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Episode 3: Natalie Egan, Translator

Natalie Egan is an openly transgender, B2B software entrepreneur and a recognized thought leader living her life at the intersection of technology and Diversity & Inclusion. Natalie has over 20 years of experience driving digital change, developing high performing teams, building complex products, and selling enterprise solutions.

Today, she is the CEO & Founder of Translator, Inc., where she and her team are on a mission to scale empathy and equality through technology. Prior to founding Translator in 2016––and prior to her transition––Natalie was CEO & Founder of PeopleLinx, a venture capital backed sales technology solution that was acquired in 2015. In addition to her entrepreneurial pursuits, Natalie has also worked in sales leadership positions at large public companies like LinkedIn, Autonomy, and Ecolab.

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Episode 4: Dr. Keith Dunbar, FedLearn

Dr. Dunbar has created award-winning human capital and leadership initiatives and programs that have had a measurable impact on organizational success. His success has been achieved by acting as a trusted advisor to clients in both the public and private sectors to provide a unique set of capabilities in talent development, leadership assessment/alignment, and other areas that can drive successful and impactful human capital and talent acquisition strategies.

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Episode 5: Jessica Willis, pocketnest

Back again, joining Angela for Episode 5 is Jessica Willis. Jessica Willlis, pocketnest CEO and founder, created the fintech to coach millennials to financial wellness. Her white-label financial wellness platform coaches people through all 10 facets of a comprehensive financial plan. In the meantime, it brings financial institutions rich data and insights to identify cross-sell opportunities, and helps employee wellness programs boost recruitment, retention and productivity. pocketnest knows what makes millennials tick, what banking innovation they crave, and the personal finance gaps they have. Together with its enterprise clients, pocketnest is forging its way to bring financial wellness to the masses, not just millennials.

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Episode 6: Rachel Hailey, DEI Outdoors

Rachel is the Founder/Transformationalist at DEI Outdoors, a firm which deals directly with the outdoor industry to foster DEI in organizations. Her main objective is to transform the outdoor industry into a diverse, equitable, inclusive, and accessible space. Rachel is committed to creating an industry where anyone can experience, thrive, and lead in the out of doors no matter their circumstances, and has a focus on underserved and underrepresented communities.

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Episode 7: Cindy Jordan, Pyx Health​

Cindy Jordan is a brilliant and boundless leader. Her eclectic professional experience has aligned her work life with her deep care for the well-being of others, culminating in the launch of Pyx Health in 2018, the first loneliness solution solely focused on helping the most vulnerable.

After witnessing a family member’s mental health crisis, Cindy co-founded Pyx Health with Anne Jordan in 2018. As the CEO, Cindy continues to fuel innovation and growth. Finding a near perfect balance of technology and compassionate human intervention, she leads the company on its mission to effectively address the health crisis of loneliness and social isolation.

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Episode 8: Torin Ellis, Diversity Strategist

Joining Angela for another discussion on Diversity Cafe is Torin Ellis. Torin leads a progressive boutique with a laser like focus on diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging (DEIB) strategy and risk mitigation. He embraces a collaborative approach built on transparency, actionable strategy, and rigorous performance monitoring. Join Torin and Angela as they work through the harsh reality on how companies are not living up to their 2020 commitments to support DE&I and racial injustices, and why so many of them are failing to deliver on those promises.

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Episode 9: Patrick Sheahan, Circa

As CEO, Patrick Sheahan is focused on one thing: positioning Circa as the catalyst for companies to build high-performing diverse teams. To execute this vision, he has pivoted the company from a legacy job board to an innovative sales and marketing led SaaS-based technology company that will provide tools for organizations to radically approach their talent acquisition and compliance management.Circa believes diverse teams have the power to transform business. More than simply a mandate, workforce diversity is a proprietary advantage. Circa provides OFCCP compliance management and recruiting technology solutions to deliver qualified candidates for organizations to build high-performing, diverse teams.

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Episode 10: Cary Sparrow - Greenwich.HR

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Episode 11: Torin Ellis, Diversity Strategist

Great Resignation, Big Quit, Great Reshuffle. Yeah yeah, we know, now what? Now with its own official Wiki page, The Great Resignation continues to wreak havoc on the talent acquisition industry, and COVID continues to be a factor as we near the end of 2022. But what are companies actually doing to counter employee attrition? Joining Angela and Torin Ellis for a third discussion. Torin leads a progressive boutique with a laser like focus on diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging (DEIB) strategy and risk mitigation. He embraces a collaborative approach built on transparency, actionable strategy, and rigorous performance monitoring.

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Priya and Angela will discuss how women can identify and capitalize on growth opportunities in business environments, and how mentorship can help women continuously level up their relationships, both personally and professionally. Priya Srinivasan is Vice President of IBM Expert Labs Customer Excellence and Subscription working across IBM Data and AI, Automation and Sustainability Software products. She leads a WW team responsible for IBM Client Success with IBM Software products. Prior to that she has lead several roles across IBM Data and AI Engineering & Support.

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Episode 13: Shelly Douglas, Senior Director of Corporate Engagement for CHC

Creating Healthier Communities, the largest health/wellness federation in the country dedicated to raising money and capacity through workplace giving and strategic cause initiatives. In her role at CHC she helps bring communities, nonprofits, and businesses together around a shared commitment to better health and wellbeing.

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Hiring Veterans & Military Spouses - Michelle Turner | Hazel Health

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Next Up In HR: The Hiring Freeze

It’s in the news and all over social media; it’s no secret big tech companies are going through a hiring freeze. Outside of Twitter, Meta, and Amazon implementing mass layoffs or a hiring freeze, DoorDash, GameStop, Apple, and various others are following suit.

Attributing it to the impending recession is easy, but other elements can influence the problem.

What’s causing the panic?

Inflation and rising Federal Reserve interest rates are prime factors of the times we’re living in. GameStop took a huge hit after soaring profits in 2021, combining that with the surging inflation of this year, they decided that the best course of action for the company was to implement layoffs and a hiring freeze.

Even though we’re going through economic uncertainty, some companies are ramping down their recruitment efforts for different reasons. DoorDash initiated layoffs because they hired too quickly during the pandemic.

On the other hand, Meta hired too heavily during the same timeframe. 

Twitter is using its hiring freeze and layoffs the old-fashioned way… to reign in excessive operating costs.

Surprisingly, hiring freezes and layoffs are staples in the modern boardroom or workplace. They’re used to:

Avoid bankruptcy

Boost profits

Reduce expenses

Optimize labor costs

Is a hiring freeze beneficial?

Executives and business owners wield these hiring freezes with the intent of improving profits and letting go of dead weight. If the company hasn’t begun laying off employees, a hiring freeze may stave it off or help avoid it altogether.

A freeze in hiring can grant an organization the opportunity to redistribute workload and restructure its team for better efficiency. This company may also be able to cut costs by contracting freelancers to pick up some of the work that’s left behind.

Unfortunately, this isn’t the story everyone gets.

Each employee lost is a loss in productivity, slowing progress in project development and causing profits to plateau. When there’s a deficit in employees, customer satisfaction takes a plunge because workers are inundated with work.

Introducing burnout.

Even though employees are laid off, it doesn’t mean their work went with them. Those tasks still have to be completed. That means extra work will be delegated to other staff members who have their own workloads to manage as well.

Employee burnout can creep in quickly and wreak havoc on productivity and employee morale while boosting absenteeism.

To top it off, a hiring freeze can give employees the impression that no relief is coming. It’s a subtle belief, but it shakes their loyalty and could encourage them to seek other employment opportunities.

Losing staff during a hiring freeze can make the situation go from bad to worse. Once the economy settles, the employees that walked out of the door may be needed again.

When the freeze is over, competition begins.

The market goes up and down all the time, and once it levels out, the talent pool will be brimming with qualified candidates. A competition for the best of them will ensue.

Other than competing, there’s the challenge of recruiting, hiring, and training an employee. The average cost to hire one employee is approximately $4700, not to mention it takes roughly 46.7 hours to train them, plus $986 in training expenses.

You can use candidate sourcing and other HR technology to gain access to more qualified candidates and find a good hire sooner, but they still have to undergo onboarding and training.

Guiding a candidate through the entire hiring process when the position desperately needs to be filled can lead to hasty decision-making.

Instead, be ready before the economic downturn is over to make sound talent sourcing and hiring decisions.

If a hiring freeze is the best option…

A hiring freeze may be unavoidable; if that’s the case, it’s okay. However, not every position should be completely frozen. Determine which jobs are essential and hire meticulously for a better chance of finding a good fit. 

It may also be a good measure to review which roles have been historically difficult for your organization to fill and ensure you have a healthy talent pipeline of engaged candidates for those roles.

Since the primary focus isn’t on recruitment, shift the gaze to retention. Ensure the remaining employees have what they need to excel in their work.

Be transparent with what’s happening, so they’re not in the dark on critical decisions. Be realistic with expectations, so they’re not working toward unattainable goals. Take advantage of employee surveys and stay interviews to gain valuable insight into the company’s workplace.

The takeaway here is to fully support employees and assert job security.

The hiring freeze won’t last forever, and a viable recruiting solution will be a necessity to jump-start the hiring process. Explore how ThisWay & IBM are working together to provide an automated and streamlined solution for when the hiring competition begins!

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Hot Tips For Working From Home

COVID-19 has swept the world, bringing a lot of people home to stay for a while. Some of us are lucky enough to be able to work remotely, and some are doing so for the first time ever. It can be a little tricky, turning your home into an office, maintaining productivity, and staying on top of your usual tasks. 

Our team has put together a list of things you can do to make it easier for yourself, and we want to share it with you. Check out our Beginner’s Guide to Working from Home! 

Prepare your Space – Find a spot in your home where you’ll be able to have enough room for the equipment, including your laptop, cell phone, files and anything else required for your daily workflow.

Take breaks as normal – Sometimes working from home can make you feel like you have to go above and beyond in productivity. It’s okay to take snack breaks, to get up and walk around a little bit, whatever you have to do to maintain your sanity. 

Check-In with your team constantly – whether through Slack, email, or whatever your team is using to stay in touch, you want to make sure you touch base with them regularly throughout the day. But don’t be shocked if you don’t hear back for a bit, hopefully, your teammate is working hard on something and just doesn’t want to break their concentration!

Winding down your workday – Just as if you were physically working in the office, continue your natural habit of winding down your workday. But before signing off, remember to check in with your team to let them know you’re signing off for the evening.

Here are some tech tips to help you utilize the tools you have at home:

1. Using your iPhone to ‘scan‘ documents

In the notes app on your iPhone, open a new note, click the camera button, and from there you can scan documents that will save as PDFs. This is a great way to work around not having a scanner at home! 

2. Alternatives to paid Conference Call platforms other than Zoom

Zoom is likely enjoying the surge of people downloading their software. But that comes with its own downsides, like lag time, difficulty connecting, or even inability to log in. It isn’t Zoom’s fault, but in the event, you need to take your conference call to a different service, here are a few options:

Google Hangouts has conference call capabilities built-in if you have a google account (which, let’s be real you probably do) 

If your company runs on Office 365, Microsoft Teams has the ability to put all your video conferencing needs in one place by combining video chat, powerpoint, and more. Read more about it here. 

3. Basic Conference Call Guidelines and Tips

Be on call 5-10 minutes before if you are the host

Lighting – avoid backlighting, use soft full frontal lighting, preferably natural light

Apparel – keep neutral with the clothing, nothing too bright or distracting but also doesn’t blend in with your background

Settings – prepare your surroundings to ensure a quiet, uninterrupted call (kids, pets, roommates, etc)

Establish Rules of Engagement – ideally in an email beforehand and again at the beginning of the call once everyone has joined

Sound – most conference call softwares come with audio/video testing capabilities, use these to ensure it works when it matters

Background-have a neutral background, no highly distracting or reflective artwork

Trouble shooting – to avoid connectivity issues, plug directly into your internet if possible; log in early to ensure everything is working; close all extra tabs/windows and have any relevant presentation materials pulled up beforehand, ready to share

If possible, you want to avoid all of these conference call faux pas: 

4. Automated Interview scheduling with Calendly

Calendly syncs directly with your work calendar, so people can schedule times with you without needing access to your calendar directly. You can use it to schedule interviews with new prospective hires, or to keep your sales team afloat even remotely. Check out this article to get a great overview of Calendly and how it can help you and your team.

5. Team Communications 

Asynchronous communication is when you send a slack or an email to a coworker, and don’t expect an immediate response. It is beneficial especially in remote work situations, which is where most of the world is right now. It allows people to complete a task without interruption, knowing they can check their inbox and notifications once they’ve reached a good stopping point and won’t lose momentum. 

Sometimes, however, you need an immediate response to a time-sensitive issue. This is when it’s good to have your team’s phone numbers. You can call them and on the spot, get the answer you need. 

Asynchronous communications allow your team to remain focused longer, and not worry about missing out on important information. Everything is still in their inbox, or on slack. There are a lot of benefits to asynchronous communication that you can check out here.