and competence associated with them, team members can clearly see how their job roles can evolve over time and what they need to do to advance their careers within the organization.

This can help with talent retention and development, as employees have a better understanding of what they need to work on to progress in their careers.

Better talent management and succession planning

Finally, job leveling can enhance organizational effectiveness by enabling better talent management and succession planning.

With a clear understanding of the value and complexity of different jobs, organizations can better identify high-potential employees and provide targeted development opportunities to prepare them for future leadership roles.

This helps organizations build a robust leadership pipeline and ensures continuity in key positions.

Creating a job leveling framework requires a structured approach and careful consideration of various factors.

I’ve helped several clients draft in-depth documents that serve as a master guide to job leveling. 

Here’s a step-by-step for creating a similar job leveling framework for your organization.

1. Define the Purpose and Scope 

The first step is to clearly define the purpose and scope of the job leveling framework. What specific objectives do you want to achieve?

Align the framework with your organization’s overall compensation philosophy and business goals. This will provide a clear direction and ensure that the framework serves its intended purpose.

This is important to get right because, once in place, you will use your leveling framework at all stages of the employee journey; such as in hiring, performance reviews, and compensation reviews.

2. Conduct A Job Analysis

The next step is to conduct a thorough job analysis to gather information about the roles you’ll be including in the job leveling framework.

This means reviewing job descriptions, conducting interviews with employees and managers, and observing job tasks and responsibilities. 

The goal is to understand the key factors that differentiate jobs in terms of their value and complexity. This analysis will form the foundation for your job leveling framework.

For example, for a software company, the job analysis could involve reviewing job descriptions for roles such as software engineer, project manager, quality assurance analyst, and product manager, and conducting interviews with employees and managers to gather information on the key responsibilities, skills, qualifications, and impact on organizational goals for each role.

3. Identify Key Criteria

Based on the job analysis, identify the key criteria that will be used to evaluate and differentiate jobs within the framework. 

These criteria could include factors such as job responsibilities, required skills and qualifications, level of decision-making authority, and impact on organizational goals and objectives.

Select criteria that are relevant, measurable, and align with your organization’s compensation philosophy. A compensation strategy is a plan developed by an organization to determine how it will remunerate workers. This strategy takes into account the organization’s goals, budget, and competitive position in the job market.

For example, if your company values performance-based pay, you may want to include criteria related to job performance in your framework. By aligning your job leveling criteria with your organization’s compensation philosophy, you can ensure that the framework supports your overall compensation strategy and helps you achieve your business goals.

4. Establish Job Levels or Grades

Once the key criteria have been identified, establish job levels or grades that reflect the different levels of complexity and value across jobs. 

This could be a simple numerical or alphabetical system (e.g., Level 1, Level 2, Level 3, etc.) or a more descriptive system (e.g., Entry Level, Mid-Level, Senior Level, etc.). 

The number of levels or grades will depend on your organization’s size, structure, and complexity of job roles. 

For example, using a numerical system, the job levels could be Level 1, Level 2, Level 3, and so on, with Level 1 being entry-level positions and Level 3 being senior or leadership roles. 

Alternatively, a descriptive system could be used, such as Entry-Level, Mid-Level, and Senior Level, to denote the different levels of roles in the organization.

5. Assign Jobs to Levels or Grades

Using the criteria established in the previous step, evaluate and assign each job to the appropriate level or grade within the framework.

This may involve comparing and benchmarking jobs against each other to determine their relative value and complexity. Assigning jobs to levels or grades is usually done based on the job’s overall value to the organization.

It’s not necessarily based on specific job titles, roles, or departments. For example, a senior-level recruiter might be assigned to the same level as a senior-level software engineer if they have a similar level of job complexity and value to the organization. 

On the other hand, a senior Python engineer, senior Ruby engineer, and senior QA engineer might all be assigned to different levels or grades if they have different levels of job complexity and value to the organization. 

When I work with clients to establish the criteria for job complexity and value, I often recommend looking at education and experience required, level of decision-making authority, and impact on company revenue. Then I evaluate each job based on these criteria and assign it to a level or grade within the framework.

It’s important to make sure that the process is transparent, consistent, unbiased, and involves input from relevant stakeholders such as department managers and senior leaders.

6. Document and Communicate the Framework

Once the job leveling framework is established, document it in a clear and concise manner. This means creating written guidelines or manuals that outline the criteria, levels/grades, and the process for evaluating and assigning jobs. 

Communicate the framework to all relevant stakeholders, including employees, managers, HR personnel, and even potential hires. This could be done through training sessions, workshops, or written communications (more on this below).

7. Review and Update Regularly

Job roles and organizational needs may change over time, so it’s important to review and update the job leveling framework regularly (recommended on a yearly basis).

Conduct periodic job analyses, evaluate the effectiveness of the framework in achieving its objectives, and make adjustments as needed.

To assess the effectiveness of the job leveling framework, organizations can conduct periodic job analyses, gather feedback from relevant employees, and measure outcomes such as employee engagement, retention, and performance.

Regular review and adjustments can ensure that the framework remains in step with the organization’s goals and reflects changes in job roles and market conditions.

Involve relevant stakeholders in this process to ensure that the framework remains relevant and aligned with your organization’s goals.

Where and how to share the job leveling framework

Once the job leveling framework is established, it’s important to share it with relevant stakeholders to ensure its effective implementation. 

Here are some suggestions on where and how to share the framework:

1. Internal communication channels. Utilize internal communication channels such as intranet portals, email newsletters, and company-wide announcements to share the job leveling framework with employees. Make sure to provide clear and concise information on the purpose, criteria, and process of the framework, and address any questions or concerns employees may have.
   
2. Training and development sessions. Organize training and development sessions for HR personnel, managers, and employees to educate them about the job leveling framework. Provide detailed information on how the framework works, how jobs are evaluated and assigned to levels or grades, and how it impacts compensation decisions. Allow for interactive discussions and Q&A sessions to ensure a clear understanding of the framework.
   
3. Performance and compensation review meetings. Incorporate the job leveling framework into performance and compensation review meetings with employees. Use the framework as a reference point for evaluating job performance and determining compensation adjustments. This will help employees understand how their jobs are evaluated and compensated within the organization.
   
4. Employee self-service portals. Employees should understand exactly where they stand in terms of their job level. If your organization has an employee self-service portal, incorporate the job leveling framework into the portal so that employees can access information about their job level or grade, and how it impacts their compensation. This will empower employees to take ownership of their career progression and compensation decisions.
   
5. Recruitment and onboarding process. Potential and new employees should be aware of their employer’s role structure right from the get-go to help them avoid any confusion.

During the recruitment process, provide candidates with information about the job leveling framework and how jobs are evaluated and compensated within the organization (KPMG publish a rough outline on their website, for example).

During the onboarding process, provide new hires with an overview of the framework and how it impacts their career progression and compensation. This will ensure that new employees are aware of the framework from the start and can align their expectations accordingly.

6. Performance management tools. Integrate the job leveling framework into your organization’s performance management tools, such as performance appraisal forms, performance metrics, and goal-setting processes.

This will help managers and employees understand how their job level or grade is linked to their performance expectations and compensation decisions, and ensure that the framework is consistently applied across the organization.

7. Employee handbook or policies. Include information about the job leveling framework in your organization’s employee handbook or policies. This will serve as a reference for employees to understand the criteria, process, and implications of the framework in their career progression and compensation.

Job leveling to hire and retain top talent

No matter the economic climate, hiring and retaining talent is almost always a serious challenge. 

Having a well-defined job leveling framework can make a big difference when it comes to a company’s perceived fairness, transparency, and opportunities for advancement. 

By following a systematic approach to creating a job leveling framework, organizations can effectively evaluate and differentiate jobs based on their value and complexity, and ensure that compensation decisions are aligned with the organization’s goals and objectives.

Regularly reviewing and updating the framework will ensure its continued effectiveness in meeting the organization’s evolving needs.

In my experience, too many organizations fail to implement a proper job leveling framework, or they borrow one from another company that has a completely different culture and organizational structure. 

To avoid all kinds of issues ranging from demotivated employees to conflicts regarding compensation and promotions, organizations would be wise to conduct an audit of their current job level structure and then implement a customized framework.

Feel free to reach out to me in the comments, the People Managing People community, or on LinkedIn if there’s anything you’d like to discuss regarding job leveling or other talent management strategies.

Some further resources to help you hire, retain and develop top talent:

• Why Pay Transparency Is A Good Business Practice And How To Approach It
• How To Perform A Talent Review In 5 Steps
• How To Revolutionize Your Talent Development With Skills Mapping
• Workforce Planning: What It Is And How To Do It

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The rise of cloud computing has revealed the inadequacies of traditional IT infrastructure. Many businesses are struggling to adapt to the changes brought about by the new technology as their systems are not designed to handle the rapid changes in the marketplace.

A cloud-based service is a more reliable and scalable way to run your business. Cloud-based services help remove the need for expensive hardware and software and allow you to focus on developing and growing.

Due to the inadequacies of traditional infrastructure, many businesses are now turning to cloud computing. Here are some of the critical advantages of this technology.

Data Security

Due to the increasing number of threats businesses face, they must adopt a more secure approach to their data. This is called cloud computing. It eliminates the need to maintain their servers and allows them to focus on their core business.

Although it may feel like a risky move to store data in the cloud, cloud providers have the necessary security measures to protect it. They can provide you with the required permissions, encryption, and authentication to ensure your data is secure.

Flexibility

With the flexibility of cloud computing, businesses can quickly scale up and down their storage and bandwidth requirements to meet their needs. This eliminates the need to maintain their servers and allows them to focus on their core business.

The use of cloud computing eliminates the need for businesses to spend a lot of money on upgrades and equipment. It enables companies to focus on their core business by accessing their data from anywhere.

Cost & Savings

If you are considering using cloud computing, but are not sure about its cost, consider the various expenses involved in maintaining and buying equipment. For instance, the rooms the teams use to keep their equipment running cost a lot of money.

The cost of various hardware components, such as the cables and the ventilation unit, can go up quickly with the cloud computing solutions already covered by the high cost of hosting and storing data. In general, this is more cost-effective to outsource this task to a third-party service provider.

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If you’ve ever tried to juggle personal and professional commitments, engage with colleagues across different time zones, or simply find there’s not enough hours in the day to fit in all the team meetings you seemingly need to have, then asynchronous working could be the counterbalance you’re seeking to your current chaos.

But how do you move away from a culture of now and the temptation for “quick check-ins” to discuss every minor kerfuffle that arises during the working day?

In this article, we’ll cover the benefits of asynchronous working, the challenges, and best practices for how to overcome these challenges to cultivate async communication at your organization.

• What is asynchronous working?
• Benefits of asynchronous working
• Challenges of async working and how to overcome them

Let’s go.

What is asynchronous working?

Asynchronous working refers to a style of communication that happens when two people aren’t engaging live or at the same time. Unlike synchronous communication, which happens face to face, via video calls, or via live audio, asynchronous communication is not real-time.

Examples of asynchronous communication include:

• Pre recorded video messages (like Loom)
• Pre recorded audio messages
• Written correspondence when there isn’t an expectation of an immediate response (this can apply to emails, instant messages, or text messages, depending on how your company uses these tools)
• More formal documentation (e.g., policies, memos, presentations, or articles.)
• Feedback in shared workspaces such as Google Docs or Adobe Xd.

Even when operating in a 100% in person environment, some portion of our work is likely to be asynchronous.

Benefits of asynchronous working

To kick us off, let’s start with the benefits of asynchronous working so you can understand how making the switch to async first could help your organization.

Increased productivity

Those of us in the people management community—heck, how about knowledge workers, period—are used to a daily calendar jammed with meetings from 9 or 10 in the morning to 5 or 6 at night.

There may be little pockets of time here or there between Zoom meetings where we try to fit in our actual work while tending to a near constant stream of notifications and pings. But, realistically, that approach doesn’t cut it. The context switching alone is a killer.

Since we don’t have enough meaningful time during the day to accomplish any sort of task that requires focus, we find ourselves putting in extra work hours or multitasking during other meetings to get things done.

Now imagine you’re part of an async work culture:

• Many of the routine status meetings on your calendar turn into progress reports to read at your leisure.
• You no longer default to requesting a meeting or pinging someone when you have a question. Instead, you review existing documentation and, if that fails to yield a response, you compose a thoughtful message that helps you to articulate your ideas and gives the recipient the opportunity to respond thoughtfully in kind.
• Your calendar looks a lot more open. You replace the meeting time with focused work blocks that help drive the completion of analytical or creative tasks.

More flexibility

If you’re no longer restricted by needing to be available at a specific time, it opens up a whole new world of possibilities for work-life balance.

When working across time zones, you can decide which hours will be commonly available for synchronous collaboration and commit to only scheduling meetings during those time blocks. 

Suddenly, your schedule may contain available time blocks that you can carve out for deep work or use to handle personal obligations, even if it’s during the conventional work day.

An asynchronous work environment gives you the freedom to choose when to work and from what location, as long as you get your work done and remain reasonably available to respond to team member questions.

From an employer perspective, flexible working is a significant driver for hiring and retaining talent.

Inclusivity 

With flexible work comes inclusivity. Now that you’re no longer mandating specific in-person or “in-office” hours, you can attract a more diverse talent pool. This may include folks that have:

• Dependent care obligations
• Disabilities
• A socioeconomic status that would benefit from saving money on a commute, meal expenses, and/or wardrobe costs
• Diverse backgrounds and are more susceptible to microaggressions in an in-person environment.

Additionally, asynchronous working may accommodate more introverted personality types that find synchronous communication challenging.

4 challenges of asynchronous working and how to overcome them

It’s clear that async work isn’t sunshine and rainbows 24/7, otherwise our society would have more broadly adopted remote work, hybrid work, and other flexible work arrangements way before the pandemic.

In this section, we’ll go over some of the key challenges associated with asynchronous working plus some potential solutions for overcoming them.

Communication challenges

Many would agree that synchronous working is preferable to asynchronous in some instances—there’s a reason why we tend to reserve important conversations for when we’re face to face or why online vitriol seems much easier to spark.

When you’re communicating in person or even live over video, you can pick up lots of context clues to help you more effectively deliver and receive messages. Body language, inflection, and tone of voice can play a part in how you interpret the substance of these communications. 

You lose that knowledge when you communicate async, which can sometimes lead to miscommunication. It may also take more time to deliver a communication asynchronously.

You might wonder why you would bother writing something down when you could simply hop on a Zoom call. You may also worry that you won’t get a response in the time you need it.

How to combat asynchronous communication challenges

Here are some strategies to consider when dealing with asynchronous communication challenges:

• Invest in appropriate communication tools. Make sure that you thoughtfully select your communications tech stack based on your organizational goals. More importantly, make sure you define the protocols for how to use that tech stack so everyone understands the various communication channels and how to use them.
  
  Clear and consistent guidance = less time hunting down information. This way, you’re already starting to see the payoff from going async. Information is out of people’s brains and out into the open.

• Focus on quality, not quantity. Consider what types of conversations would benefit most from real-time communication and restrict meetings to those types of interactions. For example, remote teams may not need a meeting for a project status update, but it would make sense to retain a 1:1 meeting with your direct report to help you cultivate a strong relationship and build trust.

• Set reasonable company or team-wide expectations for appropriate response times. If people don’t feel like they have to respond to messages immediately, it reduces stress and helps them maintain focus on their priority tasks. It also makes it more likely that they will respond thoughtfully, instead of off the cuff during other meetings.

• Communicate often using multiple channels. This is necessary for sync or async organizations but it’s worth reiterating that, with less time spent together, company updates should be communicated regularly and shared via multiple channels with corresponding archives for review.

Keep in mind also that an asynchronous work model may be easier for some folks, such as the neurodivergent, because it reduces the need to interpret social cues.

Accountability challenges

In addition to straight-up communication challenges, there is a perception that remote work, or asynchronous work, destroys accountability.

Managers and workers can no longer judge performance based on who’s first in and last out of the office, so it becomes tempting to measure how often remote workers are online on IM as a proxy.

No, no, no, no, no.

Adopting remote work surveillance tools is the quickest way to erode trust and decimate your talent acquisition strategy. Besides, it’s not a true measure of productivity.

How to combat accountability challenges

Here are some alternative ways to assess employee accountability and engagement:

• Document, document, document. For your company to succeed in asynchronous working, it’s critical to adopt a culture of transparency across the organization. 
  
  Asynchronous workers cannot be expected to learn by observation since they are spending less time collocated. Instead, you’ll need to spell out for them what it means to be successful. This includes defining outputs that they are responsible for producing, not how much time they spend at their desks.

• Align performance expectations for employees with organizational goals. Not only does clarifying roles and responsibilities reduce the potential for duplicate work, but it also increases employee motivation.
  
  Engaged employees see how their daily work ties to what the company is trying to achieve and are therefore less susceptible to burnout. Psst: it also makes them more productive.

• Use project management tools and workflows to track progress against goals. Put the onus on employees to measure their performance by investing in the appropriate asynchronous collaboration tools. Bonus points: everyone at the company knows what’s going on with your projects, so you’ll need fewer recurring status meetings ?.

Team connectivity challenges

Another common complaint around asynchronous teams is that it becomes more difficult to forge strong relationships with colleagues that you either have not met or infrequently spend time with in person.

Synchronous working forces us to cultivate interpersonal relationships, which builds trust more quickly and improves teamwork.

Also, some leaders argue that we’re losing the creative inspo sparked by casual water-cooler chat.

How to combat team connectivity challenges

Team connectivity challenges are not insurmountable in an async first environment—they simply take some upfront effort to solve. Here are some strategies that worked well for my team:

• Create a top-notch onboarding experience. Onboarding done well is a beautiful thing. It strengthens employee engagement and retention in the critical first months on the job, reduces ramp-up time to realize productivity faster, and offers a good way to facilitate honest feedback on how people leaders can improve.
  
  In an async environment, onboarding is the gift that keeps on giving. Designate one person from each department (ideally on a rotating basis to share the love) to be responsible for keeping onboarding materials up-to-date, relevant, and part of an ongoing feedback loop in coordination with the people team.
  
  Related read: How To Write A 30 60 90 Day Plan For Your Org’s Onboarding + Template

• Invest in growing solid managers. In an async environment, don’t underestimate the power of a recurring 1:1 meeting culture to foster connection, facilitate communication, and maintain employee engagement. Studies have shown that middle managers are key to an organization’s mental health—neglect them at your own peril!
  
  Related read: How To Support New Managers With A People Partner Program

• Foster (optional) opportunities for connection. Find out what employees want to stay connected, and then follow through. Maybe this is a quarterly in-person retreat, a series of fun Slack channels, or optional “office hours” to chit-chat about non-work stuff. 
  
  One important caveat: if these events are truly optional, make sure that employees don’t incur hidden penalties for opting out.

Decision-making challenges

Decision-making can also be complicated in an async environment—how do you ensure that the appropriate people weigh in to make quality decisions in a timely manner, especially when you don’t have the option of snagging a conference room to whiteboard the problem?

How to combat decision-making challenges

Contrary to popular belief, asynchronous decision-making may lead to better outcomes than a traditional brainstorming sesh.

Provided you frame the problem correctly and get the appropriate people involved, asynchronous decision-making can actually fuel creativity and combat groupthink.

Think about it: in a synchronous meeting, the loudest (or the most senior) voice in the room often carries the day.

Despite your best efforts to make the meeting as inclusive as possible, other participants may be too intimidated to speak up, or their personality type may require them to spend additional time processing before they feel comfortable offering an opinion.

Establishing a writing culture at your organization streamlines the decision-making process. It encourages people to:

• Succinctly summarize the problem
• Research possible solutions
• Recommend a solution based on empirical evidence and their own experience
• Solicit diverse perspectives to confirm or deny the recommendation.

Related reads:

• A 5-step process for making decisions asynchronously
• How Stripe Built a Writing Culture

Join the conversation

As you’ve hopefully realized, there are many benefits to be gained from adopting a more asynchronous working culture.

We’re curious, how has your organization successfully adopted a culture of asynchronous communication? 

Leave something in the comments or join us in the People Managing People community, a supportive network of HR and business leaders passionate about building organizations of the future.

To stay up-to-date on asynchronous working and other important people and culture topics, subscribe to the People Managing People newsletter.

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Companies are always on the lookout for talented people. In this interview series, we talk to seasoned HR professionals to pick their brains for ideas and insights on finding the right talent for our organizations.

Eric Harris

Eric is a seasoned communications professional with experience in both marketing agency and corporate roles. An award-winning advertiser and a persuasive communicator, he has turned his focus toward internal comms, because he believes this deserves as much attention as advertising (if not more). Primarily serving complex, multi-unit brands that rely on distributed labor, Eric and his team at MindHandle shed light on how effective communication can be when there’s a powerful employment brand fueling it.

Hi Eric, welcome to the series! We’d love to get you to know you a little better, can you tell us the “backstory” about what brought you to this specific career path?

I’m a seasoned communications professional with experience in both marketing agency and corporate roles.  After several years in large advertising agencies, I joined my clients on the corporate team at YUM! Brands, where I led Pizza Hut’s integrated communications for two years. 

The experience taught me not only what it was like to be on the “buying” side of the agency economy, but also how much room there was to improve on internal communications. That’s why I founded GatherRound, a training company focused on storytelling for presentations.

In 2018, GatherRound and MindHandle merged, creating an employment branding agency with the talent and expertise to reach employees with advertising quality messages because I believe this deserves as much attention as advertising (if not more). 

It has been said that our mistakes can be our greatest teachers. Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you first started and what you learned from it?

Sometime in the early 2010s, when I was a young, enterprising creative director at a large ad agency, I had the opportunity to present to the head of HR at a massive organization. 

It was my first time to present to this department, let alone this individual, and I was very intimidated by her presence. Armed with a great idea and a ton of confidence I hadn’t earned, I walked into her office with my team, believing I was ready to present, having not rehearsed for a single minute. 

I fumbled through the up-front, and barely made it to the end, at which point she asked, “Which of these concepts do you recommend?”. What I tried to say was “We all have heart for this concept,” but I tripped on my words and what I actually said was something very offensive, which I won’t repeat here. 

Fortunately, she gave me some grace and we had a good laugh about it, but I’ve never walked into another presentation without rehearsing with my team after that.

Can you give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote” and how that was relevant to you in your life? 

My parents used to tell me “If you want to be respected, be consistent.” They probably don’t even realize how much I needed that advice in my life at the time (I was a teenager), nor do they know how much I’ve reflected on it and called on it as an adult. 

I’ve found this to be true in so many ways ranging from leadership to my personal life and everything in between. They definitely didn’t realize that expression would help me form a perspective on branding and communications, but here we are. 

I believe in order to be respected (and therefore heard, understood, and taken seriously), brands must communicate consistently.

To build beliefs habits and perceptions in the minds and hearts of people—even in times of change—it’s important for both leaders and brands to communicate with a consistent tone.

Are you working on any exciting new projects at your company? How is this helping people?

Today at MindHandle we’re working on several new, exciting projects. I’ve outlined how each is helping our people as well as the client’s business.

• We work with a large, regional bank on their employer brand for recruiting. They are growing quickly and they want to ensure they attract people (to both the HQ and the branches) that align with the company’s purpose and values. Our work to distill and communicate the employee value proposition has sped their recruiting efforts and reduced time to hire.
• A holding company of retirement communities has hired MindHandle to redevelop its employer brand. This work is satisfying and fulfilling because late-stage life will be part of all our lives, both with our parents and other loved ones, and with ourselves. We often celebrate how 70% of adults derive their sense of purpose from the work they do, and this project is a good reminder that there are some incredibly noble individuals out there. This client’s employees have given their time and energy to ensuring their residents have a very high quality of life when they deserve it most.
• One of MindHandle’s clients is a very large (60k employees internationally) B2B technology services company, with whom we are working to develop the employer value proposition. This is challenging, and therefore rewarding, because it has opened our eyes to the cultural differences between offices in different countries. Despite coming from many different walks of life, there is a universal understanding of how employees’ situations improve—not only in salary and benefits, but in emotional quality and purpose—by making the decision to work there.
• We are also on a mission to make MindHandle the world’s most employee-centric advertising agency. This industry has taught most of us that we have to choose between a place to do great work, and a great place to work. At MindHandle, we believe it’s not “or,” but rather “and.” From simple celebrations of gratitude to the introduction of a retirement readiness plan and everything in between, we are actively improving the fabric of our culture and what it means to be a “Handler.”

The “black box” which once protected a corporation’s culture has lifted, and now employees have become media channels for their employers.

Hiring can be very time-consuming and challenging. Can you share with our readers a bit about your experience with identifying and hiring talent? What’s been your most successful recruitment-related initiative so far?

At MindHandle, we believe the strongest brands in the world are magnetic, which means their consumer and employer brands both rally around the same central idea.

The reason this is important? The “black box” which once protected a corporation’s culture has lifted, and now employees have become media channels for their employers.

If employees believe in the brand, they become the hardest working advertisement for it, recruiting both customers and candidates.

Because of this, we’ve found the best way to identify and attract talent is to give your “champion” employees a voice and a platform on which to speak. They’re your best bet to communicate what it’s like to work there, and your most credible source of truth.

In early 2020, during the onset of the COVID pandemic, Raising Cane’s was able to hire 10,000+ values-aligned individuals because of the magnetic idea behind their recruitment marketing efforts. 

The consumer brand stood out for its rallying cry, “One Love.” Raising Cane’s does one thing: chicken finger meals. 

We knew they could attract employees with the same passion if we designed the campaign to help people identify with the success that comes from a narrow focus. So the idea of “Chickenthusiasts” was born from this magnetic perspective.

A strong employer brand is a magnet for values-aligned talent because it doesn’t beg the candidate “Do you want a job?” Instead, it asks, “Are you like us?”

Once talent is engaged, what’s your advice for creating a great candidate experience and ensuring the right people go through the process?

At MindHandle, we recommend reframing the candidate experience by realigning Talent Acquisition’s (TA) goals.

If TA is focused on quantity candidates, that metric will always supersede the way candidates are perceived as quality. But if an organization focuses on hiring values-aligned people, and inspires (and equips) TA to attract them, the whole conversation changes. 

A strong employer brand is a magnet for values-aligned talent because it doesn’t beg the candidate “Do you want a job?” Instead, it asks, “Are you like us?” That’s what we want: candidates who have self-identified as people who will succeed in the organization. Everything else is academic.

Based on your experience, how can HR and culture professionals work with the broader organization to identify talent needs?

We often recommend HR and culture professionals take a long look at their referral programs when they’re trying to identify talent needs.

There is no greater compliment to a business than one of its high performers recommending someone. And there are usually patterns within companies too. There are almost always teams who refer more, teams who refer less, and teams who are unaware of the program at all.

A great employer brand can help shine a light on the program, which can also be a source of internal data for HR. In short, to identify talent needs, develop a well-incentivized, well-communicated referral program and let the people identify the needs for you.

Is there anything you see that recruiters, internal or otherwise, do regularly that makes you think, “No, stop doing that!”?

There are two words that combine to do more damage to the entire Talent Acquisition space than any other words in the English language: “Now Hiring.” 

When I see this phrase on a poster, window cling, social post, job board ad, or name any other external comms tactic, the only thing I hear is “Can you fog a mirror?” 

At that point, the bar is set so low that literally anyone in the world could apply. And guess what: Very few people will. Contrast this with a very specific (or at the least, inspirational) definition of exactly who should apply. That definition will vary by organization, but it goes a long way, especially for multi-unit businesses with distributed workforces.

Imagine this: You are an unemployed mom of 3, running errands between school and practices. You are actively seeking work, but your schedule doesn’t align with a 9-to-5. 

You pull into a strip mall parking lot and 7 of 8 businesses have clings on the windows that read “Now Hiring.” There’s one cling, however, that reads, “Nurturers Wanted. No degree required. Set your own schedule.” 

You look at the sign and see it’s a learning center. From which of those 8 businesses are you going to ask for an application?

What are the three most effective strategies you use to retain employees?

All three of these strategies fall under the same headline: to stay in any relationship, what do you do? You communicate more, and you communicate better. 

Whether a marriage, a friendship, or, yes, even a job. When you want to stay with someone, you dial up the communications.

a. Listen. It’s the foundation of great communications. To develop an employee listening strategy at an organization, one might consider stay interviews, engagement surveys, skip-level meetings, or employee journey maps.

b. Act on what you hear: When we understand our employees on a personal level, we can develop strategies to meet them where they are and help them get to where they want to be. That might include content calendars, career pathing, personal development plans, and more.

c. And finally, put them in the spotlight. Every organization has brand champions. It’s easy to find them with an established listening practice, and you can highlight their actions that align with the brand’s values in channels like videos, the career site, and the intranet.

Can you share five techniques that you use to identify the talent that would be best suited for the job you want to fill?

1. Stop trying to identify talent and let the talent identify themselves. For example, MindHandle’s Chickenthusiast campaign for Raising Cane’s helped high-performing individuals self-identify as people who would succeed in the organization.
2. Think about the difference between marketing and HR and define what you’re looking to accomplish. Is it more candidates, or better quality candidates? If all you need is more, then any old job board will do. If you need the right candidates, who are values-aligned, then the focus should be on the message.
3. Focus on the emotional impact to the candidate. There are so many jobs out there that offer similar benefits, hours, and structure to one another. If you want to improve the rate at which values-aligned candidates apply, tweak the messages to highlight the ways they will emotionally benefit from working there. For example, at Nothing Bundt Cakes, the employees celebrate the JOY they feel, and work to bring to others, every day.
4. Tap into the marketing message and let it fuel your communications. There’s no reason why a hiring message can’t appear on television or on social media. In fact, our customers are often our best source of employees. They’re already primed to buy. Why not ask them to buy in?
5. Focus job ad messaging around the answers to three questions that are undoubtedly in your target candidate’s mind:
   
   – How is _____ an employer I can believe in and trust? 
   – What does _____ do to create a culture where people feel like they belong?
   – How does _____ help its employees develop and grow?

Thanks Eric, some great insights there! How can our readers continue to follow your work online? 

Follow MindHandle on social media platforms @mindhandle and keep up with our blog, The Charge.

Further insights from the series:

• Why Giving Candidates An Authentic Taste Of Your Culture Is Crucial For Hiring
• To Attract And Recruit The Best Talent, Upgrade Your Tech Stack
• Harness The Power Of Psychometric Testing To Hire And Retain The Right Talent

To help with your employer brand building:

Employer Branding: Where To Start And How To Keep It Authentic

The post Stop Looking For The Best Talent, Help Them Identify Themselves appeared first on People Managing People.

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Payroll responsibilities intersect with human resources and finance departments. So does HR do payroll? Or should it be under the finance department’s oversight?

The short answer: it depends.

It depends primarily on your company’s size and how it’s structured.

If you’re a small company, either department might oversee everything payroll-related. On the other hand, if you’re a large company with a dedicated finance team, you might put them in charge of some payroll responsibilities, such as paying and withholding payroll taxes.

If you have both departments, it’s best to divide the responsibilities since payroll is an employee-facing role with an element of compliance. Separation of duties also translates to strong internal controls.

In this article, we look at how payroll responsibilities can be divided between HR and finance. We also talk about why these responsibilities are best suited for a specific department.

HR’s Role in Payroll

Payroll is an employee-facing function, which inevitably brings HR into the picture. Many payroll responsibilities like changes in compensation, benefits, and bonuses warrant HR’s involvement.

Here are examples of HR’s payroll responsibilities:

• A change in salary or pay rates: Since HR is responsible for employee relations, it makes sense that HR is responsible for communicating any changes in their salary or pay rates.
• Tracking termination, start dates and working hours: Tracking the number of hours worked is important when paying contractors or freelancers. It’s also important to track the start and end dates of the contract with employees and third parties to ensure you don’t overpay and can terminate benefits on time.
• Designing and changing the benefits program: Employee benefits can often make up a large portion of payroll costs. Since HR is responsible for employee satisfaction, it’s logical to give them the flexibility to design and make changes to the benefits program.
• Answering employees’ questions regarding payroll: Employees may have questions about bonuses or benefits. Allowing HR to answer these questions ensures that employees receive satisfactory answers. HR can also help address any attrition that may arise.
• Ensuring information confidentiality: Payroll information is confidential. This is why it’s best handled by the HR department. HR professionals already understand how to deal with sensitive information.

On-time payroll processing: The payroll function is time-sensitive--63% of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck. Employees need to be paid on time to prevent attrition and a decrease in morale. But your friends handling the accounting function might have some arguments against this.

However, here are some challenges to think about:

• The HR function will need access to the accounting system: Given the breadth of payroll management responsibilities assigned to the HR, they might need access to your accounting system. The problem? Most companies wouldn’t be comfortable allowing anyone outside of accounting, especially non-accountants, to use the accounting system.
• Compliance risks: Payroll operations involve complying with tax regulations and other risks that make an argument in favor of the finance department handling the payroll system. Non-compliance is expensive and quite common—the IRS collected over $4 million in civil penalties on employment tax errors alone including inaccuracies, fraud, and failure to pay.

Accounting’s Role in Payroll

Accounting is central to payroll processing. Reconciliations, adding entries to the general ledger, and complying with payroll tax laws are critical for any business. Often, these aren’t responsibilities HR is trained to handle.

Here are examples of accounting’s payroll responsibilities:

• Complying with the tax law: Businesses need to withhold and pay taxes like FICA (Federal Insurance Contributions Act) to stay compliant. Some cities and counties also require businesses to directly pay the employee’s income taxes. Employers also pay federal unemployment taxes. These rules are subject to change over time, so it’s critical for someone knowledgeable about the tax law to oversee payroll.
• Auditing payroll data: Payroll data needs to be audited to ensure there are no inaccuracies and that you’re complying with all the laws. Since HR isn’t trained to audit financial data, accounting is the best team to handle the audits.

• Reporting: Payroll is the largest expense for most companies. Stakeholders need accurate information about payroll costs at all times. Since financial reporting is accounting’s responsibility, it makes sense they also handle payroll reporting.

Like HR, the accounting team might also face some challenges if they’re tasked with the entire payroll management. Here are the challenges to think about:

• Privacy risks: People with no HR training shouldn’t handle personal employee information. This can lead to a serious breach of privacy and loss of reputation.
• Employee relationship management: Accountants aren’t trained to manage employee relationships. If employees have concerns about payroll and the accounting team isn’t able to satisfactorily handle the situation, employee resentment could grow and result in high employee turnover.

Two Ways to Streamline Payroll

By now, you probably understand why payroll is best handled jointly by HR and accounting. Let’s now talk about how you can streamline payroll at your organization.

Streamline Payroll Using Payroll Software

Automation is quickly changing how everyone does their job. Over the next few years, we’ll see both HR and accounting hand over a lot of their payroll duties to automated solutions.

Here are tasks that the best payroll software solutions on the market can automate:

• Tracking employee hours
• Calculating net and gross pay based on pay rates, benefits deductions, and taxes
• Calculating FICA, unemployment, and other taxes that need to be withheld or paid
• Auto-generate forms required for payroll compliance like P60 (if you’re in the U.K.) and Form W-2 (if you’re in the U.S.)
• Year-end reporting

Payroll software offers small businesses more control over payroll by eliminating the number of payroll-related tasks they need to handle. Of course, you’ll need to select a product from one of the best payroll companies to ensure you never end up in legal hot waters.

Streamline Payroll by Outsourcing

Instead of stressing over which department will handle which part of the payroll process, you can outsource the payroll department to external payroll professionals.

If you’re a small business or startup and don’t have in-house resources to manage payroll, hiring a reliable payroll service can help keep costs under control while ensuring compliance.

Many businesses are understandably wary of allowing a third party to handle employee data. If you want more control over payroll while investing minimal resources, consider payroll co-sourcing, a hybrid model where you perform some tasks in-house and outsource others.

Here are examples of payroll responsibilities you can outsource:

• Payroll account and payment method setup
• Tracking working hours
• Calculating wages and deductions
• Paying and withholding payroll taxes
• Processing payments

Verdict: Who Should Handle Payroll?

Where possible, it’s in your best interest to involve both HR and accounting or finance in payroll processing. This ensures you’re keeping employees happy, ensuring the confidentiality of employee data, and staying compliant.

But, over time, this question won’t matter as much. As automation starts taking care of routine tasks, you’ll need to engage fewer people in performing routine payroll tasks like calculating taxes.

You’ll still need help from HR and accounting but for more strategic tasks. HR can help determine appropriate benefits while accounting can take care of auditing. Soon, these tasks won’t require as many team members, rendering the argument less important from a human resource management perspective.

Subscribe to the People Managing Poele newsletter and receive regular content to help you progress in your career and build healthy, productive organizations. You can also join our supportive community of seasoned HR professionals and business leader passionate about sharing knowledge and building organizations of the future.

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“Unemployment for neurodivergent adults runs at least as high as 30-40%, three times the rate for people with a disability and eight times the rate for people without disabilities.” (MyDisabilityJobs, 2022).

Neurodiverse adults have been in the workplace for a long time, but they have also not been included in the workforce for a long time.

What do I mean by this?

A lot of times, neurodivergent individuals choose not disclose they’re neurodivergent or have a neurodivergent condition because they are scared to lose their jobs.

People have a perception that those who are neurodivergent e.g. those with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) cannot work because of it. 

This couldn’t be further from the truth.

I am an HR Professional who is also neurodivergent. I consult with organizations to help them make HR, and other business operations, more accessible and inclusive. I do this by providing workshops and training on initiatives such as an accessible recruitment process and supporting employees and candidates who have disabilities and are neurodiverse.

Here I’ll take you through what neurodiversity in the workplace means, the benefits of supporting neurodiversity in the workplace, and how to support neurodiversity in the workplace.

• What is neurodiversity in the workplace?
• Benefits of supporting neurodiversity
• How to support neurodiversity in the workplace

What is neurodiversity in the workplace?

Neurodiversity describes the idea that people experience and interact with the world around them in many different ways; there is no one “right” way of thinking, learning, and behaving, and differences are not viewed as deficits.

1 in 7 people has a neurodivergent condition

When people think of neurodiversity, they usually think of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), and ADHD. However, there are so many more types under the types of neurodiversity umbrella as seen in the below diagram.

In the workplace, neurodiversity is a part of diversity, equity and inclusion that often goes ignored. 

By this I mean a lot of companies focus on race, gender, and LGBTQ2S+ issues which are very important but do not understand and focus on neurodiversity. 

Recently, there has been more focus on it as companies realize that supporting neurodiversity is good for business.

“The sooner companies tap into the hidden, unique talents of their neurodiverse workforce, the sooner they will recognize the value from these differences” (Conser and Poujol, 2022). 

This means that while there is still a lot of work to be done in ensuring organizations support neurodivergence, the process has started within the corporate world.

As a whole, neurodiverse individuals are the most untapped talent pool. This is because a lot of neurodivergent workers and job seekers do not disclose that they’re neurodivergent because of the negative perception employers have of them.

A lot of tech companies such as SAP, Google, Dell are leading the way in supporting neurodiversity in the workplace. Therefore, a lot of companies not in the tech sector are under the impression that neurodiverse talent can only work tech jobs which is simply not true, as we’ll discuss more in the benefits section below.

Benefits Of Neurodiversity

Any organization that accommodates neurodiverse employees is more likely to benefit from access to a wide talent pool, decreased turnover, and more accessible products and services.

Access to a wider talent pool

By demonstrating and becoming known as an employer who supports neurodiverse people, as well as taking other measures such as making your recruitment process more accessible, you’ll have access to a wider pool of talent.

As mentioned above, Dell is an organization that supports neurodiversity and this benefits them by giving them access to a wide range of people with various skills that align with their goals of inclusion and meeting talent targets.

For example, their Autism Hiring Program has helped them tap into a new, highly-skilled talent pool.

“This program has helped us reach a very skilled talent pool that is often overlooked. We’ve seen the team members who have come in through our program drive incredible business results with a new way of thinking – leaving footprints of innovation on all that they do.” – Lou Candiello, Dell.

Decreased Turnover

Creating a work environment that supports neurodivergent and neurotypical employees makes them feel more included.

When employees feel included and supported, they’re more likely to stay with the organization (increased retention). The opposite is true too, when employees do not feel included and supported they’re more likely to leave an organization due to the non-inclusive workplace culture. 

Using Dell’s Autism Hiring Program as an example again, it’s seen extremely high retention rates amongst hires through the program.

More Accessible Products and Services

By accommodating and making your workplace more accessible and inclusive for people neurodiverse people and people with disabilities, it will make your products or services more accessible too.

This is because you’ll know how to make things more accessible and inclusive, and your disabled and neurodivergent employees can help ensure that the company knows how to be inclusive and accessible in their interactions with customers.

For example, if designing a website, you’ll be more cognizant of making the user experience more accessible through the use of different forms of content.

Additional Benefits

Each employee should be considered for the unique experiences and contributions they offer as an individual.

This is because everyone, regardless if they’re neurodivergent or not, deserves to be seen as a whole person who brings a unique skill set and different life experience to the table that allows them to do well in their work.

The biggest benefit is someone bringing themselves to work towards the common goal of the overall organization.

There are numerous ways to support neurodiversity in the workplace. These include reviewing and revamping your recruitment process, providing accommodations, effective communication, using inclusive and plain language, and training and education on disability issues

How to Support Neurodiversity in the Workplace

There are numerous ways to support neurodiversity in the workplace. These include reviewing and revamping your recruitment process, providing accommodations, effective communication, using inclusive and plain language, and training and education on disability issues

Recruitment

The hiring process is often the first impression someone gets of a company and, unfortunately, most hiring and interview processes are not very accessible and inclusive for neurodiverse talent.

Common barriers include job descriptions and the language used in them, as well as the questions asked in interviews and how they’re asked. 

Accommodation statements are also a huge part of the process but they are often seen as an afterthought and given very little consideration (if they’re even in the job description and posting at all).

Accommodations statements let candidates know they can be accommodated at any time during the hiring process and have the information of who they can contact during the hiring process to notify of the need for accommodation, e.g. HR manager, specialist, or accessibility specialist if applicable within the organization. 

So, how can you make your recruitment process more accessible for neurodivergent applicants?

Some key things to focus on are:

• Using more inclusive language in job descriptions e.g. “Must be able to move 50 pounds” when meaning lift heavy objects might be taken literally, instead say “Ability to lift heavy objects of 25-50 pounds”.
• Providing interview questions ahead of time
• Having an accommodation statement as mentioned above
• Have remote interviews and have closed captions enabled
• Providing training on learning how to make the recruitment process more accessible.

Accommodations

A lot of time when people think of accommodations they think they’re very expensive and are  medical-based.

“Employer concerns can be summarized in three key areas: a perceived dearth of applicants; misconceptions around accommodation costs; and worries about negative impacts on workplace culture” (Kryhu, 2022). 

The reality is that most accommodations cost very little and are considered “reasonable accommodation”.

First and foremost, listen to your employees to know what accommodations they need to be successful. 

You can do this by simply having a conversation with them about what tools, resources, and support would make their lives easier.

I’d start by asking your employees formally e.g. an anonymous survey asking if they identify as neurodivergent, how they feel about the culture, and what they wish they had.

Another way is to ask informally. If you know one of your employees identifies as neurodivergent, ask them about how they feel about the culture and if there is anything they wish was done differently.

Examples of accommodations include:

• Noise-canceling headphones 
• Quiet workspaces
• Being mindful that not everyone is good with eye contact
• Change job tasks or modify task order
• Provide reserved parking
• Change the presentation of tests and training materials
• Provide or adjust a product, equipment, or software
• Allow a flexible work schedule
• Mentoring programs e.g. having other employees who identify as neurodivergent in higher positions or in other positions that person aspires to mentor them in their career. 

It’s also important to understand that if you have accommodated a neurodivergent employee that, while they can be similar, everyone is unique and has their own individual needs.

Varied Communication

It’s important to have effective communication in the workplace and by this I mean communicating how your employees need you to communicate.

For example, someone with ADHD might have trouble processing verbal instructions so it’s better to communicate instructions to them in a written format (another reason to take the time to build a proper internal communication strategy).

Inclusive and Plain Language

Inclusive and plain language is a huge way to support neurodiverse talent in the workplace. It’s important to be mindful of the language that is used.

Examples include:

• Person-first, or identity first
  • Person with Autism vs Autistic Person
  • Person with a Disability vs Disabled Person

It’s important to know how the person identifies and use the language that they want you to use.

It’s important to know how the person identifies and use the language that they want you to use.

Related read: Business Writing For Everyone

Training and Education

Training and education are very important when it comes to supporting all types of DEI initiatives including neurodiversity.

It’s important to train HR, managers, and coworkers on how they can best support and be aware of DEI issues.

Consider an external speaker, consultant, trainer, and facilitator to provide training and educational content on neurodivergence.

Topics that should be discussed:

1. Supporting neurodiversity
2. Making a more accessible recruitment process
3. Neurodiversity awareness
4. Manager training for neurodiversity.

A company I provided neurodiversity training to had people who identify as neurodiverse speak up about what they need from their managers, which in turn also increased employee morale of the company.

I got feedback from the employees themselves saying they were more comfortable speaking up for their needs and were going to stay longer in the organization because they saw the organization actually cared to conduct training on this topic.

Further Resources for Neurodiversity in the Workplace

• How to get neurodiversity right
• Microsoft Job Board for Neurodiverse Candidates
• Neuro-Inclusive Feedback: Top Tips from the Experts

Join The Conversation

I highly encourage you to see and question how well your company is doing in regard to being neuro-inclusive as well as understand there is always room for improvement.

Keep the conversation about neurodiversity at work going, and look into ways you can start implementing more neuro-inclusive initiatives for an overall more inclusive culture within your organization. 

Feel free to reach out in the comments or join the conversation over in the People Managing People community, a support community of HR and business leaders passionate about sharing knowledge about building organizations of the future.

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Companies are always on the lookout for talented people. In this interview series, we talk to seasoned HR professionals to pick their brains for ideas and insights on finding the right talent for our organizations.

Christina Schelling

Christina Schelling is the SVP, Chief Talent & Diversity Officer at Verizon, where she supports more than 118k employees globally.

Hi Christina! Welcome to the series, we’d love to get to know you a bit better. Can you tell us the “backstory” about what brought you to this specific career path?

My career journey began as a leadership analyst for the Central Intelligence Agency. I went to school for Psychology and never really planned to work in a corporate setting but I was offered a management consulting opportunity with IBM and the organizational and behavioral sides of the role intrigued me.

This was very much a bridge to the work that I continue to do today as the SVP, Chief Talent & Diversity Officer at Verizon.

It has been said that our mistakes can be our greatest teachers. Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you first started and what you learned from it?

When I started at the CIA, all I wanted to do was fit in and not feel different. This meant playing down my style and personality a bit. A female mentor saw me trying to blend in and helped me see that my differences were my biggest assets and I needed to celebrate and leverage them. She empowered me to see my uniqueness as my greatest strength and I’ve never forgotten that important lesson. 

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote” and how that was relevant to you in your life? 

“Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars and change the world.” – Harriet Tubman

This quote reminds me to always think big and even when I feel at my weakest, I am strong.

Are you working on any exciting new projects at your company? How is this helping people?

At Verizon, we know that our people are our greatest asset and we take pride in the fact that the average employee remains here for 11 years. 

We are always checking in with our V Team and, based on feedback we’ve received from them, we created Talent GPS—a new digital tool that empowers employees with more knowledge, insights and resources to have greater ownership over their careers. 

Talent GPS allows employees to see internal growth opportunities, what’s required for the role(s) and how to get there.

V Teamers can also sign up for training, classes, and certifications with Verizon’s help in order to gain competencies required for roles they are interested in. 

It’s a multi-phase, multi-year journey that creates a market-driven job architecture with consistent job families, titles, and career paths. 

We’re excited to continue evolving Talent GPS to meet our employees where they are and to help them see how much variety and opportunity are available for them at Verizon. 

We know people are interviewing us the same way we’re interviewing them. It’s important to give them the chance to hear from other V Teamers to truly understand our culture.

Hiring can be very time-consuming and challenging. Can you share with our readers a bit about your experience with identifying and hiring talent? What’s been your most successful recruitment-related initiative so far?

Before joining Verizon, I spent the last 20 years working in people, culture and organizational roles with major companies. 

Now, as the SVP, Chief Talent & Diversity Officer, I am humbled to oversee all aspects of Verizon’s talent practices including hiring, learning, career development, succession planning, diversity, equity and inclusion and more for around 118,000 employees globally. 

That said, Verizon’s most successful recruitment-related initiative so far has been genuinely sharing Verizon’s story through further amplifying the voice of our employees.

We know people are interviewing us the same way we’re interviewing them. It’s important to give them the chance to hear from other V Teamers to truly understand our culture.

That’s why we leverage real employee imagery and stories to reflect the many different backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives that collectively make our team dynamic and diverse. 

Our V Teamer stories are shared on Verizon’s Up To Speed and Inside Verizon platforms, where people can read and watch unique stories featuring their colleagues and how Verizon culture has impacted their career experience.

This genuine representation of our company culture is a differentiator for us and is a compliment to all of the work we do to diligently practice a fair and equitable identification, hiring and recruitment process. 

When connecting with candidates, we leverage conversational and coaching elements to help us identify the perfect entry points for all employees.

Once talent is engaged, what’s your advice for creating a great candidate experience and ensuring the right people go through the process?

The experience that a great candidate encounters is critical to their decision to join a company–and to stay–because it ultimately sheds light on the company culture.

At Verizon, we know how important company culture is and the major role it plays in recruiting and retaining great talent. Thus, we consider many factors into making it a great experience from the very beginning. 

When hiring, we ensure applicants have access to resources and tools, in addition to providing accommodations, per candidate request, as needed. 

We also recently launched our candidate experience surveys in efforts to provide a positive experience at every touchpoint along the candidate journey. We’re leveraging this information to inform where we can elevate our communication, process and engagement to facilitate a positive candidate experience. 

We also know people often apply for a specific position, but part of creating a great experience is also considering broader career opportunities at the company as well.

When connecting with candidates, we leverage conversational and coaching elements to help us identify the perfect entry points for all employees.

In addition, we introduce them to Verizon’s programs and benefits like Total Rewards, Talent GPS, VTeam Central, Inside Verizon and more to highlight the culture, support and resources across the organization. 

All of this strengthens our culture and heightens overall satisfaction and sense of belonging for each candidate.

Based on your experience, how can HR and culture professionals work with the broader organization to identify talent needs?

HR and culture are tied together in every way. At Verizon, we identify talent needs along with weaving diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) into every facet of the business, allowing diverse experiences and ideas to help us create the best customer experience.

We also leverage both quantitative and qualitative data as a starting point. This data is gathered through Verizon focus groups, employee surveys and other frequent touch points and serves as a starting point for identifying needs across several areas. 

From there, we work with internal and external partners to help guide the process of filling those talent gaps. 

Once gaps are addressed, we look at the outcome and success measures so that we can continue to strengthen this process and the company as a whole.

The last thing we want our recruiters to do is to take orders, especially if they are unrealistic. Having the tools needed to educate our business units is critical for our success. 

Is there anything you see that recruiters, internal or otherwise, do regularly that makes you think, “No, stop doing that!”?

Integrity is fundamental to who we are and how we operate. All recruiters go through Recruiting At Verizon training, which is a week long training to cover compliance, sourcing strategies, license access, executive presentations and a lot more.

Our goal is to equip the recruiters with everything they need to be successful consultants in their role. 

Where we continue to challenge our team is to not be “order takers” and to show up as talent consultants, showing our subject matter expertise. 

We provide a variety of licenses for talent intelligence so the recruiters can access all sorts of data to make sure we are showing up with relevant information. 

The last thing we want our recruiters to do is to take orders, especially if they are unrealistic. Having the tools needed to educate our business units is critical for our success.

With so much noise and competition out there, what are your top three ways to attract and engage the best talent in an industry when they haven’t already reached out to you?

1. Ensure diversity is truly embedded throughout systems, processes and operations. Diversity is not a separate stream of thought, but a true part of who we are, which means it begins with our VTeam. The richness in background, experience, thought and all of the elements of diversity throughout our employee base is so powerful and provides the unique perspectives to serve our customers better. 
2. Tell your story authentically. Our brand amplifies our V Teamer’s voices to authentically share what makes Verizon a great place to work. Those stories are shared on Up To Speed, our employee news program available both internally and externally, and through our various Inside Verizon channels. To meet our employees where they are, Inside Verizon content is available on our website, Instagram, LinkedIn and Twitter. 
3. Take a holistic approach to employee wellbeing. At Verizon it’s not just about compensation and benefits. It’s about holistic personal and professional wellness and personalizing benefits to meet VTeamers where they are. Our benefits program, Total Rewards, includes a $2.5B investment in healthcare benefits and services to more than 485k employees, eligible retirees, and their dependents. Through Total Rewards, employees have access to a customizable, comprehensive suite of benefits that support their financial, emotional and physical wellbeing. Examples include Gympass, pet insurance and tuition assistance.

What are the three most effective strategies you use to retain employees?

1. Invest in internal professional development opportunities. The average employee remains at Verizon 11 years and we believe this is because we empower our employees to own their own career path. Empowering V Teamers to own their career using VTeam Central and Talent GPS along with ensuring leaders are equipped to support that journey to unleash employees’ full potential. 

2. Establish a credo that everyone can look to. Our credo is the foundation of all that we do and it includes integrity, respect, performance excellence, accountability and social responsibility. We rally around our credo and it is the inspiration for our workplace culture. Our credo helps ensure that we’re fostering a culture where people can work, stay and grow. 
3. Ensure that diversity is part of leadership. Being a good leader means being an inclusive leader. To further reinforce this, Verizon announced ‘Foster Inclusion’ as a new leadership principle, which will also be a part of performance reviews. Furthermore, we deeply infuse diversity into all ways of working to foster an inclusive V Team culture, create competitive advantage and drive business results. At Verizon, we offer leadership programs for key diverse populations that incorporate cultural nuances. We leverage diverse employees to help steer the development of talent programs and offerings–they’re also often included in focus groups.

Can you share five techniques that you use to identify the talent that would be best suited for the job you want to fill?

1. ​​Recruitment Marketing: We have a dedicated team that curates Verizon’s employer brand identity, built on authentic employee voices and stories. They elevate these employee voices by leveraging creative marketing, targeted media tactics, and insights to reach, attract, and influence diverse talent with the skills Verizon needs for today and tomorrow.
2. Proactive Sourcing Tied to Skills: We have a dedicated Global Talent Sourcing team that serves as the subject matter experts for our candidate relationship management platform (Beamery), recruiting tools (LinkedIn/Indeed/HireEz), and talent market intelligence (Talent Neuron). The team uses their deep understanding of the job/talent market, competitor landscape, and industry trends to strategically identify, engage, and qualify top talent based on the skills captured in the business’s talent plan. Our Sourcing Signal strategy, in which we strategically engage competitor talent based on certain market signals’ that indicate waning company sentiment or possible layoffs of highly demanded skill sets, is one example.
3. Hiring as a team sport: Collaboration between HR and hiring managers to identify needs versus wants. As managers, we often initially start off looking for “unicorns.” It’s the responsibility of both HR and the hiring manager to focus on the core skills and look for aptitude towards some of the nice to haves. This includes re-evaluating how our job descriptions look and how we connect with our applicants.
   
   For example, there was a time when our hiring managers in certain groups almost exclusively opened senior level roles for external searches. Our recruiters have worked with our HR partners and business leaders to discuss internal growth within their teams so that we are creating a bench of talent for the future and hiring talent with more varied experience levels that will learn and grow with Verizon. It’s not only important for internal development, but it also broadens our talent pool for those hard to fill skills.

4. Behavioral Based Interview: The first step is to identify candidate qualifications as they align to the needs of the business. We must assess talent on not only their ability to do the job, but also how their skills and values complement and add to the VTeam culture. We are able to do this by focusing on behavioral based interviews that focus on a candidate’s experience and capabilities.
5. Emerging Talent Programs: Partnerships with recruiting programs for DEI and military as well with external organizations that challenge us to think beyond conventional thought and opens us to being more inclusive to non-traditional talent. One example is transitioning military members often share many of the same values we encourage and have had extensive training on many of the core skills. We must work with them to translate their skills and experience to how we do things in the private sector.

Is there a person in the world whom you would love to have a private lunch with, and why?

Mellody Hobson—she is a powerhouse business executive who has worked across industries, broken through boundaries and achieved amazing success. I love that she is authentic and real and always gives back.

Thanks Christina, some great insights in there! How can our readers continue to follow your work online? 

We encourage readers to follow us on social media and check out our career opportunities. 

• Verizon.com and verizon.com/about/careers 
• Facebook.com/Verizon
• Twitter @Verizon @InsideVerizon
• Youtube youtube.com/@verizon and youtube.com/@insideverizon 
• Instagram @Verizon and @InsideVerizon
• LinkedIn linkedin.com/company/verizon and linkedin.com/showcase/insideverizon/

More insights from the series:

• To Attract And Recruit The Best Talent, Upgrade Your Tech Stack
• To Find The Best New Talent, Leverage Your Existing Talent
• To Hire The Best Talent For Your Organization, Don’t Confuse Culture Fit With Attitude

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