📛 Does it really matter what you call your HR team?
November 19, 2021
Hey there 👋
What's better... A People & Culture team that's overly bureaucratic and treats humans as resources? Or an HR team that contributes to company success and treats humans as humans?
I think we all have more respect for the second team. Actions matter more than fancy names, right?
But wait, there's more to it. Words do carry weight.
If the term "HR" doesn't live up to your team's identity and goals, it can hold you back. A new name (People & Culture, People Ops, etc.) is a way to make it official. It's a powerful tool to shape your (self-)image.
The best People teams are using the power of words and actions.
All the best,
Maresch from Back
All the best,
Alex from Back
New from Back
INTERVIEW
Tom Jewell on pivoting to HR, bad advice, and the power of words
We were recently lucky enough to sit down with Tom Jewell, the former Head of People at HelloFresh who's now at Unleashed. Tom told us about how his sales skillset translated to his first People role, why set-in-stone processes are bad HR policy, and how COVID-19 created a more prominent seat at the table for People people. Check out all the highlights of our interview in this week's blog.
What we learned
With great emoji comes great responsibility. Keep in mind how emojis are interpreted across your entire company. People teams: use emojis with care and consider educating employees on emoji etiquette. [Fast Company]
BCG researched what employees really, really want. Retention boosters include: 1) money, 2) career opportunities, 3) the company’s purpose, 4) culture and connection, 5) taking care of employees and their families, and 6) flexibility. [HBR]
As a hybrid company, "collaboration equity" should be your North Star, according to Javier Soltero, Vice President & GM @ Google Workspace. What does that mean? "The ability for employees to contribute equally in the workplace regardless of location, role, language, experience level, or device." [Quartz]
Does competitiveness play into the gender wage gap? What about a social component? In one recent experiment, "The number of women who chose the competitive option nearly doubled when given the option to share their winnings." [Futurity]
Overheard on Twitter
People ops jobs
🇺🇸 Head of HR Operations at Airtable (US Remote)
🇺🇸 Senior People Operations Manager at Rasa (US Remote)
🇺🇸 Senior Director, People Partners at Miro (Austin/New York)
🇺🇸 HRBP at Mati (North America)
🇩🇪 People Operations Manager International Expansion at heycar (Berlin)
🇩🇪 People Operations Manager at CareerFoundry (Berlin)
🇩🇪 People Operations Specialist at Aiven (Berlin/Europe Remote)
🇳🇱 People Operations Specialist at VanMoof (Amsterdam)
🇦🇹 People Operations Specialist at Bitpanda (Vienna)
🇬🇧 Senior People + Culture Partner at Unleashed (London)
Want your job opening featured here? Just reply to this email!
See you next time 👋
This newsletter is brought to you by Back. Back helps companies provide a seamless employee experience by giving them easy access to the support they need – from onboarding journeys to parental leave requests to payroll questions.
Know someone who'd enjoy this newsletter? Invite them to sign up here.
