Discover how the 4-day work week was born with Andrew Barnes – innovator, entrepreneur and philanthropist.

Discover how the 4-day work week was born^‍

^{As the accidental architect of the 4-day week, Andrew Barnes details how he unintentionally became the spearhead of this life-changing movement. A simple goal to boost company productivity snowballed into one of the biggest game changers in our modern working world, transforming lives and truly contributing to building a better world of work for all.}

“We’re in a world where we want two things: we want cheaper and we want more. I don’t want cheaper or more, I want BETTER.” – Andrew Barnes

_{Discover how this revolutionary movement came about – and why everyone’s talking about it. Ian Tyler and Andrew Barnes uncover the unparalleled benefits of working less hours, emphasising the importance of being open to this change if you want to attract and retain today’s top talent.}

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For the last three years, Anna has worked on developing and driving the 100% Human at Work initiative with a focus on expanding its global network. Previously, Anna also held a dual role as Head of People at Virgin Unite while working with Virgin Management, to align with the work they are doing on People and Purpose.

_{How do we evolve to attract the next generation?}

‍^{The pandemic, ever-changing tech and the astronomical rise in social media are all big contributors to why our working world has changed so rapidly. Flexible and autonomous working is now our norm, not to mention what the next generation expects from the world of work.}

“There’s a difference between the culture & values you put on the wall, and your employees’ real lived experiences.” – Anna Gowdridge

_{Join Anna Gowdridge and Ian Tyler as they discuss how and why we need to adapt to our always-evolving working world. From open conversations around mental health to achieving a true sense of belonging within your company culture, there’s a whole lot to unpack.}

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Mark is the Modern Work Designer and Evangelist at Atlassian. With over a decade of experience, Mark works with organisations around the world to help unleash their potential and enable modern ways of working.

What is modern work and what happened to the future of work?

‍^{‘The future of work’ was a common pre-COVID workplace concept that saw many companies imagining the future and exploring different ways of working and communicating. Over the last few years, the future of work came crashing into reality and we saw previously “good to have” workplace practices become essential to survival.}

^{“The future of work became the new normal and modern work became the concept that provided the most support for companies wanting to adapt and thrive in this new world of work” – Mark Cruth}

_{Join Mark Cruth and Ian Tyler as they discuss what modern work really is and how it can improve leadership, promote holacracy and enable high performing teams.}

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How do we build diverse company cultures? Hear from Microsoft’s Managing Director for NZ, Vanessa Sorenson on making diverse, equitable and inclusive cultures.

Shifting the dial

From living in caravan parks to leading a multinational corporation, Vanessa’s unique upbringing has driven her passion for organisational change. As she put it, ‘Inclusivity is not about the check box, it is about diversity of thought of everybody’.

Vanessa joins us to discuss how Microsoft New Zealand is walking the talk for DE&I. From installing Maori macrons into their tech to partnering with Tupa Toa to increase Maori and Pacifica representation in the corporate sector, Microsoft is going all in. So, how can your company create an inclusive culture?

“I just see us walking the talk. I’ve never seen and felt such a movement in an organisation before… And I say that it starts with inclusive design. It starts with our teams and Redmond who, for testers, they bring people in with accessibility needs. If we can design and develop products for everybody, then that to me is what inclusivity is.” – Vanessa Sorenson

Leaning in to learn

It’s time to change the way you hire and recruit. The under-representation of women and Indigenous people in the tech industry means companies are missing out on a massive catchment of talent with different ideas and thoughts. It’s time to move beyond putting everybody in the same box and hoping for a different outcome. It’s time to scrap your old business plan – it just isn’t going to cut it anymore.

“I think we have to change our lens around this stuff, but we also have to open doors.” – Vanessa Sorenson

‍Tune into the podcast to find out more about what you can be doing to work with indigenous communities, cultural diversities and minority groups, and how you can start moving the needle on all facets of DE&I.

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It’s time to turn your employees into your biggest advocates with meaningful company culture. Listen to Mark Serunjogi dive into the meaning of creating a purposeful employer brand.

Employer brand is hot.

Employer branding, recruitment marketing, talent brand, whatever you want to call it, it is evolving, and it’s not waiting for anyone.

Different strokes for different folks

Consider your audience. What appeals to some people is not even on the radar for others.

So, how do you gain an understanding of what people want? Talk to your teams at every opportunity – from the classic water cooler conversations to regular surveys or focus groups. Having a variety of data sources and mediums can allow you to gain a broader understanding of your people, talk to them where they are comfortable to best gauge why they love about working for you, and what they would change. Do some research and talk to people outside of your network, you’d be surprised at the lessons learnt and shared. Don’t have time? Give us a shout below and we can give you a leg up.

“Millennials are extremely value-driven people. But companies sometimes address us and approach us as if we’re still kids that don’t really know how this business thing is working, even though we’re actually the ones that are making business work the majority of the time.” – Mark Segunjogi

Who’s talking about you, and what are they saying?

It’s more than colour and movement in the world of employer brand. If you’re not walking the talk, it becomes obvious, very quickly. As much as we hate to admit it, people love to gossip. Social listening can help to gauge an understanding about your position in market, however, refining all touch points of your employer brand to ensure that it resonates throughout the employee life cycle can help to shape your responses.

There are many different channels that potential, current, and past employees can use to leave comments, which can positively or negatively impact the thoughts of other viewers. Prevention is better than cure (if there is such a cure) – create a strategy to identify and manage these channels.

Tune into the podcast to find out more about how you can create an employer brand that will blow your competition out of the water.‍

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This episode is about all things ‘perks’. Find out how award-winners, Sage are doing it so well and more, in this chat with Aoife Fitzmaurice and Ian Tyler.

The hybrid working experiment.

Talent’s Chief Strategy Director, Ian Tyler joins Aoife to discuss the Sage approach to employee perks and benefits. During this time we explore the definition and differences of perks vs benefits and how attitudes and expectations shifted post-pandemic.

In particular, Aoife offers a unique insight into the organisation’s experimental approach to hybrid working models. How do you maintain culture? How do you build trust and gain support at a senior executive level?

“How we are doing it at Sage is we’re looking at how we can redesign jobs to support wellbeing and energy. It’s not just about the elastoplast of solutions ultimately that are the free gym or the free lunch. You need to go deeper than that. It’s systemic and you need to really address the root of the issue.” – Aoife Fitzmaurice‍

The wellbeing factor

Throughout the podcast, Aoife and Ian unpack sustainable productivity. The future of work is here, we’re in it, get with the program. We’ve seen businesses refocus on outcome orientated design due to flexible working. It’s a table stake now, not a perk, and one size doesn’t fit all. Support that balance.‍

“They’re a mum, a dad, then an employee” – Aoife Fitzmaurice

Tune into the podcast to find out more about the perks your team really wants, how you can stay ahead of your competition when attracting new talent and how to navigate the new working world.

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Special guest, Paul Sigaloff, Managing Director & VP ANZ & INSEA at Yahoo!, has over two decades of experience in the media industry across the UK and Australia, working across Channel 4, Fairfax Media, Yahoo 7 and the Verizon Media group.

Remaining curious, valuing feedback.

Navigating employee turnover can be tricky, but is there such a thing as healthy turnover? Paul Sigaloff indicates there is, but first, you need to understand the dynamics of the market. A different set of eyes brings in new energy, ways of thinking, and perspectives. It can be refreshing.

Paul’s teams have lived through significant changes following the acquisition of Verizon Media by the Apollo Group. Our host, Ian Tyler, drills down specifically on that journey and how Paul has helped manage this transition whilst keeping people engaged and motivated.

Paul also shares his perspective on what ‘healthy’ employee turnover looks like and practical advice for ensuring that you can retain your top talent.

“Businesses need diversity of thought and fresh perspectives and when you get low turnover it’s difficult to harvest that…but it’s interesting when you overlay that across different countries and cultures that have different rhythms of work.” – Paul Sigaloff

Remove the stigma

Navigating mental health and burnout can be difficult, but according to the World Health Organisation (WHO), it is estimated at 1 in 5 people face mental health challenges. If that’s not reason enough and you’re more about the numbers, WHO estimated the cost of lost productivity on the globally economy is over US$1 trillion.

It’s time to bring this to the top of your priority list. During the podcast, Paul speaks about how Yahoo! have invested in Beyond Blue’s Mentally Healthy Accreditation, having already put more than a third of the business through the program.

Tune into the podcast to find out more about how you can create a brilliant employee experience, retain and attract top talent, how to handle your team’s mental health, and where the world of retention is going.

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Special guest, Jen Mumford joins us from Zip Co, where she is the Chief of Staff to the CHRO. Recently moving to NYC from Sydney, Jen’s role is now leading the People and Culture teams across the US and Zips new emerging markets. Prior to this, Jen led the core foundational elements of P&C for scale-ups Data Republic and Safety Culture.

Innovation; you either have it or you don’t.

We’re not so sure that’s completely true. Innovation can come from a variety of different avenues, but there’s a bit more to it than that.

Jen takes a no bulls#!t approach in discussing how she hates the word innovation, which makes for a fantastic discussion around the ins and outs of what this really means.‍

Creating a culture of innovation

In the podcast, Jen takes us through her 4 Cs in culture and innovation:

Careers: What does internal mobility look like? How are you creating those opportunities internally?

Care: How are you actually looking after people? How do we move beyond the compensation packages and have a meaningful impact on mental health? Show up and support your people.

Connected pieces: There is a new wave of leadership; we can make decisions effectively if we’re not in the same room, have safety around new ideas failing.

Customers: Be more intentional and deliverable in everything you do in this highly flexible world.

“Often the best ideas come from pain or where you’re in a hard situation and it’s the only way out” – Jennifer Mumford‍

Alright, where to next?

1. Work out who your customers are and start talking to them. If you’re in an internal facing role, here’s a hint: your people are your customers. Make sure you’re speaking to them every week, you’ll be surprised at what you learn from their roadblocks and struggles.

2. Create a wall of pain or wall of ideas. Do a session with your team and ask them what makes them mad, word vomit it out and brainstorm some ideas of how to fix them – then prioritise and get cracking.

3. Speak to people outside of your regular circles or listen to a really good podcast, like this one!

“I would then take that investment in, hire people who have done it before, who are going to then lead the way and set the tone, invest that time in breaking down bad ways of work or dumb things that we do” – Jennifer Mumford

Tune into the podcast to find out more about how you can implement innovative and creative strategies that work, put into action the ‘4 Cs’ and start to move the needle on creating better company culture.

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Let’s dig into Internal Comms.

Internal communications is extremely important to building a great company culture. When you place all your employees on the same page, everyone is aligned and working towards the goal. In turn this helps reduce confusion and inefficiency as well as eliminating gossip.

When working on an internal communications strategy it’s important to really delve into potential problems that may arise and stop the chaos before it begins. Not only should an internal communications strategy keep your team members in the loop about the general updates from the business, it should also help build connections between different divisions of the company. Nobody enjoys feeling out of the loop especially in times of change or crisis, such as the pandemic.

Christie’s philosophy for internal communications is something special.‍

“I think it has a lot to do with what Oprah Winfrey said on the last episode after 25 years on television. She reflected on all the speakers that she met with and they had one thing in common, they had this real sense of wanting to be heard, wanting to be seen, wanting to know that their voice matters.” – Christie O’Toole

‍So, how do we do that?‍

Think, Feel, Do Model

Ask yourself, “how would I feel if I were to receive that?” and as the saying goes, treat people how you want to be treated. This seems straightforward, but knowing and understanding your employees is often no easy task. How do you create a culture with total transparency and clarity?

“We often don’t know what is happening in people’s lives but when we invest in internal comms, we get the opportunity to lighten up the hours that our people spend at work, an opportunity to make our employees feel seen, heard, and valued, help them feel pride in what they are doing. This is important as it flows on to our customers.” – Christie O’Toole

A healthy internal communications strategy is key to an engaged workforce and nurturing a successful company culture. The process needs to begin as soon as new team members enter your door. Ask yourself, “what information do we communicate when on-boarding?”, “do we have an employee communication channel such as Blink or Slack?”. These are small things that you can implement and nail early on to set you up on your path.

Tune into the podcast to find out more about localised communications, cultural diversities, virtual events, different mediums that work, and where the world of communications is going.

‍Any repurposing of these insights must clearly cite Talent. If you have any questions or comments, please email marketing@talentinternational.com