Building Blocks | Edition 8 💌
Stories, reflections, and tools from People leaders to help navigate the new world of work
In this issue…
Building Together – Community events this month 🗣️
Learning Together – AI Research🤖
Builder Kit – Our new Compensation Philosophy Toolkit 🌈
Building Voices – Paola takes the mic 🥳
Resource Hub – Curated resources selected by our ambassadors💻
Hello, People Builders! 👋
It’s one month into my new Community Lead role, and I’m buzzing with excitement to take over this month’s newsletter! For those that haven’t met me yet, I’m Carmen, the new Community Lead for our wonderful People Builders Community!
For this month’s newsletter, we’ve got a LOT of exciting things going on. Firstly, we’ve got a rundown of our upcoming events this month. Then I’ll share some of our latest AI research, which I think you’ll find fascinating, followed by a super valuable and helpful Compensation Philosophy Toolkit, which will become one of your most used resources. For our Building Voices section, our very own People Builders Ambassador Paola is taking the mic, and, last but not least, we have some new resources available to you on our PB hub!
Building Together — Community events 🗣️
This month, don’t miss out on our Remote ERGs with Stephanie Bergman and Clea Arrieta from Bright & Early and an event about Remote Manager well-being with Yen Tan from Kona!
ERGs in Action: Driving DEI in Distributed Work
September 12, 14:30-16:00 UTC
Join us in this collaborative panel session with our expert host Stephanie Bergman from Bright & Early and two other expert panelists to delve deeper into ERGs in remote settings, exploring how to initiate, nurture, and drive impact with these groups, especially when your team is spread across various geographical places.
Remote Manager well-being with Kona, September 20
September 20, 15:30-17:00 UTC
Join us as we navigate the dynamics of supporting the well-being of remote managers
Culture Club Atlanta: Effective 1:1s with LifeLabs Learning
September 21, 6:00pm- 8:00pm EDT
Gather with other Atlanta-area HR and People Ops leaders to learn, share challenges, and exchange tips on creating a space where people can be themselves and do their best work.
AI research from our Insights team 🤖
Our internal Insights team recently delved into AI in the People & Culture industry. Specifically, the team looked into where AI meets the perspectives of People Operations pros, Founders, and other leaders. They investigated the following:
How often do they use AI tools, and which ones they're using
Their knowledge of AI
Their perceived benefits and concerns about AI
Overall attitudes towards AI
Here's what the study found:
80% of the respondents use AI tools in their work, and ChatGPT is the most popular one, suggesting a readiness and openness to embrace AI technologies. They expect AI to be beneficial for knowledge management, training & development, and customer support. However, their main concerns are potential errors and reliability, data privacy and security issues, and AI's likelihood of reinforcing existing biases. We must address these concerns to build trust in order to promote wider adoption of AI.
Builder Kit — Your compensation philosophy workshop guide ️🌈
Next up, I’m excited to introduce our engaging new Miro board workshop designed for your company's unique needs in defining a compensation philosophy. This interactive workshop is your key to unlocking a deeper understanding of your current compensation approach, paving the way for valuable benchmarking insights and tailored recommendations. Think of it as a dynamic coaching session powered by the interactive Miro whiteboard that will expertly steer the way for you and your team.
🔐 Password: PeopleBuilders
Building Voices — Paola takes the mic 🥳
I recently had the wonderful opportunity to interview Paola Tartaglione about creating opportunities for intentional connection within hybrid and remote work contexts. Paola is currently the People & HR Lead at TaxScouts, a fintech startup with offices in London, Spain, and Estonia, where she’s in charge of building all the HR functions across these countries. We are super lucky to have Paola as one of our brilliant People Builders Ambassadors, where she brings her innate passion for working with people, creating positive experiences, and bringing people together both professionally and socially.
I sat down with Paola this week and wanted to understand her challenges with employees’ feelings of connection and belonging in a hybrid and remote global environment.
Our hybrid distributed team setup has undoubtedly been a challenge in ensuring that people stay connected. We encourage office attendance twice a week, but it's flexible, and we don’t monitor it. Our approach empowers managers to create a conducive work environment, embracing trust and flexibility. Another challenge is understanding cross-cultural nuances when you’re working remotely. It's important to know how individuals express themselves and adapt to ensure respectful communication. Sometimes, certain people communicate more directly, and others do so indirectly. It’s important to understand how cultures communicate to create a sense of connection, belonging, and inclusivity. Another challenge is creating intentional ways of connecting employees in all our locations. However, we’re tackling this now through an intentional offsite retreat I’m organizing.
I asked Paola to dive deeper into this offsite retreat and to help me unpack how this is tackling TaxScouts’ challenge with remote connection and inclusivity.
Offsite retreats play a significant role in fostering connection. They create opportunities to understand colleagues personally, beyond work tasks. What does someone like to do after work, what are they passionate about, etc. These retreats help foster a sense of belonging and connection with everyone you work with that transcends your usual Zoom call. While creating this offsite retreat, I learned that a personal touch matters, like tailored activities, branded items, and accommodating diverse needs. We've prioritized inclusivity, considering dietary requirements and avoiding alcohol-centric activities. Flexibility is key—optional activities ensure everyone can participate comfortably.
While Paola was speaking, I noticed two key themes that kept coming up—flexibility and intentionality. Adopt remote and hybrid work to accommodate people’s personal lives, but design an annual offsite to cater to people’s need for connection and belonging. Keep flexibility at the forefront, but be intentional about creating experiences of connection. I wanted to understand further if there were any key themes and learnings that Paola had for other People Leaders potentially in the same boat as her.
Communication is paramount. Engage with your team regularly and empower managers to support their teams effectively. Avoid a one-size-fits-all approach. Instead, offer solutions that cater to individual needs and preferences. Flexibility is essential in a hybrid work environment. Listen to your team, provide avenues for them to share their thoughts, and continuously adapt to create an inclusive and productive workplace. The future of work is about embracing diversity and individual needs. It's an ongoing journey, and I'm excited to see how it unfolds.
Are you (or have you been) in Paola’s shoes? Let us know your experience in the comments, and don’t hesitate to connect with Paola on Linkedin!
Resource Hub💻
Once again, our incredible People Builders Ambassadors are working behind the scenes to ensure that you’re equipped with the latest and most relevant resources. Dive in:
Influencing Podcast – How to get buy-in for your ideas at work
Audience: People Leaders and People Managers
Have you ever had an idea that was shut down at work even though you passionately believed it was a brilliant initiative? Have you ever had the feeling that you just couldn’t get buy-in from the relevant people? This episode shares advice and strategies for how to become more influential at work.
New World of Work Podcast – Influencing the C-Suite with Ivori Johnson
Audience: People Leaders
Discover how you can influence and convince C-suite executives of the value and importance of the People Ops function. Ivori shares her strategies for helping to position the People Ops function as the ‘hero’ of the workplace and effectively communicate its advantages to C-suite executives.
The Essential Guide to Becoming a Great People Leader
Audience: People Leaders
Explore the six things all great People leaders do daily to become great at what they do!
Inclusive communication guide by Pyn
Audience: People Leaders
Your guide to inclusive and equitable workplace communications.
WorkTripp – Team offsites platform that builds connection, culture, and creativity
Our PB Ambassador Paola recommends WorkTripp as a fantastic resource to create offsite work events for intentional connection and belonging!
As we wrap up this edition of Building Blocks, stay tuned for more exciting updates coming your way and explore our previous Building Blocks editions, if you haven't already!
 | A guest post by
|