We have yet to see how COVID-19 will change the workplace but, historically, work/life balance has been hard to come by. Especially for parents. In this episode of Leading with Health, Deborah Hankin, Chief People Officer at W2O, joins me to discuss their innovative and supportive approaches to working parents.
Deborah has worked in all areas of human resources, with a deep focus on talent acquisition, talent development, employee engagement and employer branding. She uses her extensive experience to build compelling employment brands and create inspiring company cultures.
Highlights include:
7:36 – DH: “We want to make sure that these people who are really skillful stay because we can’t easily replace them. They are special.”
8:53 – DH: “We are trying to be holistic about parental leave. And ‘Your Fourth Trimester’ is a program that is designed around the employee. It’s tied to the issues and challenges that each individual faces. This way the employee is supported as needed and can return to their work feeling more confident.”
10:00 – DH: “Today’s working fathers are the first generation offered and taking advantage of a parental leave policy.”
11:55 – DH: “We found that we had more and more people go on leave so we wanted to do something that was really going to make it valuable for them to come back.”
12:40 – DH: “The Fourth Trimester program has upped our retention significantly.”
13:16 – DH: “If you’re a new mother and you’re trying to figure out how to pump and travel, one of the unique things that we offer free is Milk Stork. It’s a service so you can pump and they will make sure that your breast milk makes it back to your home.”
14:25 – DH: “When you feel better, you do better work.”
16:10 – DH: “The way our Preemie Policy works is, when you have a baby before 36 weeks, for up to another 8 weeks, we will have you on paid leave for the amount of time that your baby was early. We tack that on to the end so you can have that experience of being home with your baby.”
19:03 – DH: “Before someone goes out on leave, we do an intake with an individual coach and help with transition support to prepare the employee and their team.”
19:47 – DH: “It’s almost more akin to a new hire onboarding than a return to work due to the extensive parental leave policy. Because when you’re gone for a few months a lot changes.”
21:07 – DH: “We know it lowers the attrition of new parents, which can be debilitating to a team.”
21:15 – DH: “We have seen so much less turnover because people do feel they can come back to their job and be successful.”
23:10 – DH: “We wanted to make sure that we have a suite of programs that supported people from the moment that they came here as an employee to the moment they become an alumni. And that that end-to-end experience is as wonderful as our client experience.”
28:10 – DH: “There’s a thing we call Golden Time. So you mark your calendar Golden Time, say from 5:00 pm to 6:00 pm, and then you’re off duty. And it means that, unless it’s an emergency, then people at work should not contact you … People know they can get you after, but they know that you’re trying to tuck in your child or give them dinner or whatever the case may be. It’s making time for the things that are important to you and have your team support you in that.”
Leading with Health is hosted by Jennifer Michelle. Jennifer has a Master’s in Public Health and Epidemiology and is a certified EMT. As President of Michelle Marketing Strategies, Jennifer specializes in healthcare marketing. She is on a mission to help women find their voice so they can create a stronger, more responsive healthcare system.