

We're Only Human
WRKdefined Podcast Network
An HR podcast focusing on the intersection of people and technology at work, We’re Only Human examines research, technology, and practical strategies for creating better outcomes for employers and the workforce. It’s a wealth of insight for anyone looking to create a high-performing organization.
Episodes
Mentioned books

Aug 28, 2023 • 33min
How to Skip 1,500 Interviews and Increase Quality of Hire
And so that doesn't happen overnight. But over time, as people bought into it and we started to see over the course of one year, we gave the business back 1500 interviews. Imagine the extra time that was available for our product managers. They could do their job, and then when the quality of hire goes up with that, you start to get this [positive] cycle. You've now made a better hire, and because you started with listening, there's a high probability that [they're] gonna be successful and stay longer.Lance Sapera, Former VP Talent Acquisition, TalendWe're Only Human -- Episode 164How do you structure talent acquisition teams to support business growth?Did you know that the best approach isn't to use a very lean team and overwork them? That's the perspective of today's guest, Lance Sapera, who has supported multiple organizations through rapid growth as a talent acquisition executive. The insights he offers are a roadmap to smarter, more effective hiring practices.As the title indicates, Lance shares one change to TA processes that led to 1,500 fewer interviews AND a stronger quality of hire at the same time, which is virtually unheard of. Grab your notepad. This is a great episode and you should have some excellent takeaways. Show Notes
Connect with Lance
Thanks to Lever for connecting us with Lance!
Want to see the upcoming research Ben mentioned in the intro? We post all of it here.
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Aug 4, 2023 • 24min
Can HR Really Work Remotely? How Eco’s Head of People Does It
I'm really excited we are a fully remote organization. It's why I get to do the work I do from Hawaii. It does mean I have really early mornings, so be aware of what you're signing up for, but I get to work fully remote. In supporting fully remote organizations, we have to be incredibly intentional about the culture and the way we work.Diana Brown, Head of People, EcoWe're Only Human -- Episode 163Working remote. It's a polarizing topic overall, but perhaps even more so when it comes to HR positions. Should HR be in the office, or is it okay if People professionals work remotely?In this episode, Ben talks with Diana Brown of Eco about how she and her team manage the remote/distributed aspects of creating a connected, employee-focused culture through intentional design, communications, and more. Show Notes
Connect with Diana
Thanks to Goody for connecting us with Diana!
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Jul 17, 2023 • 51min
3 People Leaders Share Frontline Employee Engagement Secrets
"One of the things that a lot of our industry struggled with was trying to regulate employees and not let them have their phone in their hand, but we actually encourage it. We ask them to help us do TikToks. Everybody gets involved. It really brings in a sense of camaraderie. We're not constantly saying, 'Get off your phone. Get off your phone. Get off your phone.' We're encouraging them: get on your phone, take the pictures, take the videos, promote the brand."Michele Corkins, Senior Manager, People Solutions, Hawaiian Bros Island GrillWe're Only Human -- Episode 162Think about this research stat: One out of every two frontline workers thinks they aren't treated equitably with corporate staff. In our 2022 Frontline Worker Study that covered thousands of frontline staff around the world, we found so many different insights that are helpful for understanding how to build an employee experience that supports, connects, and engages these critical employees. Today's podcast episode is a replay of a conversation between Ben and three HR leaders at frontline employers:
Michele Corkins of Hawaiian Bros Island Grill
Gemma Elay of Hawksmoor
Ana Ledesma of Just Salad
Listen in to hear what tools they use to support their people, what resources they think are more relevant to frontline staff, and more. Thanks to Harri for connecting us!Show Notes
Check out the frontline research report with additional takeaways
Thanks to Harri, one of the world's leading platforms for supporting frontline employers, for hosting the conversation with Michele, Gemma, and Ana!
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Jul 6, 2023 • 22min
Listening to the Needs of 1700 People at Once at Getty Images
"We have 1700 people at our company. That's 1700 different opinions, needs, journeys. So at Getty Images we create and we measure and we monitor engagement opportunities to strengthen a work culture where people belong and they can do their best work."Marie Potter, Senior Director, Culture & Development, Getty ImagesWe're Only Human -- Episode 161 Defining the problem is a big step towards finding a solution. But what do you do when the problem or challenge is so broad and varied that it's hard to pinpoint what solution might work? That's the difficulty that arises daily for HR leaders looking at how to support the needs of every person in the workforce. In this episode of We're Only Human, Ben talks with Marie Potter from Getty Images about how she and her team are able to listen, identify, and support the needs of their workforce at scale. Show Notes
Connect with Marie on LinkedIn
Thanks to Quantum Workplace for the connection/introduction to Marie
Learn more about HR Summer School and check out the 2023 replay free!
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Jun 21, 2023 • 45min
Case Study: How to Automate Hundreds of Hours of Onboarding Tasks
"I was deleting 24 Google Calendar placeholders one day and manually copy/pasting new hire email addresses into the 17 ones we were going to keep. It was at least 30 minutes of hundreds of just mindless clicks. And I said, wait a minute. I'm gonna figure out how to do this [better]. So I looked at our Google Calendar integration, saw that I could both delete calendar events and add participants to calendar events. It worked so well. I took hundreds of clicks down to two clicks to complete those two actions, which is huge for me. And then I said, what else can I automate? So I just kept going from there." Ashley Priebe Brown, Onboarding Manager, ZapierWe're Only Human -- Episode 160Onboarding is one of the most critical moments in the employee experience. The latest data from Lighthouse Research & Advisory shows that two out of three new hires know if they will stay at a company within the first week on the job. But that's not all. There are so many transactional, repetitive tasks that it's easy to get bogged down as an HR leader. In this episode of We're Only Human, Ashley Priebe Brown from Zapier talks about how she automated hundreds of hours of onboarding tasks, minimizing busy work and maximizing impact on their new hire cohorts. If you are looking for ideas on how to streamline your onboarding and make it more relevant and useful, this episode is for you. Show Notes
Connect with Ashley on LinkedIn
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Jun 12, 2023 • 24min
Talent Intelligence is the Future of Hiring
"If I had to put a bet on the future, where we're headed is about understanding potential future performance and what drives and drains people. I think that's really where I see TA going longer term. We've seen success around using some of that psychometric data to really upskill folks into engineers that wouldn't not necessarily have been on technical paths. So business analysts, old school project managers, and those technical analyst folks... Finding the ones that are really well suited to engineering thought and then upskilling them on the actual technology themselves."Travis Windling, Director Talent Acquisition Strategy & Insights, RBCWe're Only Human -- Episode 159Hiring has changed tremendously in recent years, and one thing is for certain: things haven't settled down yet. As Travis Windling believes, there are going to be big shifts in how employers understand and predict performance for both external and internal candidates. A big part of hiring well is predictability and quality, and unfortunately resumes just don't get the job done there. In this episode Ben and Travis talk about data, analytics, hiring decisions, and more. Show Notes
Connect with Travis on LinkedIn
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May 23, 2023 • 22min
Recruitment Process Outsourcing Research: Value and Impact
"And speaking of changing expectations and what's socially acceptable, this challenge of ghosting is going through the roof, and I've got bad news for you. It's gonna get worse. When we look at the data on ghosting, we see that it's actually age correlated. So someone who is 25 is more likely than someone who's 35, who's more likely someone who's 45, and so on. So the people who are 55 years old and older in the workplace are the least likely to ghost an employer. And guess what? They're gonna steadily age out. And the ones who are doing it the most are gonna continue aging into the workforce."Ben Eubanks, Chief Research Officer, Lighthouse Research & AdvisoryExcerpt from 2022 RPO Association Conference Keynote We're Only Human -- Episode 158 In this rare solo episode, Ben shares a short portion of his 2022 keynote address at the Recruitment Process Outsourcing Association Annual Conference in Chicago, unveiling some brand new research on how employers value RPO relationships, what gaps exist, and more.
To learn more about the conference: https://www.rpoassociation.org/event-5062642
To see the full RPO research report: https://rpoassociation.org/2022-RPO-Research-Report/
Learn more about the RPOA: https://rpoassociation.org/
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Apr 17, 2023 • 31min
From Talent Transformation to L&D Fundamentals with Mike Trusty of Fannie Mae
"It's a big differentiator. And I think the organizations that figure it out--the organizations that get it right--are the ones that are gonna be able to attract people. And I think organizations that don't are gonna have more of a struggle because that becomes more important as we think about just making conscious choices: how do we wanna spend our days? How do we wanna spend our working lives and what do we want to accomplish?Mike Trusty, VP of Talent and Learning, Fannie MaeWe're Only Human -- Episode 157 Digital transformation isn't a new concept, but it's always interesting to hear how different employers approach the process, the challenge, and most importantly, the people side of the equation. In this episode of We're Only Human, Ben Eubanks interviews Mike Trusty from Fannie Mae about his perspective on the organization's transformation journey and what lessons it holds for other leaders on similar paths. Spoiler alert: Mike's big recommendation: hold off on the flash and focus on the substance. The nuts and bolts. The key fundamentals. Without that foundation, most efforts will not succeed long-term. Want more? Dive into this episode and take notes! Show Notes
Connect with Mike on LinkedIn
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Mar 7, 2023 • 24min
When Training Isn’t the Answer with Delta Dental’s Head of Learning
There's certainly the opportunity cost that comes with assigning someone from your learning team or frankly finding anybody to work on this if it's not gonna fix the problem. There's also the frustration that comes with that. I've experienced that personally and as a leader of learning professionals. It is really frustrating to spend your time and effort doing something that you think is not gonna work.Ben Sieke, Director of Talent Development and Learning, Delta DentalWe're Only Human -- Episode 156When training is the answer to a problem, it can improve performance, satisfaction, and results. When it's not the answer, it just increases frustration, drives down motivation, and increases unnecessary costs. In today's episode of We're Only Human, Ben talks with Ben Sieke from Delta Dental about when issues are training problems and when they aren't. More importantly, Sieke shares insights as a learning executive for how to adapt and respond to the situations in a positive, productive way. If you've ever been told "it's a training problem" and weren't sure that assessment was correct, this episode is for you. Note: This episode is a replay from HR Summer School 2022. HRSS 2023 is now open for registration.Show Notes
Connect with Ben on LinkedIn
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Feb 17, 2023 • 23min
How Coca Cola Europacific Exposes External Candidates to Internal Culture Champions
"So there's a massive amount of insights coming from this. We measure things like net promoter score -- we have an average NPS of around 73, which as we all know is pretty great. And a big one for me is that 41% of people we actually go on to hire actually have used the platform once or more than once. That's a really big figure to show this is actually supporting employees to apply with us and attracting them to us and being successful in getting a role with us."Lisa Brignall, Head of Talent Acquisition GB at Coca Cola Europacific PartnersWe're Only Human -- Episode 155One of the things every company struggles with is sharing a realistic preview of the job with candidates. Job applicants expect recruiters and hiring managers to smooth over the rough edges, and it's tough to have a transparent and honest conversation. But Lisa Brignall and the team at Coca Cola Europacific Partners have found a way to solve for this. They actually give candidates access to employee Insiders that are empowered to talk about the culture, work conditions, and other realities of employment. In this episode of We're Only Human, Ben and Lisa talk about the program, how it's set up, and what results and impact it has already demonstrated in a relatively short time. If your company is hiring and wants to create a more open dialogue with candidates, this episode is for you. Show Notes
Connect with Lisa on LinkedIn
Check out the recruitment marketing episode with Kelby Tansey from Southwest Airlines
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