Pep Talks: The People Experience Podcast

An open conversation about compensation structures and philosophies

Our guest, Erin McCann, has been a part of multiple fast growing startups where she's helped People Ops start from scratch and shaped processes. Over the course of our episode, you'll learn about her windy-road journey into People Ops and everything that growing organizations should be considering when it comes to setting up compensation structures and strategies at their orgs. Not a decision maker? Currently employed folks and candidates searching for roles alike have an opportunity to learn about all the different facets of compensation packages and even questions that you might consider asking potential or current employers. Who knows, maybe you'll walk away with a fresh perspective on what motivates you to show up every day to work!

Want to be a CPO when you grow up?

In this episode, Billy Moyer, Human Capital Thought Leader, joins us to talk about the when, why, and how on developing the role of Chief People Officer at organizations. We'll talk about his work partnering with CEOs and C-level executives on developing organizational culture and when is the sweet spot to bring in a People Leader.  Along with diving deeper into Billy's work, you'll learn more how to identify:  * Who should be responsible for focusing on People from Day 1 of a business * Why you need someone focused on understanding People from the inception of your business  * When to hire a People Leader (hint, it's probably sooner than you think)  * What options companies have for inserting someone into a People Strategy role (there are a variety of options!)

The evolving employee-value proposition: being an activist for your people and empowering working-parents

"Take your judgment out of your policies." says our guest, Lorraine Vargas Townsend, People and Culture Executive and Chief People Officer at ESO. In this week's episode, our conversation starts with discussing how organizations should be supporting working-parents and over our time together progresses into discussing the changing employee-value proposition, what it means to truly listen to your people, how "HR" has progressed over time, how employees can become empowered, AND more.  This is a must-listen episode with takeaways that are extremely thought provoking, whether you are an IC facing challenges in your own worklife, a manager trying to navigate transforming people experience, or perhaps an entrepreneur thinking about what we need next in "people tech". More about our guest: Lorraine Vargas Townsend has been featured in Fast Company, The Wall Street Journal, and has been a key note speaker at  Women in Tech Festival, Silicon Valley Organization, Siemens Digital Summit, Sharp Heels Conference for Women in Business, and more. Because of her progressive HR practices, she has been recognized as a Female Health IT Leader to Know, and in 2019 was named one of the Leading Latinas by Hispanic Executive Magazine.

The Concept of "Work from Here": Making hybrid work environments work for everyone

Pivot. Experiment. Try something new.  Get comfortable with the uncomfortable.  This is something that our guest, Tushar Pandit, knows quite well.  Tushar is a People Experience and HR Leader with over 20 years of experience across a variety of industries. He is the former CPO of Affinitiv and helped lead the organization as they navigated the rapidly changing work environment and the COVID pandemic.  The team worked tirelessly to put employee health and safety first and that was the driving force in all decisions that they made.  In our conversation, you'll learn how Affiinitiv positioned their remote-first work policy and how they continued to adapt that policy into their new hybrid work policy that they call "Work from Here". By the end of this episode, you should expect to walk away with ideas to truly prioritize your people and adapt to remote and hybrid work environments.

Out with the old, in with the new: A better way to recruit

"The old normal is dead. It's not coming back. Stop trying to get it back." - Trav Walkowski In this week's episode, People Ops leader Trav joins us for a reality check. Candidates and employees have taken back their power. They no longer will stand to be overworked or under appreciated and won't work under poor conditions. They want flexibility and healthy work environments and they're willing to go out an find it. In our episode, you'll hear Trav's take on what's going on in the talent world, how he has worked with his recruiters to completely revamp their candidate recruiting experience, and his outlook on the relationship between candidates/employees and companies.