Office Libations Unwrapped: The Art of Rebuilding Office Culture

Jean Bays, Chief People Officer at Neat, shares the importance of a positive candidate experience when building a positive and inclusive work environment. She also dives into the challenges of international work teams, the evolution of workplace dynamics, and the potential Neat’s video conferencing software provides for future teams. Neat designs simple video devices to make virtual meetings feel more real for a better hybrid working and learning environment.---------Time stamps:00:23 - Quick hits04:10 - About Neat06:28 - Jean’s role10:00 - Onboarding and retention15:18 - Understanding your employees25:15 - Respecting cultural differences42:29 - Where to find Jean---------Links:Find Jean on LinkedInFind Claude on LinkedInMore about Office Libations

Orla and Claude discuss the benefits of in-office work, and how Sigma Computing creates a stimulating, inclusive workplace culture. Orla also shares Sigma’s data-driven approach to internal feedback and decision making. She emphasizes the value of a supportive office culture to promote high quality work.Sigma Computing redefines business intelligence by enabling instant, in-depth data analysis on billions of records through an intuitive spreadsheet interface. Its write-back capability and comprehensive support system accelerate organizational growth and innovation.

Juan Betancourt, CEO of Humantelligence, emphasizes the importance of understanding the behaviors, motivators, and work styles of employees to improve team dynamics and performance. Juan and Claude also discuss recruitment trends, better fit-based hiring practices, and psychometric insights. Humantelligence provides personalized insights in everyday communication tools to help people connect, communicate, and collaborate more effectively. Humanatelligence was named Best in Class HR Tech for Culture & Collaboration.Key Quotes:"When it comes to sourcing better candidates, I think HR managers need to look at the data of their current candidates, not impairment surveys of who's happy or not, but performance data, most. Companies that are over a thousand employees do know who their high, mid and low performers are. And they have the answer right there. Give a psychometric tool because the answer is not where they go to school because all those, the a hundred people they have in that role with a third doing great, a third doing mid, okay. And a third doing horrible. They went through the great  practices that that company has vetted for years on how to hire great. And then they still fail every year. The answer is in, Why don't you look at the behaviors, motivators, and work styles of the high, mid, and low, compare those, and there are tools out there that do that, and you will have, out of like 25 characteristics, the three or four things that will explain performance for individuals, in that role."—"Where most startups fail is that the CEO is still in the interview process and trying to hire more people like themselves. And many of them on the exit interview for the 999 of 1000 CEOs, Why do you think you failed? They mistakenly say, because we kept growing and we weren't able to maintain the same culture. No, the problem is actually kept the same culture, which was not applicable to the problems and challenges and organizational structure you need when you go. But it's very hard for 10 people who've gotten from zero to 1 million to interview five people and say, Hey, who do we like the most? Well, let's hire the one we like the least. They can do the job. They all have the right skills and resume. Let's all hire the one none of us got along with because we need a different way of thinking. This is a challenge that leads to the failure of all or most startups because they're still hiring for more of the same. Through who they like and subjectivity and not data like ours, it shows them that they're only hiring more of the same."—- "I think the world would be a better place if everybody had a psychometric that's on the back of the resume. The resume is the worst tool for this whole job matching between supply and demand. Every resume, LinkedIn, everywhere, every job board, people should carry around a resume with their psychometric on the other side. It's the duality of a human being."---------Time stamps:00:25 - Quick Hits03:33 - Juan’s background04:52 - Humantelligence’s beginning08:34 - Fixing old problems12:04 - Advice for HR managers20:04 - Ensuring retention28:36 - Creating good managers39:52 - The alternative to surveys48:02 - Where to find Juan---------Links:Find Juan on LinkedInFind Claude on LinkedInMore about Office Libations 

Gwenevere Crary, VP of Global People Operations at LILT,  describes the importance of transparency, especially when it comes to employee and hiring expectations. Gwenevere also advocates for using surveys to understand your employees' experiences, and using the findings to improve your workplace. ---------Key Quotes:“It's about setting proper expectations, clear expectations. And then helping people meet them. And, you know, making sure that you raise the bar, but you don't raise it so high that it's unachievable, right? Like, you know, you're not gonna run to the moon. You can't do that, right? But maybe you can run to the next city or the next state.”“setting the right expectations, communication, and then it's about accountability in regards to How are they doing? Checking in, where are they at? Did they fall down? Do you have, do you need to help pick them back up?”“There's also going to be this need to help people understand. We asked you to do this. But now we've readjusted and maybe we still want you to do that, but it's not as high a priority…So constantly engaging with them and then just asking questions, asking to see if they have the understanding. You've given them all this information. Do they understand what you have shared with them? And if not, then have a clarifying conversation and continually asking questions to just make sure.”“The WHY is so powerful. If the person understands WHY, you have just empowered them to take it to the next level, which you may not even realize. That's what that next level is, because you're not ingrained in the role like they are, but they have the WHY, so they understand. And so when they're doing their day to day, they might make this maybe a simple decision or change. And yet, it'll have this profound impact on the team and or the company because of it.”“Going back to transparency. When you do an engagement survey, share the results, even if they are like in the dumpster, crappy, like you're so ashamed, you're like, I can't believe this is where our culture is or where our employee population is. That is their experience. Right? That is what they're experiencing and it is so healthy to acknowledge that. Say,Here are the things that we're going to take action on to make improvements and then follow up.”---------Time stamps:00:28 - Quick Hits03:16 - All about LILT05:18 - Gwenevere’s role07:14 - High-performance tips17:10 - Interviewing strategies25:46 - All about Guide to HR30:35 - Managing with limited resources40:21 - Use surveys well43:57 - Find the right management structure49:57 - Where to find Gwenevere---------Links:Find Gwenevere on LinkedInFind Claude on LinkedInMore about Office Libations

Marisa Pozas, Micro Kitchen Operations Manager  at Zoox, describes the unique ways her food team creates an extraordinary experience for in-office employees at Zoox. She and Claude explore how food acts as a central hub for social interaction, and the office kitchen’s vital role in bringing people together while enhancing workplace culture.Zoox is reinventing personal transportation by transforming mobility-as-a-service. They’re developing a fully autonomous, purpose-built fleet designed for AI to drive and humans to enjoy.---------Key Quotes:“The good thing about our food team is we all come from very diverse backgrounds, whether we've worked in tech or restaurants or Michelin star restaurants, we try to create an experience with all of our past experiences and put 'em together and bring it to life for the employees.  I think the thing that's important is every company has a different culture.”“I think food just brings people together. If you think about food, like when you're entertaining at home, everybody always migrates to the kitchen, right? Same thing here at work. I think food is important.  Obviously it's to nourish yourself, but it's also a good place to be. I think a lot of our employees here love to go down at lunch and collaborate and tell stories around our tables.”“We like our people in house. We like them to come in. We like them to collaborate and we like them to be here. So we try to offer as many perks for them. So they want to come into work and it's exciting for them.”---------Time stamps:00:24 - Quick Hits03:07 - Marisa’s role06:52 - Building culture with food10:40 - Diversifying spend13:01 - Building the right perks19:42 - Leaning into new things28:07 - Where to find Marisa---------Links:Find Marisa on LinkedInFind Claude on LinkedInMore about Office LibationsSubscribe on Apple PodcastsSubscribe on Spotify

Finding new employees can be a lot of work. Today Claude interviews Freddie Kim, Founder and CEO of MilSpec Talent, a recruiting firm that connects business owners to leaders with military training and industry expertise who have a proven track record of mission success. Freddie describes how to hire the right people for your team. He’ll also uncover the strategies and principles needed to not only build a thriving team, but how to align individual strengths with organizational goals. Key Quotes:“Many of us believe in our guts, a lot of entrepreneurs, a lot of leaders, they trust their gut. And I think that's like the crux of screwing up hiring by just trusting your gut, right? Not having the left and right limits, not having a systematic or systematized structure and having a structured hiring process.”“I want to build a team. I don't want to be doing everything. And I really try to spell out, what functions do I need? How do they fit with our existing people? How does that fit with culture? Thinking about our objectives and hire to make that happen.”“Recruiters are expensive. Headhunters are expensive. I think we all know that. But you should be working with a recruiter that's familiar with your space. That way they have that market mastery and understanding of that space. We know how to interpret military experiences and how that's, and the transition of that into the corporate world. We understand the nuances to that and we understand what it takes to be, to lead at a certain level in your organization.”“Every leader, they all have gifts. Like you have your zone of genius, if you will. You have that area you excel at and you're in a free flowing state when you're in that zone. But recruiting may not be one of them. Financials may not be one of them. So you have a tax on that gift. So when you have a gift tax, what do you have to do? You have to build a team around it and or outsource it accordingly so that you can get the best people to do those tasks for you.”Time stamps:01:56 - Quick Hits04:10 - The founding of MilSpec07:19 - How to hire better21:44 - Why work with a recruiter?33:40 - Ensuring retention37:21 - Where to find Freddie Links:Find Freddie on LinkedInFind Claude on LinkedInMore about Office LibationsSubscribe on Apple PodcastsSubscribe on Spotify

Claude interviews Jacqueline Sharma, VP of People at Envoy. Envoy empowers workplaces and properties around the globe to redefine how their workplaces run. They connect people, spaces, and data in one integrated workplace platform, providing a single solution to manage all aspects of your facility.In this episode, Jacqueline describes the importance of transparency in organizational policies and communications, and emphasizes how understanding the ‘why’ behind decisions fosters employee engagement and trust.-----Key Quotes:“We start with why this is important, and be really transparent around expectations. Why we have those expectations, why we have the policies we have, helping people understand how our mission ties to being in the office and working together. Dogfooding our own product and bringing people as part of that journey.”“The ‘Why’ is really in transparency. When people understand the ‘why’ and they have a fuller picture, that allows them to make decisions based on the full picture. When you're only providing pieces of information, when somebody doesn't have enough context, they may not understand how that impacts the broader business and why they do what they do every day.”“When our teams are together, we build empathy for one another just so much more quickly. So if somebody comes in and they seem like they've had a tough morning, you can feel that energy. You can ask them how they're doing. And that's just a natural or an organic interaction that you wouldn't have the opportunity over video. Somebody may say, yeah, my baby was sick last night, I was up every few hours. And it's like, how can I help? Do you need to go home? Can I take some work off your plate? That's building community. That's how you build bonds with one another.”“During the pandemic, not having a playbook led to a lot of mistrust of employees and their leaders because leaders didn't actually know what the future would look like. And so it was sort of like, well, we're going to apply this remote policy right now, and I think that contributed to the demonizing of the return to office policies.”---------Time stamps:00:31 - Quick Hits04:46 - All about Envoy06:41 - Jacqueline’s role08:52 - Creating a positive employee experience17:18 - Why transparency is important31:07 - Building a successful hybrid model39:27 - Where to find Jacqueline---------Links:Find Jacqueline on LinkedInFind Claude on LinkedInMore about Office Libations

Emma Calderon, Senior Director of People and Culture at Qualified, shares her people-leading expertise. Qualified is the AI pipeline generation platform for B2B websites that generates pipeline at scale with AI and automation. Powered by the Qualified Platform, Qualified offers an all-in-one solution that maximizes website conversions with live chat, automated chatbots, one-click meeting scheduling, marketing offers, and actionable intent data.Emma describes why it’s important to foster a culture of fun and creativity to combat workplace stress and increase productivity. Claude and Emma discuss which return-to-work models work best for both employers and employees. Emma also highlights the significance of leadership and development training in a post-COVID world.Time stamps:00:18 - Quick Hits03:16 - All about Qualified04:02 - Emma’s role08:55 - Why fun is important11:10 - Measuring employee engagement15:04 - Today’s trends19:31 - Why Emma is pro-hybrid26:47 - The cost of getting people together in-person29:44 - What do employees really want?37:10 - Where to find Emma Links:Find Emma on LinkedInFind Claude on LinkedInMore about Office LibationsSubscribe on Apple PodcastsSubscribe on Spotify

Today Claude speaks with Sarah Lovelace, VP of People at Airbase. Sarah describes how to build trust in order to foster effective communication in remote work environments. She also emphasizes clarity in the remote hiring process and how to be upfront with your expectations of potential employees. Join us as we explore the significance of transparency, organizational values, and managing expectations for a great remote work environment.Time stamps:00:30 - Quick Hits05:27 - Creating an employee experience09:20 - Building the ideal remote environment17:03 - How to build trust19:54 - Measuring organizational health26:36 - Creating remote cultureLinks:Find Sarah on LinkedInFind Claude on LinkedInMore about Office LibationsSubscribe on Apple PodcastsSubscribe on Spotify

In this episode, Matt Mohamed, Sr. Director of Global Real Estate & Workplace at Verkada, explains the art of designing workspaces that foster connections and community among employees. We’ll explore the concept of creating "third places" within the office environment, spaces that naturally facilitate interaction and collaboration. From observing how employees use their workspace to understanding the importance of physical experience in design, Matt uncovers the methodology behind crafting environments that promote engagement and well-being. Join us as we discuss the role of fun, observation, and collaboration in shaping workspaces that truly resonate with the needs and desires of those who inhabit them.---------Key Quotes:“One of the big things for us is  creating space within our space where people can connect and commune together. And we try to create space that allows for this to happen naturally or organically. And so the concept of a third place within the workspace is at the forefront of how we design and how we allow people to kind of interact with each other in the office.”“A lot of our design comes from observation. And so we will sort of observe how employees actually use the space that we create or how they're using their existing space, and then find a way to insert something that would allow them to interact and serve as a third place for the employees.”“It's hard for folks who don't live in a world of creating space to articulate what they want from a space.  And so we take a combination of people's comments and then our observations of how they actually use the spaces we create. And then we come to conclusions on what it is that's missing or what we think people could really benefit from. And so it's the whole team that does a lot of observing.”“We do believe that in person observation is like the easiest way to really see how people are interacting. Cameras are really good for maintaining order, operation, and security in a space, but if you want to create space, you kind of have to live inside of it. Um, I mean, even when we're planning for a new office or a new lab or something, we have to go live in the space physically, you know, no matter where it is in the world in order to really be able to take something that's, uh, on a plan set in 2D and create something meaningful out of it. You have to, you have to first experience it yourself.”“In most good designs, it's a collaboration and there's constant contributions from who, in this case, who are our clients in a traditional setting of real estate development, these would be our clients. And in this case, they're actually our peers or co-workers. And so it's like getting to know them and understanding what it is that  they want to offer and then like making that come to life for them. That is how we work. “---------Time stamps:00:12 - Quick Hits01:49 - About Verkada04:20 - Thriving in spaces05:29 - Hiring and retention experience11:09 - Inviting collaboration20:43 - Knowing what to change24:34 - Psychology of design---------Links:Find Matt on LinkedInFind Claude on LinkedInMore about Office Libations

It’s possible to turn those new-hire fuzzies into long-term passion. Today Claude interviews Becky Lehman, Senior Manager of Employee Engagement at Babylist. She’ll describe how to sustain a positive employee experience with intentional onboarding and consistent opportunities to provide feedback to leadership. She also demystifies feedback by describing how it can be a growth driver. She and Claude dive into the value of continuous learning, and the best way to model company culture. ---------Key Quotes:“I love asking new hires, why did you decide to join us? ‘Cause they're very different across different people, different roles,  but hearing what they have to say gives me really warm fuzzies about my decision to be at this company and invest my time and effort into this company. And then really thinking about how we can capitalize on that  excitement and passion of new hires and extend that as long as possible as part of their employee experience. I've been a BabyList for over two years now, I still feel that excitement and passion about the work that I'm doing. So I hope we can continue to pull that for people for as long as possible”“It can feel like someone is telling you that you are bad and you did a bad job and you are a horrible person. And no one likes that feeling.  But actually, when someone is giving you feedback, what it really means is that they feel like they have a strong enough relationship with you that they can give you that feedback in a way that you'll hear it. And it also means that they believe in you and they believe that you can be even greater than you are now. And that's real neat. ““My philosophy on the employee experience is that it should be closely tied to that user experience. And so we want our employees to feel the same things, feel secure, feel celebrated, feel like they have the information they need to do what they need to do. When we show up for our employees like that, then they can take that and bring it to our users, which is what we want.”“Always be learning is our value. So I like thinking about how we can train and lean into those growth edges and really support each other and teach each other across the company in those different areas.”“One of the important things when you're thinking about culture specifically is that you're modeling it all the time. So how you treat people every day that you work with them, how you show up on Slack, how you show up on Zoom, how you show up in every way you like interact with your users or your coworkers, that's your company.”---------Time stamps:00:18 - Quick Hits03:22 - Becky’s story07:44 - Building a remote company culture10:28 - Why Becky loves onboarding16:20 - Employee retention tips23:56 - The benefits of ERGs26:53 - Building culture across teams37:48 - Leadership should showcase culture, too---------Links:Find Becky on LinkedInFind Claude on LinkedInMore about Office Libations

How do we navigate a major shift in workplace dynamics after COVID? Tony Deblauwe, VP of Human Resources at Celigo, has some ideas. Celigo is an integration platform as a service (iPaaS) that allows IT and line of business teams to automate both common and custom business processes, enabling the entire organization to be more agile and innovate faster than competitors.Tony explains how holistic thinking, adaptability, and showing up with authenticity lead to both organizational success and employee satisfaction. Join us on this episode of Office Libations Unwrapped, as we explore beyond data and metrics, and dive into the human element of today’s workplace.Key Quotes:“We look at that holistic view. What is the person looking to achieve while they're here? What is the employee experience? And then you start to mold different pieces together around that. So  I feel that our success is rooted in that holistic thinking. To ensure that it's not just, hey, find the best person for the job. How are those skills going to evolve and grow over time so that there's that mutual benefit between the employee and the company?”“I always thought it was funny when people would ask, Where do you see yourself in five years? That's a ridiculous question. My joke was always, I'm going to be your boss. Just to see the reaction, right? Because I never understood. I don't know where I'm going to be in five years. So all of that is completely thrown out the door. It's more about, What are you going to learn and contribute here holistically that contributes to your view of a professional growth path?”“We have to think about it still as a business, still with some structure, but it's always in the showing up part, right? How do we show up? How do we listen? Let someone have their voice, but put it in some kind of a structure that They can understand and they can work with you.”“It's very difficult to gain trust and motivation for people when you start to put forth demand, when we just went through the great social experiment where you were forced to shut down, forced not to come into office, and it worked, people got promoted, people got increases, people came and left. So, it's difficult to then mandate: that's all gone now, COVID's no different than the flu, so come back, do 9 to 5. It's very difficult, and so we've moved away from that.”“There's a difference between making an effort and then we make a stumble, versus, I'm deliberately doing it this way and I'm completely oblivious to the effect that it's having in my remote workforce. I think that's the difference now because of the difference of not just where people are, but again, the age side of the workforce, you have to be a little bit more deliberate how you think about rolling things out and not just mandating it with a limited group of stakeholders in a room and then just throwing it out there.”“Everybody's gonna say,  what does the data say? Data can be, again, survey, anecdotal, login time, like there's a lot of different ways people look at the data. But I try to look behind that, right? Because as an HR person working in business, that's always the first thing that's thrown out. Well, you know, data, decisions based data. But there is an element that is intrinsic to how a person works that no one set of hard data is necessarily going to answer.” Time stamps:00:00 - Big Takeaway00:38 - Quick Hits03:27 - Hiring/Retention Experience04:58 - How to train successfully 06:16 - Tony’s story09:09 - Four generations in one workforce24:54 - The Rebuild---------Links:Find Tony on LinkedInFind Claude on LinkedInMore about Office LibationsMore about Caspian Studios

Work has changed. Our relationship with the office is different. How do we modernize the same old corporate routines? How do we rebuild our office cultures to keep our teams motivated and productive? If you’re looking for answers to these tough questions, you’re in the right spot.Welcome to “Office Libations Unwrapped: The Art of Rebuilding Office Culture” - the podcast that brings best practices from leading companies to create a spark in your team’s workday and drive your business forward. In each episode, we'll chat with industry experts, office professionals, and even some of our favorite local brands to discover the latest trends redefining workplace experience. From top tier food and beverage programs featuring specialty coffee and local snacks to flexible schedules and non-traditional work arrangements, we'll explore the range of tools HR professionals have at their disposal to keep their team happy, whether in-office or remote. Happy employees are more productive, stay at companies longer, and most importantly, make happy customers. Happy customers make successful businesses.So grab your favorite beverage, settle in, and get ready to be inspired.