From Insight to Action: Empowering Gen Z in the Global Workplace

Well, I am excited to jump into this. Here's what we got planned. We're gonna discuss some of the insights and findings that we found with this generation through our research, through our conversations with our community, uh, with Gen Zs themselves to really understand, you know, what are they looking for from their workforce? What are certain themes and things they expect from the organization and the leaders that they work with? You know, how do we do, uh, uh, how do we start to evolve our workplaces to engage this generation? And then as we review some of that data and that insights, uh, we're gonna share some recommendations basically from the menu of strategies, which is really in depth. I think it's around 15, 16 pages, all crowdsourced from organizations sharing how they're navigating these things today. So you can learn from each other, kind of, uh, debrief and read that afterwards. But we're gonna highlight some of the key findings from that in relationship to the key themes and research that we find. And then after that, we'll unpack that in pure groups and discussion mode where you can kind of build some relationships and really do that. So, hope you're ready to engage and discuss. I'm super pumped. I'm gonna stop sharing here. And I would love to welcome my partner in crime here today, the one who's been spearheading some of this research and thought leadership with our partnership. And at Hi Bob, the amazing Rachel. Uh, Rachel, welcome to the virtual stage with me. Can we give her like a, a virtual round applause? Yes. Thank you. Thank you. Hi, Everyone. I also have, I have Emmy with me today for my parents, and she, uh, started scratching at the door, so she wanted to come hear about this too. She, she's Jen Alpha, she's only four years old. Okay, well, welcome, uh, another representative of the next generation, I think is important to have them also involved in this. So this is great. So Rachel, thanks for joining our community and being up here with us today. Um, I'm excited to unpack some of these insights with you. I'd, I'd be curious of kind of your starting thoughts on, on what we're gonna talk about and unpack here. Definitely. So, my name's Rachel s Schal. My pronouns are she her. Um, I have been working at Hi Bob for over three years, which means I've spent three years diving into the world of hr and in turn, kind of making it my passion. Um, it's learning about HR tech and HR processes and the challenges that HR professionals face, um, has really been enlightening because I realize some of my own personal, uh, thoughts and perceptions about HR are driven by the challenges that all of you face and have been working through, um, year after year after year. So, first of all, I appreciate all of you. I respect the work that you do. Um, and every time I meet an HR professional, I just love to hear about what's going on, what's on top of your mind, and, uh, what are the challenges? And I like to think about all of the things that, you know, you're busy in your day to day trying to get things done. How can we at high bobb come in and help you think about the big picture and the strategy and bring in insights and data into the decisions that you're making? We do that both on the product level, but also as an organization. And that was the genesis of this Gen Z research. Um, by 2030, they're going to make up 30% of the workforce. We can already see. For many of you, they're more than that. Um, and with every new generation entering the workforce, they're going to bring a different vibe, different challenges. We saw it, you know, 20 years ago with millennials. Um, we're seeing it now. And some of it is reflected in just, you know, your age and experience in entering the workforce for the first time. Some of it is shaped by, you know, the experiences that they had. If we think about them as the Zoomers, the zoom generation that, you know, finished school on Zoom and started university on Zoom and had their prom canceled and went through this pandemic in a, some, in some ways, a very different way than a lot of us. Um, all of that is influencing, you know, what they're asking for, how they act, what they do. Um, some of it, you know, we've seen over and over again, some of it is definitely brand new. And the thing that I like to say is, gen Z's not a monolith. You know, what works for each individual, what works for your organization is going to be different. But we need to start somewhere. And the best way to start is with data. And that's what our research is. Bringing data trends, things that we've noticed in what they're saying, um, and, you know, starting points for all of you to then be able to go back and, you know, make those strategies and make those decisions and have those conversations with your own organization. Um, so just a few stats that we found within the research that we found to be very, very enlightening. Um, one is that 54% of Gen Z are disengaged at worse at work, and that is the highest of any generation. So that engagement rate that we're always fighting, that we're always trying to increase, it's only going to get worse. Um, 34% intend to leave their job within two years. Like there's just not even a, oh yeah, if there's an opportunity, I'll stay. It's just a foregone conclusion. Yeah, I'll probably be here for two years and, and that's it. And one in three would leave their job without another job lined up. Now we could get into the whole discussion about why that is and what allows that. And, you know, is that something that's going to continue? Is that a trend that's going to continue? Um, but it's the fact of the matter right now. And so when we see those churn rates and we see, especially younger people, entry level jobs churning, that's only going to increase. Um, and it's something to get ahead of that's going to, you know, affect your overall strategy or overall KPIs, what you're looking at, what your goals are as an HR leader. Um, but that's not the only thing that we found in this research. We, we really dug into, you know, what do you want, want, what do you like, what are the things that you like and that you dislike about your current company and your current role to help better find out what are the strategies and what are the programs that are most effective? So one of the things that they really want is professional growth. Now, the, the companies that we surveyed are career companies. So I saw a few of you have seasonal workers then, or part-time or that kind of thing. So that might sound, you know, a little bit, uh, a little bit off. But for those that have full-time workers that are Gen Z, we hear from them that career pathing, guidance, transparency into their career path and formal mentorship programs are the things that they liked most about their company, even more than their salary. 'cause they were asked about that. Um, and so that's one of the places that we've really focused in on and started to bring programs around and start to bring ideas and programs around. So You wanna Direct to that? Yeah, let me unpack that a little bit. So one of the things that we started to kind of surface from our community too is like, okay, how are companies today starting to support professional growth and development as a whole, but also targeted ways that they're doing it with this, this generation or in preparation in the ways that they're approaching it. So as Rachel kind of started to share mentorship and coaching related programs has definitely been a huge emphasis. This was something we hit on pretty big in our develop program. And I'm seeing one of our speakers, Bob Norman on the call here with us today. I definitely encourage you look back to that recording because, uh, he and, uh, like others in this report are really thinking about, yeah, how do we start to redesign mentorship programs? How do we start to get Gen Z or our people paired with each other, both from like a hierarchy standpoint, but also cross-functional in different ways to expose them to different parts of the business, to mentor and coach 'em within their career journeys, uh, shadowing type programs to get them on diverse projects that expose them to new development type of pathways that they're trying to look for. So that's kind of like one aspect is that coaching and mentorship element through pathways and how that pairs with like developmental pathways is also an element of, you know, they're really looking for clarity on this and helping, you know, looking for their organization to help 'em find this clarity. I think in the past, you know, a lot of times people are just left up on their own to figure it out. It's like, okay, find, you know, you figure out your career journey, where do you want to go and the path to get there. Gen Z uh, based on our research and kind of engaging with this generation, they're looking for more like, of a relationship for their company to get that clarity. So it's like, Hey, can you actually help map that out? And maybe that's part of the mentorship relationship. Or when you're onboarding or bringing employees onto the organization, how are you developing like clear three ladder ladders that are individualized to that person at an individual level? And not just having these, you know, generic, you know, one way, uh, streets when it comes to career journeys and developmental pathways, but it's saying, Hey, here's my aspirations, here's the visions I have for myself. Can you help create a career ladder and a development plan that aligns with that? Um, so that's definitely a huge part. And I think how that connects to the learning development initiatives was the next piece. So once you have some of those development plans, um, that really understand career aspirations and goals that, you know, this this generation or this individual has, um, how do you start building out those learning journeys with them and provide 'em with the enablement resources that get 'em on that pathway, whether that's online training platforms, the mentorship and coaching relationship, uh, access to certain cohorts or groups that might, you know, expose 'em to that, that career pathway that they're trying to go on. Um, and then I'll say the last piece, and this goes into another theme, so I'm not gonna go too deep into this, but back on like the mentorship and, and the coaching is also just like the peer to peer learning, which goes into connection. There's a huge desire for that. So I'm not gonna go deep 'cause we're gonna talk a bit about that, but just peer to peer learning, having this like collaborative learning environment and being developed with their peers is another big piece of that. So how do you organize those kind of peer learning communities or social spaces, whether that's leveraging employee resource groups, uh, career like almost offsites or summit events where you're really kind of bringing people together to learn with each other on and work on these things. That's another element of professional development and a specific style of development that we found to be really important. And something that companies are saying like, okay, how do we maybe go outside of our l and d department and leverage employee resource groups or community resource groups, or whatever name you want to call it, um, and different community groups to help foster development opportunities that is a little less traditional than, um, the normal like learning l and d type initiatives that you might be doing. So that, those are some of the key strategies that we're really unpacked on that piece. Uh, so yeah. Rachel, anything else you would add on that front or what is the next theme that we're starting to see? So I'd just like to invite, you know, I saw, I saw a few of you are Gen Z. If any of these things resonate or don't resonate with you, you know, let us know. Again, it's Gen Z is not a monolith, no one is a monolith. So something, even though we're seeing trends, it's not going to be true for everyone. And everyone's number one or top priority is not going to be the same. So we'd love to hear from you also, um, you know, does this resonate with you personally? Does, you know, if, if you and your friends talk about work, um, I, I remember talking about work a lot when I was young. I definitely talk about work a lot now that I'm older. Um, you know, is that what you hear from, from your friends and from your peers? And also, you know, since I'm, I'm making an assumption here that you work also in HR or with people in e in people operations, you know, do you kind of see that when you're sitting with that hat on, looking out, um, at your peers? So definitely jump in and let us know. Um, yeah, And feel free as we're going through this and, and Regie, I'll toss it back to you in a second. Like ask a question in the chat if you want us to expand on any things or even use the raise your hand function. I know we have everyone muted right now. We're gonna open up the floor pretty soon as well, but would love to even call on people if like you are someone in Gen Z or you have like a very specific perspective on, on something we're sharing that you'd like to expand on. Would love to welcome you up here with, with Rachel and I. So, um, all right, Rachel, what else do we have going on? So the next trend that we found of the things that they're looking for is they want companies that align to their values or at least have a positive impact in the world. Now for-profit companies, that's not always going to be the case. Um, even in nonprofits, if you've been in that world, you also know that it's a little bit tricky. Um, but Gen Z is motivated to join their company because of the company's impact and mission. I love to talk about this because this is something that I've kind of found in my career also, which is just looking for the good in what I do. I love doing B2B work. I love working with other businesses. I love solving business problems. But, you know, I also like to think what positive impact can I make in the world by doing this Now at hi Bobb, specifically, we as a company value people First, we are a people company, and we want to enable, um, other HR teams and leaders to also be people first and to show how being people first is actually good for business. Like this is a win-win. There is a way to make this a win-win. Um, and so, you know, if I were interviewing somebody in Gen Z, that's something that I would bring up or that I would talk to them about or that, you know, I would kind of make that connection for them so they could understand. So finding ways to include that in your company values, um, you know, to work with your customer and marketing team about, you know, what is our impact? What, what is our impact in the world? Even if it's not all good all the time, but where are we making a positive impact can make a big difference. Um, the other things that we saw is that they're looking for companies that the culture that promotes collaboration, fairness, and kindness. Um, gen Zers that work at companies that they believe have that are twice, they're twice as likely to be satisfied with their company and with their work. Um, and when you don't have inclusivity pro, uh, programs or don't have any recognition for minorities or l lgbtqia plus, um, that leads to dissatisfaction. Um, saw a number of DEI and B and inclusivity professionals on here. So love having you. Um, it's definitely something that is, uh, as important as ever, but it's something that's also meaningful to to this generation. Yeah, so to kind of build off of some of those things of like, one really having like a, a evolved purpose at your organization and what type of impact it's making in the world, but then also how you enabling certain cultural values to show up within the employee experience. And one thing I reflected on as, as Rachel shared, like, you know, she, like, I always kind of looked for a deeper purpose or impact in the work we're doing that has some type of greater meaning. And I think about the rise of having like, purpose centered companies and cultures, and the whole start with why type evolution that came through with Simon Sinek in the last 10 years. So this isn't completely new, but I think what Gen Z's really doing is taking this whole, Hey, let's have a deeper purpose and reasoning and why, uh, around this organization and its mission, but also kind of focus it beyond, uh, just our own mission, but also kind of the social, you know, initiatives that are happening around the world. So they really are looking for some of those cultures and inclusion strategies. So, um, you know, we already talked about some of the elements of diversity, equity, inclusion. So some strategies that companies have really started to do to showcase this is really looking at, you know, different types of inclusive, like recruitment and retention strategies, whether that's, you know, we're trying to attract diverse candidates and start to diversify our pathways into our companies. Um, but then also how does that look from a career pathway standpoint as, as well. So not just frontline employees, but middle level leadership all the way to the executive level. How are we creating kind of this diverse footprint and prioritizing diversity of thought within our companies is something that's really important. Um, the other from a, a social impact initiative is, um, yeah, how are we, uh, supporting the communities and society that we work in and live in every single day? Uh, it's a tough tension that organizations are definitely, I'm sure many of you have, have tried to, you know, navigate throughout the last four years, is like, how do we respond to some of these political and social issues? Do we take a stance, uh, how far do we go on this? You know, to what extreme are we holding space on these topics? And I, I think one of the biggest ways that I've seen organizations, um, say, you know, how they're navigating this and supporting these values is through employee resource groups and community groups, as tended to be the number one strategy that we've uncovered from our community is saying, look at an executive level, or as our organization, we're not, you know, maybe at a point or feel comfortable taking a strong stance on something, but we are willing to hold space and create conversations around it that our people can engage with, especially if it's something that's affecting them, right? If it's affecting us in our personal lives, it's probably affecting us in our professional lives at work as well. So how do we start to, uh, engage in the conversation, hold space for it, enable employees to also drive some of these initiatives and help them be, uh, spearheading some of these efforts, right? So if they do have a passion for a certain topic, yeah, letting and enabling them to form groups and have workshops and trainings and conversations around some of these difficult, uh, situations that as a company, it might be, um, it might be hard to be like, okay, as an organization, we're gonna take a stance on something, but more of like, okay, we're just, we're gonna be a culture that's inclusive to thought and, uh, viewpoints. So we're gonna enable our people to kind of have space for this. So, um, yeah, Mercedes creative space is so necessary due to generational demand for authenticity. I, I think, again, it's not a desire for our organizations to take a stance, but just to be in the conversation at a minimum is, I think the ultimate desire. Um, so that's one piece of, of, of a way to look at it. The other part of values on like having a, a company that cares and is thoughtful, definitely is connected to a lot of the mental health values and the wellbeing values that Gen Z really holds onto. Uh, I think, uh, at the Transform conference, um, someone, you know, shared like how this is like coined as the anxious generation, right? Like, and it's, it's a generation that really does struggle or prioritize wellbeing and mental health and, and another level that maybe other generations haven't before. So this is really important to them. So the structures and the ways that the organization supports this or impacts this element of their lives is gonna be a huge driver of them being engaged or staying with your organization over the long term. So how are you enabling that? You know, and people talked about leveraging wellness rooms and resources and, you know, having certain spaces internally at the organization in the office that people can use to disconnect throughout the day. Um, mental health initiatives as well. So providing access to the resources, um, and having robust, uh, programs that, uh, employees can tap into when they're navigating these things. Where we, we have our, you know, quick plug. We have our wellbeing event next month, so look for that one. 'cause we're gonna be unpacking these things on how companies are doing it, you know, in a four, four hour window. But having those support programs established is kind of a key element of what, uh, gen Z is looking for from a programming standpoint with their companies. Um, okay, what else do we have here? I wanted to share one more thing. Okay. So the last one is the value of flexibility and autonomy is another cultural value that really came up. So how are we emphasizing kind of some of those flexible work arrangements or schedules? Uh, hybrid work setups is another strategy obviously is a lot of people figuring out what kind of mix, um, or, and just providing autonomy on projects. So how can a, a huge practice that I know a lot of companies are also trying to evolve away from is like, okay, how can we evolve from just the typical, uh, core working hours and become more of like an outcome based company? So it's, it's more about like, we don't as much care about what hours you're working to get your job done, it's just more about are you getting to your outcomes and your objectives, and are we providing you the resources to achieve your, your roles objectives as well? But at the end of the day, gen Z is looking for that flexibility and autonomy to figure out and decide the best path to get that done. So how I work when I work where I work type deal, um, they want that freedom and that flexibility from their companies. So those are some of the key things and, and this theme of, of aligning values and culture. So you gotta think about inclusion, gotta think about the ways that your purpose and mission and involvement with the social world around you is connected into the employee experience, mental health and wellbeing, uh, diversity, equity, inclusion. Those are some of the key themes and strategies that you can start to implement to kind of foster that engagement with that bucket or theme that we're focused on. So Rachel, anything else to add there? Or should we jump into this third theme? Yeah, I think we should keep going. I'm loving all the comments from everyone and the questions, um, so keep them coming. Um, so the third thing that we found is that they're looking for a connection. And I think that this means a lot of different things to different people, and I think that's true of any age person generation. So we did see that, um, 41% of them felt more engaged and motivated at the office as compared to home. And then we saw only 29% said that they felt more engaged and motivated at home versus the office. Now if you poll, you know, a random age group, you might see actually a similar trend, but it is worth thinking about, you know, they're new in the workforce. Again, this whole pandemic zoom being at home, it's true for everyone. But during those like very formative years of the first friends that you make in college, first friends that you make, you know, after college, if you move to a city, new city, if you're living at home, you know, it, it, it is a, a crucial time in your life. Um, and we are seeing that they, some of them do, like being at the office now, I don't think that that's at the expense of, you know, a mandated return to office or five days in the office or, you know, depending on the flexibility of the job if you need to be there. Um, but it was a, a very, very, um, high trend that we saw that we wanted to point out. Got it. Yep. Go, keep going. Sorry. So we also saw that 37%, so again, almost 40% said the thing that they disliked the most was either not enough relationship building opportunities or not enough time in the office, which makes them less engaged. Um, and so, you know, again, this might not be about a return to office mandate or they wanna be in the office and there are people in Gen Z that probably want a remote job and be at home and find their productive at home and don't want that. Um, but again, this was like one of the largest trends we saw in what they were saying about what they like and don't like about their current work environment. Um, you know, it also could be that if you then start giving relationship building opportunities, they would go the opposite. But by being able to start that conversation and thinking about how your, um, gen Z employees are engaged, what are they doing in the office? Are you in the office five days a week? And kind of, you know, are we giving these opportunities for them to build relationships? It is something that they desire and something that they've been asking for. How that looks for you might be different, you know, for every single different company and set up in industry. Um, the other, the last thing was the thing that Gen Z in the survey liked the most about their company, after all the things about what they personally do in their day to day. But the most important thing was the company culture and their immediate team. So the people that we're with, they're with and the culture of the company, it does have meaning to them. It is something that impacts them. Um, and it is something that's worth investing in because it, it does affect their engagement, their happiness, and then in turn, their retention. Yeah. So some of the strategies you could think about to start fostering some of these connections and build these relationships, one, they're looking for that generational exchange. So I know some companies that we talked with have, uh, really I think this is really cool too, is like these shadow boards that they're implementing. So think of it as taking some of these younger employees, get 'em participating in these new projects or shadow boards that get them exposure to leaders throughout the organization, especially at the executive level. One, it obviously helps from an exposure and development opportunity, but from a relationship standpoint, that's the exact type of connection that they're looking for. So how do we bring them into the, some of these decisions and just getting the perspective, get them in the relationship and the exchange of it. And that's a really cool idea of, of shadow boards. I think that's one that, um, especially as, uh, from a business strategy standpoint, an executive level, you're looking to evolve and innovate and bring in new ways of developing your product or serving your customer base and things like that. And this younger generation can truly bring in fresh perspectives, um, from the market, and especially as this generation is probably gonna be a huge consumer base for many people as well. So making sure they're part of that board shadow as well. Uh, cross-functional collaboration. So think about job swap, swap programs was another thing that our community shared a lot of what they're doing today. You know, programs that allow employees to experience different roles and different functions to foster one understanding of how these things function and different elements of how the business functions. That's just general, you know, business acumen and development that, uh, generation's looking for, but also from a collaboration and a relationship standpoint of develop those peer relationships beyond their team. Uh, also to the development thing. Before that I talked about, uh, this generation really doesn't see their career path as this linear journey in most cases. Obviously someone is like, Hey, here's the route I'm going and this, these are the next roles I'm, I'm gonna go in. And it's a very kind of linear journey, but it's much more common to actually have, you know, horizontal or vertical jumps throughout the company in different departments, in different types of roles and trying to transfer their skill sets into new projects. So one from a, just a development pathway and engagement strategy, having jobs swap programs is really affected because it also develops 'em and gets 'em ready for the careers that they're trying to go down into the future. Um, ano another thing is having like a mix of in-person and online opportunities. So team building events, social exchange opportunities, hosting these meaningful in-person events like hook outs and, and you know, different programs where employees are teaching things that they're really passionate about. Game nights, these all came up as strategies that our community's doing today. So social engagement, social experiences is definitely a huge focus. We talked about formal mentorship and coaching programs. As Rachel shared, one of the key things that they're looking for are deeper relationships with their direct team and departments. So you could think about as you set up mentorship programs, is there someone, one in their department that you could pair people with to operate as a mentor or coach, um, to get them that deeper connection with their immediate team, as well as give 'em kind of the development opportunity of the mentorship. So it's kind of like a, a two birds, one stone opportunity for you. Um, let's see, what else here? Onboarding experiences is another one. So how do you actually get people to engage with other peers throughout the onboarding practice? Peer recognition is another element. So rather than doing this like top down, uh, recognition rewards type, uh, initiatives where, you know, it's only leadership recognizing and appreciating people, how can you create platforms and social spaces where people can give shout outs to each other at a peer-to-peer level and recognize their contributions between each other? Uh, almost like having your own social space, um, with your hr, you know, tech stack or whatever that might be. You know, being able to shout out, highlight people and tag 'em in different ways, same way you would on other social platforms, but internal facing. Let's see. Another couple things, um, that I want to quickly mention is also like different interest based clubs is something that a lot of our community members shared that they're doing, you know, hobby clubs, um, with people who have shared interests, especially as work becomes more and more blended with our lives, um, this is a easy way to also build that relationship between our people internally. So how do we get them to connect over things that they're passionate with outside of their jobs and get them that deeper connection with their peers? So there's a lot more in that report, so I'm not gonna go through everything, but we will share that information with you afterwards. But just to kinda recap, I really encourage you to think about those three themes, and we're actually gonna go into breakouts pretty soon here. And, and Rachel asked if you have anything to add here, but, uh, think about those three themes, you know, professional development, uh, cultural values and, and cultural impact, and then connection and peer relationships. So Rachel, anything to add before we start to kick off our breakout rooms for the rest of the hour? Just wanna call out, make sure everyone sees in the chat a few, I mean, in general, amazing conversations. Um, but a couple of really good points, like finding the, it, um, as Juan said, like what, you know, having social or meaningful social interactions is one thing, but what are their expectations for that? What is it that they actually want? And not just saying, here's happy hour and a ping pong table. Um, but, you know, diving into what that means for them. Um, and then also what Haley said, the double-edged sword of authenticity, social connection. But then where's the blurred line between personal, professional, you know, elections in a lot of companies, politics, um, and, and you know, if things escalate, how do you resolve that? Again, not necessarily a generational thing, it can happen to anyone of any age and anyone the values being their authentic self at work. Um, but definitely something that happens much more often, uh, with younger generations and what we see with Gen Z being very authentic and vocal, um, about their beliefs. Yeah. So we're gonna kick off breakout rooms pretty quickly here. I wanna maximize the rest of the time for all of you to at least connect and unpack some of these things with each other. Uh, I think it's a great opportunity to wanna build a new relationship. These are some of your peers who are also navigating these things. But also start to think about like, what are you doing really well in terms of these themes where if you are doing really well in that theme, what is it that you're doing that you could share with the group? Uh, on the other hand, what do you need to work on? What's like an element of one of these themes that you could improve and what's in the way and what would you like to start working on? Um, and how can the group kinda support you? And then the last one, yeah, what's something we need help with? Obviously this is a community and a, a collaborative space for us. So I would love if some of you started building relationships that support each other. So be a little vulnerable share. Hey, what do I need help with? Maybe it's a reference. Maybe, uh, it's, um, guidance on tools you're evaluating or, um, you know, different blogs or research that you're looking for. So, uh, be open to kind of sharing those things. I'll put the chat prompts in the chat here. We'll do about 15 minutes here for the remainder of the hour. We will come back and then maybe have a little bit of a group share, but then we'll pretty much close up the hour. So let me open up these rooms. We'll do, uh, small groups here, um, about four or five people in a group. Have some fun with it, and we'll, we'll wrap things up afterwards, so we'll see each other again soon. All right. Welcome back everyone. I am sure many of you're like, we need more time, right? Like, that is a quick 15 minutes. So hopefully you're able to at least exchange some information, a couple ideas. We are at the hour, so we understand if you have a hard stop, you need to go. Rachel and I are gonna keep the room open for another 10 minutes here. Just to kind of unpack a couple things. I'd love to open up the floor too, and here if there was anything that really stood out in your quick connections, things on the data, things that you just talked about, or a specific strategy that you're like, Ooh, this is something I really want to try, or someone shared that they're doing that I think is worth sharing with the group. So for free to unmute, jump in, raise your hand. Um, what were some of the things that you came up with? Yeah, Juan, did you, uh, raise your hand? Wanna jump up here? Yes. Um, yeah. Um, we, we found that, um, those areas that you hit on from your research, uh, really rang with us, right? Um, um, some of us are just in a beginning phase. Uh, others are not even started. There's just not support at the leadership level for that sort of thing. I know that I shared, um, some of, uh, hearing those findings, those that data from from you, the percentages and so forth, um, really reinforced in my mind what we are doing and what we could do better. So I'm really anxious to get that report. Um, we have five ERGs and they are incredible. We have five ERGs that are able to provide a, a, a, um, an avenue to for engagement for people. And just like you've mentioned, people are looking for that engagement. And on top of that, they wanna see how the ERG then relates to the external connection, right? The social connection. So that's been fascinating to watch as they mature as a, as an ERG, then they're looking for the next thing, right? The next connection. Um, and then being able to, uh, uh, we just had listening sessions plus an employee survey where what you were talking about with regard to development, they want it transparent. They want it in some sort of a, you know, a a way that they can follow and, and, and it makes sense to them. And just like was mentioned, they're, they're not necessarily looking always for some sort of a linear, uh, promotional thing. It it's about a journey for them. It's really odd. And, and so we wanna be able to do the right things. I think, uh, at, at least from my vantage point, I shared that what, where I need help is to connect with other people that are doing similar work so that we don't lose these folks. Yeah. Well, thank you Juan, for, for jumping in here and, and sharing one, uh, the challenges of, yeah, how do we get leadership on board with this and how do we start maybe telling that story using the data to get buy-in and engagement on the journey as an organization that we need to start heading down. And then on the other end, I love what you really just hit on with the employee resource groups, uh, community resource groups or, you know, whatever, maybe tagline you give it internally to match your culture, but I love those employee driven groups because it really does hit on all three. It provides peer connection opportunities. It also provides the social impact and kind of cultural value alignment piece of helping your company engage with that. And then it also naturally provides development opportunities as well, right? A lot of times they're hosting workshops and bringing speakers in and uh, exposes 'em to different types of projects. So it's kind of like a great strategy to maybe start with, to hit on all three areas that we outlined. Um, and it also, it, it also provides opportunities to be able to center certain people, certain groups. Yeah. Like, we wanna center people of color. We wanna center women, women of color especially, right? And so that ERGs provide that. And we have matured now to the point where we're providing training. We're recognizing ERG leads as leaders, just as, as, as much as formal leader. They're leaders, whether they're formal or informal. And so we're building, um, um, capacity in leadership for them as well, sending them to training and so forth, as if they were a manager or a supervisor. Yeah. So it helps you succession planning. Exactly. That is exactly what I was going to say. You were solving a succession planning problem by doing that also. Um, I think I was, we had an event, uh, recently and the chief people officer of Miro joined and she was talking about how they do, um, iterative hr, which is actually my background is product and marketing and tech. And so even if you're not at a tech company, I, I think in any business this is true, taking the iterative approach of what is our, what are we trying to solve for, you know, what is the end goal? What is the minimum viable product? So what is the, the starting point and the smallest thing that we can do with the least amount of investment in order to see if this is the path that we wanna go down. So if you don't have ERGs, if you do wanna, you know, make some kind of, uh, employee centered or employee focused leadership program, finding the one that you wanna start with and testing that, and then you build out from there, because then you're not spending, you know, six months and way too much budget in something that's just gonna fall on its face. You're able to be agile, you're able to test and then decide the path that you wanna go down. It also gives you the ability to, you know, change direction along the way so it's not, not a linear path. Yeah, I love that. All right. We got time for like, maybe one more. Who else out there had any key takeaways, things they would love to share with the greater group, anything that stood out for them? Feel free to unmute and jump in. We got a couple more minutes. Um, one thing that I heard in one of the breakout groups, um, I'm not sure if they're still on this, uh, call, but was about how do we engage introverts or people that, yeah, I thought that was you. How do we engage introverts? And I wrote that. I've got a, I've got a note on my, I do everything on my iPad and I've got a note on it that's just like, great ideas. So I'm like, research on introverts. That's really interesting. How do you engage people that don't want to do traditional in-person, you know, engagement aren't comfortable in large groups. Um, you know, some of it is very, very individual about what they want, but there's definitely a lot of data and again, trends that we can uncover about where, where do you start with that, you know? Um, and do you do an internal survey? Do you identify as introvert? Are you gonna make people upset if you start to ask them to self identify in order to ask them what they want? Um, and so it's a really interesting path and a really interesting thing to think about. So I guess what I'll, I'll close with this as we kind of wrap up our session. Uh, one, we got the recording, we have the follow-up resources we're gonna share after this with the more detailed report and insight that everyone will receive. Uh, we also have this approved for Sherman HRCI, 'cause I, I saw that in the chat as well. We'll share those codes in the follow up email as well if you want to take advantage of those. Um, and then I think the other thing, I'll just refer to what Rachel said, like big, I think part of this is just to get on the journey and start building momentum towards some of these things. I don't think it's necessarily like, let's try to develop this huge product and then try to roll it out and perfect it from the beginning because I think it's gonna be very much of a discovery process for all of us at an individual level, right? And understanding, you know, in what way does this show up within our culture and within our operations, and how can we start maybe ideating and just get on the path and putting some prototypes or pilots out there and, and start kind of building momentum in that direction. And as you do that, you're gonna gain feedback from this generation and from the rest of the, uh, the rest of the workforce on what it could actually look like and what are they actually looking for, and how do we actually form this with them and engage and co-create with them along the journey. So I would try not to get too worked up on just like having the playbook figured out from the beginning. Uh, 'cause I think not doing anything is actually creating a lot of disengagement with your people. So I think if you just get on the path, start taking, you know, small tests and pilots out there, uh, you're gonna see I think some incredible results and appreciation from your people of like, okay, I'm working for a company that's trying, they're doing these things and they've, they're taking it as a priority. And that alone is a factor towards engagement. So, um, really appreciate all of you coming out today. Continue the journey with us. We'll also invite you to our network space. So if you really enjoy these peer-to-peer elements and having people to be on the journey with, on the HR side of things, uh, check out our peer network. Definitely join it, continue the journey with 'em and would love to continue seeing you in the future. So have a great rest of your afternoons and, uh, good luck out there. We're here for you and we hope to see you again soon.

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