In this episode of All Things Work, special guest host Mike Frost is joined by Brian Reaves, UKG’s Chief Belonging, Equity & Impact Officer, to discuss UKG’s participation in Great Place to Work's Great Transformation and the workforce management company’s organizational goal of transformative change in the areas of productivity, agility and innovation by leveraging the potential of identity-based (e.g. BIPOC, LGBTQ, Latino, etc.) employee resource groups (ERGs) to achieve better business outcomes by enhancing employees’ sense of belonging, solving for common challenges of ERGs, and HR’s role in creating cultures of equity at organizations.
Meaningful change at organizations is often hindered by employees’ natural inclination to keep doing things the way they’ve always done them. Now, a new three-year research initiative from Great Place to Work entitled The Great Transformation is measuring meaningfully transformative change at eleven organizations following from the launch of new inclusion, diversity and equity initiatives.
In this episode of All Things Work, guest host Mike Frost is joined by Brian Reaves, UKG’s Chief Belonging, Equity & Impact Officer. They discuss how The Great Transformation is helping UKG achieve improvements in areas such as productivity, agility and innovation. Employee resource groups (ERGs) also are playing an important role in UKG’s transformation initiative, and
recent study by Great Place to Work likewise finds ERGs are critical in creating a sense of belonging, safety and pride: Reaves describes the contributions ERGs have made at UKG and what it takes to keep them moving forward.
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This episode of All Things Work is sponsored by UKG.
Speaker 3:
This episode is sponsored by UKG. UKG offers HR, payroll, and workforce management solutions that support your employees and make your fairytale workplace a reality.
Mike Frost:
Welcome to All Things Work, a podcast from SHRM, the Society for Human Resource Management. I'm Mike Frost, manager of SHRM's webcast and podcast, sitting in for Tony Lee on this episode. Thanks for joining us.
All Things Work is an audio adventure, where we talk with thought leaders and tastemakers to bring you an insider's perspective on all things work. Today we'll be talking about workplace transformation, how to unlock employee's full potential and improve organizational productivity, agility, and resilience.
Doing that means change, and we all know change isn't easy when everyone has a natural inclination to want to keep doing things the way they have been. Now, a new initiative from Great Place to Work called the Great Transformation, looks at how leading companies handle change, the challenges they face and the steps they take to create more innovative and equitable workplaces. As part of the Great Transformation, leaders from 11 organizations are participating in targeted experiments aimed at unlocking the full potential of all employees and improving organizational performance.
One of those organizations is UKG, the HR and Workforce Management Solutions Company. In today's program, we're going to learn more about UKG's Great Transformation from Brian K. Reaves. Brian is UKG's Chief Belonging, Diversity and Equity Officer. His role is to strengthen a culture build on trust, fairness, and equality so every UKG employee can thrive in every stage of their career. Before coming to UKG, Brian led inclusion and diversity initiatives at Dell Technologies and SAP. And before that, Brian was one of those tech guys holding senior executive software development and management positions across industries and in tech sectors such as cloud computing, finance, healthcare, supply chain, utilities, and telecommunications.
Brian, welcome to All Things Work.
Brian Reaves:
Wow, pleasure to be here, Mike. Thanks for having me.
Mike Frost:
Great. First, let's talk about the Great Transformation initiative. Can you talk about what kind of companies are involved and what is transformation in this context?
Brian Reaves:
Great question, Mike. Well, it's an interesting initiative in that we have CEOs, we have CHROs, we have chief diversity officers from iconic companies like Accenture, Kate and Cisco, DHL Express, Dow, Encore, Hilton, KPMG, Synchrony, Worldwide Technology, and of course UKG. And what we're doing together is we committed to a three-year research study to transform our businesses by accelerating progress on diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging. So we're re-imagining those topics in a very innovative way. And the primary goal of the Great Transformation is to unlock the full potential of all of our employees and improve organizational productivity, agility, resilience, and innovation for all.
Mike Frost:
Well, as you noted, your company is one of those participating in this initiative. Can you talk about what transformation has meant at UKG and what kind of outcomes you're seeing?
Brian Reaves:
Yeah, no, by design, the Great Transformation, we call them pilot initiatives, they're bold and we thought about tackling a wide range of longstanding challenges around topics like creating equitable advancement for all employees, realizing the full potential of employee resource groups or business resource groups or whatever companies might name them, increasing employee advocacy for diversity, equity, inclusion, belonging work, and activating leaders at every level as champions, which is required. And quite honestly, trying to solve the chronic overextension facing diversity, equity, inclusion, belonging teams and initiatives. So within the UKG of all the topics that we thought about for our pilot initiative, we wanted to lean in heavy on the power of employer resource groups as we believe that employer resource groups and their members should be seen as strategic assets within a company at all times. Meaning that your ERG members have established themselves as some of the most engaged team members within the company, so they should be leveraged for more than just community engagement, which is typically what companies have done.
So what we are done with our particular experiment is we are positioning our ERGs for greater business impact to be able to impact innovation, to impact professional development and impact the corporate brand as well as the intersectional communities they serve. And in our pilot, we're bringing together, so think about this, this is pretty amazing, all of the great top ERG members from all of those companies that I spoke about earlier that are within the cohort. And not only will they build connections and develop and discuss internal diversity goals, but we've had our CEOs in the cohort establish a business challenge of which all of the companies will commit to leveraging our ERGs to address them. So we're early on. We actually have this convening, if you would, be in May, and we're super excited to have several hundred ERG members from all intersections of a company come together with that thought in mind to help us all solve a significant business challenge.
Mike Frost:
Before we get too deep into the conversation about ERGs, can you help define for us what those are? Employee resource groups, correct?
Brian Reaves:
Employee resource groups. Some companies call them business resource groups, others use affinity groups. But at the core, there are groups of employees and typically they come together around something that they have an affinity towards. So typically, there'll be a group around gender, there'll be a group around ethnicity, and specifically it could, in the US, Black African-American, Hispanic, Latino people from the Asian diaspora. You'll find people around identity. Ours is called pride, but people across LGBTQ+ identities, veterans are. You'll find things around self-care. So they really are affinity groups for employees. But the key, once again, is to not create employee resource groups in silos, but recognize that no one person is one thing and create these groups where they can learn from one another and their allies to each other.
Mike Frost:
And these are chartered by the company or these more spontaneous groups of people who get together?
Brian Reaves:
It's very interesting. In a lot of companies, it started as a grassroots effort, but you'll find in the vast majority of significant companies, they're chartered by the company, they're supported and funded by the company. And again, for that next great move, they go far beyond just community engagement. They are leveraged by the company as the most engaged employees to drive innovation, to drive employee engagement, to drive retention, to drive recruiting. A lot of the core things that happen within a company, ERGs are leveraged to make successful.
Mike Frost:
So you are talking then about seeing how all these companies are handling ERGs in their organization, and I'd be interested to know what you're seeing. How similar or dissimilar are the efforts over multiple companies and what kind of transformations are ERGs helping to achieve?
Brian Reaves:
Yeah, I think, quite honestly, Mike, the similarity is where we need the chain. The similarity is the vast majority of companies leverage their ERGs only within communities. They're seen as places where an employee or a team member can go and find commonness and sameness. And to me, there was always... In my work, even going back as an engineering leader at SAP, when I helped develop the black employee network, one of their first ERGs focused on people from the African diaspora. I thought that by doing that as ERGs, there was actually not inclusion, there was exclusion because everyone was going to areas that they felt most comfortable as opposed to where I thought the power would come is when the ERGs, because no person is one thing, could work together intersectionally and lean into difference.
So that's where we're going with this initiative is we all have the will to elevate ERGs and see all ERG members as being very strategic to our business and driving employee engagement and retention, those things, and are great benefit to the top and bottom line of our companies, and that's where we're going with it. Again, they can impact innovation, talent acquisition, employee development, other areas that are core to a business's success. And we think that that becomes the new standard. And we hope that once we publish our research and the best practices for how that can be done, we hope that every company will consume our work and elevate their employer resource groups or similar to do the same.
Mike Frost:
Well, certainly one issue I've heard about with ERGs is you have this enthusiasm when they're established within the organization. You've got leaders and employees all coming together with lots of ideas and high hopes. And then, as the work of the ERG progresses, there's a drop-off. Meetings become in frequent, members come and go. Sometimes meetings don't even take place. What are you seeing that organizations can do to keep ERGs productive and effective for the long haul?
Brian Reaves:
And that's the opportunity to go just beyond community impact because everything that you said, Mike, is absolutely dead on. When an ERG falls into, "Hey, it's February and it's Black History Month, this is what I do, and then I go away." If a company empowers ERGs to really be strategic assets, as I said before, within their company, then the ERGs, if you're a strategic asset and you are a member of something that you know where you're able to put your fingerprint on the next great chapter of the company, then you're not going to drop out of that. You will continually be engaged and business will continually come to you for other opportunities like professional development or innovation. So that is the opportunity. I fully agree with your assessment of the traditional ERG and what might happen. But again, if companies position ERGs, they will inspire not only the existing members, but other people who would not normally join an ERG to join an ERG with the expectation that they have an opportunity to impact a business in a very positive manner.
Mike Frost:
Let's get back to the idea of the Great Transformation initiative, although this relates to the establishment and the ongoing use of ERGs as well. From what you're describing, it sounds like some companies are adopting almost a startup mentality to these initiatives, and I'm thinking that must be a challenge for an established enterprise that's been around for a year. You have to fight that inclination to keep doing things the way we're doing things. How can companies get the buy-in needed to engage in a successful transformation, whether that's the establishment of an ERG or something else?
Brian Reaves:
Well, that's where the Great Place to Work did a great job of pulling together. They were very prescriptive and intentional about the initial cohorts that they brought together because I'd say, amongst our 11 companies, one thing that's in common is all of our companies at the enterprise level are agile, and we have a mindset focused on innovation and disrupting ourselves. That's why a lot of the names that I said earlier are seen as iconic companies because they've been able to transform over time. So number one, you're absolutely right. That has to be the mindset. And then, when you bring together CEOs, CHROs, and CDOs, so we've intentionally brought in several different cohorts, all of these cohorts are the folks that actually drive success within these companies, we believe that respectively across all of our teams with these senior leaders, that we can lean into each other and learn from one another, which is great.
And you're correct. The word transformation is important for people to hear and understand. It's not a simple tactical initiative. Our goal is to strategically transform our companies in a manner that makes all of our companies employers of choice for all. So yes, it's a mindset. This transformation's going to push companies, it's going to make you think, like you said, as a startup, but our belief is that great companies have to think that way in every other business, a part of their business of import anyway, so they'll naturally lean into transformation in this area.
Mike Frost:
And we are SHRM and so many of our listeners to this podcast are in HR. Can you talk a little bit about the role that HR plays in this kind of transformation?
Brian Reaves:
Yeah. I mean, it's the core role. Given HR roles are the primary... They're the organization focused on the recruitment, onboarding, development, upper mobility of a company's employees, their most strategic asset. So HR has to play a critical role and be a critical stakeholder in any business transformation. So as part of the Great Transformation, we're looking at all of our people processes and associated strategies and tactics that exist today, but then we have to look, Mike, through the lens of what we call an ecosystem of equity. That's what we call it at UKG. It's the equity of representation, equity of opportunity, equity of compensation and equity of wellbeing. And that's for all. There's no one who doesn't want to have at least equity or at least be equitable within a company across those areas. And HR will play a critical role and be a critical stakeholder in driving that for all mentality within a company.
Mike Frost:
So I imagine transformation is one of those terms that means different things to different people and to different organizations. Certainly, everybody recognizes we're in a fast moving business environment now. So many companies are still trying to find their footing and their staffing strategies in the post-COVID era. You're dealing with turnover, you're trying to fill skills gaps, and now along comes AI and other technologies. That's changing the nature of work itself. Can you talk about how business transformation itself has changed in the past few years and the approach companies are taking?
Brian Reaves:
Yeah, it is a challenging environment. And I think most successful companies, ones that have had success today, especially companies in competitive environments, realize that business transformation must be the core to how they operate. As I said, we must disrupt ourselves before we are disrupted by any type of market conditions. But of course, most companies were presented with a unique challenge due to COVID, this existential crisis that happened. And those companies who had culture, I believe that were based on enterprise and growth mindsets, meaning regardless of what came, we will be malleable and move in the direction we need to. We're probably more successful than others in responding to the challenges and opportunities brought on specifically by COVID.
And as you state, I believe AI, especially generative AI and other associated technologies are tremendously disruptive. And companies must lean in and analyze how such talent technologies can be leveraged for great success. It's not only about the machines, it's about elevating, again, your greatest asset to be able to work in concert with technology to move the business forward. So net, net for me is companies must realize that there's a great opportunity in business transformation. It needs to be seen as almost a norm. You have to almost anticipate it wherever, regardless of where it comes from. And it's not just something that you have to react to. That is not the best position to be in when there's an existential event that happens.
Mike Frost:
So getting back to this role of HR and this role of culture, what does HR do to help companies reinvent their cultures and to get employees to buy into change and not go to that natural inclination to resist?
Brian Reaves:
And Mike, that said, I mean, companies, again, for all companies as we call them, I've already realized that it's the most important asset are its employees and team members, and they have to be at the root of the transformation. If you look at the way companies are structured, from leadership, there's a few of us, but the vast majority of team members are in individual contributor roles. And if you don't identify and have them and articulate the key roles that each employee and each team member can play and the evolution of the culture of a company, which is a core of a transformation, then you won't be successful.
I think sometimes when that question is asked, it's inferred that someone other than the employees will have the greatest impact in the formation and evolution of a company's culture. And I absolutely believe that it's the opposite. The employees themselves are the ones that actually form and drive a company's long-term successful culture. And that's one of the key thesis, getting back to the Great Transformation, our goal is to unlock that full potential of all employees, and again, improve organizational productivity, agility, resilience, and innovation. And if we're successful, I think the culture of a company will evolve to support that goal and that'll become the new norm. And employees will stay. They'll be highly engaged, highly retained, because they know that the company is moving in a direction that they want it to move.
Mike Frost:
So thinking then about this question of the talent, and it's interesting that you're talking about how current staffing fits in, but I imagine a lot of organizations, when they think about transformation, reinvention, they do think about bringing in new hires. Do you find that that's a common element of a transformation, re-staffing? Or do companies more emphasize training skills, acquisitions and new roles for their existing staff?
Brian Reaves:
Well, I think the answer is both, but the first step a company should take during transformation is really assess the key drivers for success. Where do they want to go given the competitive environment in front of them? And then they need to step back and assess the type of talent needed to achieve that success. And more often than not in great companies, you're going to find that you both need to bring in new talent that has skills and capabilities that are aligned with that success criteria as well as make investments in existing employees and team members to augment or enhance their skills.
There's old saying it would be crazy to throw out the baby with the bathwater. And it's absolutely true, metaphorically here, where companies know and understand that their existing employees are the very people who position them for current success. And the vast majority are willing to evolve in the areas needed to continue leading the next great chapter of that company. Whereas the new skillset might bring some very relevant augmented skills that will help the acceleration. So I think a company needs to continually invest in new, but certainly invest in its existing team members as it looks to continue to be competitive in an evolving business landscape.
Mike Frost:
I imagine one of the challenges is when you're looking at this question of organizational development, how you effectively achieve that while you're still dealing with current business demands. Things can't stop while everybody is taking on new roles and gathering new skills. Everything needs to keep going.
Brian Reaves:
Absolutely. And when you're thinking about the audience mostly listening in, that is the challenge of, I think, HR professionals, to help the core of the company walking through gum at the same time. Quite honestly, I think a number of HR organizations think of their role as very tactical at times, or they're forced to think that way. I would encourage CEOs of the company to really think of the human resources organization as a strategic organization that could look forward to the future of work. We talk about all these things with the word future of them that have to do with people. And I would think that HR would be positioned very well to be leveraged strategically, to be able to say, "Okay, where do we need to be? So let's make a strategic plan on that. Where are we today, and how are we going to get people on that arc towards success?" So it's not easy, but nothing is easy in business. And again, if a company wants to be great, they have to be agile and have an enterprise and growth mindset, or they won't be around very long, in my opinion.
Mike Frost:
And getting back to the business case for inclusion, equity and diversity initiatives, it's clear, it's important, but can you talk about how companies in this initiative are shaping their approach to thinking about DE&I.
Brian Reaves:
I believe at the core of it, and I know we're deep in these conversations, is diversity, equity, inclusion, belonging, there are great companies, McKinsey of the world, that will show the correlative and leading the causative impact of companies that lean into it, which makes a lot of sense. I mean, greater innovation, greater employee engagement, greater retention, all of those things into our benefit to the top and bottom line.
I think the opportunity for the Great Transformation is for all. There's been only a subset of team members and employees who have been allowed to participate in the greatness of a company. And the common theme of the Great Transformation is to really unlock the potential for all employees. What is a for all leader? These are things that UKG that we lean into heavy. How do you measure for all leadership? And then how do you, to the degree that you know where there's an opportunity for someone to grow and build muscle in, how do you then prescriptively build that muscle? Because if you aren't a for all leader, it's impossible to be a for all company. And we believe that's the next bar. It's not just an inclusive leader. The next one is a for all leader. Does everyone in your team feel as though they can thrive within your organization?
Mike Frost:
Well, Brian Reaves from UKG, thank you for your insights on the transformation. Good luck with it and thanks for being with us today.
Brian Reaves:
I appreciate you. And check in on us. This is a great journey. Appreciate you.
Mike Frost:
And that's going to do it for this episode of All Things Work. Before we close, we want to encourage you to follow All Things Work wherever you listen to your podcast. Also, listener reviews have a real impact on podcast visibility. So if you've enjoyed this episode, please take a moment to leave a review and help others find the show. You can find all of our episodes on our website at shrm.org/podcast. Thanks for listening and we'll catch you next time on All Things Work.
Speaker 3:
Every leader wants their employees to live and work happily ever after. Thankfully, you don't need a magic wand or a fairy godmother to make that dream come true. HR, payroll and workforce management solutions from UKG give you the tools you need to support and celebrate all of your people. Now you can make your fairytale workplace a reality with UKG.