Employee engagement and experience is a top priority at companies around the world. Employers are competing for top talent and looking for employer brand ambassadors to give them an edge. HR leaders are still navigating the post-pandemic world and trying figure out details like when and where people should work and what the rules of engagement are.
Badia Rebolledo is the Chief People Officer (CPO) at Krispy Kreme Mexico and she is joining a panel discussion, Getting the balance right: remote working and flexibility, during the Employee Engagement and Experience online event, which is free to join. Recently, Rebolledo talked to HR Exchange Network about how to reach employees and improve workplace culture.
HREN: What are the great challenges to making a change in culture? What are some of the pain points that you've been experiencing and overcoming?
BR: One thing I learned a long time ago is that change is really easy. The problem is that it includes people. So, we've been taking baby steps and gaining quick wins for employees to see that we walk the talk. The biggest challenge has been the executive team. You have people from the old school, and you have people who came from other companies who joined more or less at the same time as me, who are a little bit more open to the cultural change. They've been in different companies from different sectors. The people who have been here a while are used to a certain way of working, which has been successful until now.
As one of my teammates was telling me, ‘If you expect to make drastic change with the same conditions and the same people and the same scenario, well you're just plain stupid.’ And it's true. You have to make deep changes to have impact.
We have people in the stores, and we have the people in the offices. It's a big challenge because they have a different profile. Those in the store don't have corporate emails. We have high rotation there. So, how do you keep people involved? Also, it’s a young population. We use social media but I’m not a big fan because of the lack of control.
We have a Facebook group. Obviously, it's controlled, because it's private. We have Instagram and a WhatsApp group. We have a magazine that we share periodically. We've tried different approaches and stayed up-to-date. Some of our Krispy Kremers – that’s what we call them – have become influencers. And they do Tik Tok. So, we're trying to be cool, we're trying to get to them, while controlling that monster that is social media. It can get out of control. And that's when I feel like a mother because I have to go to them and say, ‘I know you had good intentions, but if your message is taken out of context or if it's edited, it can be detrimental to the brand.’ You have to be smart, which is the same thing I tell my daughter. But I have to tell 2,000 of them now.
HREN: What are some of the other ways you're engaging employees to make sure that the experience they have is positive and they become brand ambassadors for you?
BR: Well, we do it from what I call the hire to retire lifespan. You have to make the experience of the candidate a ‘wow’ experience. Because you might interview 10 people and only one will get picked. Those nine other people will become your ambassadors. This includes simple things like returning the phone call, not letting them down. Let’s make sure that we're an inclusive language company. When we interview, we respect and we listen. We follow through.
Then, I call onboarding ‘the first moment of truth.’ They come to this beautiful office, and we make it memorable. What we do, what we say, how we engage them, how we sell the brand to them, and our training in organizational development have become quite memorable. And people fall in love with the brand.
Now we're focusing on those who have been here longer because they felt neglected. We’re calling it ‘falling in love again.’ And that's what we're doing, we're trying to make them fall in love with it again, although they know already.
We have nano competencies. We call them ingredients, which are pretty much values and behaviors. Because we are a dozen donut company, we have 12 ingredients. Every month we focus on one ingredient, and we have webinars, activities, training. They all relate to accountability or making moments of happiness and joy for our clients, not taking yourself too seriously, etc. Unfortunately, culture takes a while, and we've only been doing this for one year. But people do feel the difference. Now, we hope that in the next two to three years, we will be breathing and sweating the culture.
HREN: How would you characterize your philosophy on employee engagement?
BR: I believe in fairness, giving people the same opportunities, the same transparency that I expect when things are not going well for me or the company. I have tact, and I'm not that blunt. But I don't like sugarcoating because I've seen times when people sugarcoat things so much that the other person doesn’t know what they’re trying to say.
You also have to meet people’s needs. One size does not fit all. That’s why I’m a huge believer in flex benefits. If you’re a single guy, why would you want maternity coverage? I can take the amount that it costs the company to pay for that maternity coverage, and I say to you, ‘Hey, I have $200 that you're not going to use, how would you like to use it instead? Would you like pet insurance?’
In another company, many of the workers were young and lived near the office. They were eco friendly. They would come to work on a scooter or bike. In Mexico, you often give employees a car, which costs a lot of money. The last time I offered it to one of them, he was not happy and said, ‘I don't have anywhere to park it. I don't have a garage. That means I have to pay to park it.’ Something that should have been happy news turned out to be a disaster. So, I changed it completely. I gave them $800 per month in Uber cards to meet their needs.
If you want people engaged, meet their needs. Or at least give them options. Another thing you have to focus on is having good, empathetic leaders. That's why they say that people don't leave bad companies, they leave bad leaders. And that's true.
Also, salary is not at the top when you talk to people during exit interviews. It’s about development, leadership, and leaving a legacy.
Don’t miss Rebolledo’s session and the others at the Employee Engagement and Experience online event. Register for free here.