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HR entrepreneur Mike Coffey, SPHR, SHRM-SCP engages business thought leaders about the strategic, psychological, legal, and practical implications of bringing people together to create value for shareholders, customers, and the community. As an HR consultant, mentor to first-stage businesses through EO’s Accelerator program, and owner of Imperative—Bulletproof Background Screening, Mike is passionate about helping other professionals improve how they recruit, select, and manage their people. Most thirty-minute episodes of Good Morning, HR will be eligible for half a recertification credit for both HRCI and SHRM-certified professionals. Mike is a member of Entrepreneurs Organization (EO) Fort Worth and active with the Texas Association of Business, the Fort Worth Chamber, and Texas SHRM.
Making sure they understand what's available to them is key because as much as you want them to take the initiative, if they don't know what they can do, how are they supposed to even start?
Mike Coffey:Right.
Michaela Glendening:So I think it's it's a two way street. For sure, emerging professionals, you know, we could be doing better maybe to be more proactive in trying to take charge and, you know, telling people Owning
Mike Coffey:it. Yeah.
Michaela Glendening:Great. Tell your leader. Tell your boss what you want, what are your goals, and then I'm sure they can help you get the resources you need if they don't already have it available.
Mike Coffey:Good morning, HR. I'm Mike Coffey, president of Imperative, bulletproof background checks with fast and friendly service. And this is the podcast where I talk to business leaders about bringing people together to create value for shareholders, customers, and the community. Please, I'll rate and review Good Morning HR wherever you get your podcast. You can also find us on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, or at good morning hr.com.
Mike Coffey:And this is a little different. We're live on the floor at HR Southwest in beautiful Cowtown, Funkytown, Fort Worth, Texas. HR Southwest is the Texas SHRM State Conference. We have over 1700 people from all over the country here today in the next couple days talking HR, people leadership, UN, and technology. So it's exciting, and I am joined right now by Mikaela Glendinning, who is an HR generalist for Arco Murray, and she is also a SHRM certified professional.
Mike Coffey:And she is the volunteer leader for the emerging HR professionals committee at Dallas HR, and she's joining me today to talk about young professionals, emerging professionals, and what employers need to know to engage those. Welcome to Good Morning HR, Michaella.
Michaela Glendening:Thank you, Mike. I'm excited to be here.
Mike Coffey:So let's just start with why is Dallas HR creating this committee for to look at engaging emerging HR professionals?
Michaela Glendening:Absolutely. So, well, selfishly, I am an emerging HR professional. So last year, I was leading the charge on our student program.
Mike Coffey:You're one of those Gen z's?
Michaela Glendening:See, I'm a customer. I'm a Gen z and millennial customer. Okay. So I'm right on the edge. You know, I had dial up as a kid, so I know what that is.
Mike Coffey:Wow.
Michaela Glendening:But I also am more with the times and all that stuff. So I'm right on the edge there. But, as a fellow emerging HR professional, I realized once I was done volunteering with students, there's kind of this gap where, you know, we have all these new grads that just got their HR degree and they're new to the career force and everything, and so what can we do to help them be successful, especially in those first 5 or so years of their HR career? So with that kinda came the brainchild of the emerging HR professionals group with Dallas HR, and we're just now starting this program out. So we're hoping to have a lot more going on in 2025, but we've already started having a couple events this year to really kind of provide those resources and everything that that specific group needs in the HR field.
Mike Coffey:So every generation gets thrown under the bus by the previous generations, and they don't wanna work or they're lazy or whatever. What do you think is unique about Gen z or this these emerging professionals?
Michaela Glendening:Yeah. I think, you know, a lot of the older generations, as you said, you're always gonna give a little bit of, testing the waters of the new workforce coming into the field. But there's something unique about them is that they really are wanting to connect with their employers. You hear a lot of time, they don't wanna work, they wanna be remote all the time, or they're just they're not into it. They're not loyal, whatever it may be.
Michaela Glendening:But really what it is is if they're with the right company that is showing their mission values and is really investing in them as people, they don't wanna be a number on the clock. They wanna be seen. They wanna be heard. You hear this all the time, not even just with Gen z, but all generations and employee engagement results across the board. But I think Gen z does a great job of being very vocal with their feedback.
Michaela Glendening:They don't hold back. So with that, you get to learn a lot about what they're really wanting versus older generations, you hear this term suffer in silence quite a bit. And so they're not engaged, but they're there. Is that really what we want? So Gen z really does a great job of letting their voices be heard, and they wanna be at a place that is invested in them.
Mike Coffey:And I think the nature of community has changed so much. It used to be my grandfather was a mason and was active in his church, and he had these communities that were really key to him. And he involved his family, and and he went to work, and he had one he got out of the marines at the end of World War 2 and had worked for one company his entire career. Oh. And that was a community, but it wasn't a community that I think that he connected with on a personal level that was as meaningful as Right.
Mike Coffey:The other things he was doing in his community with his family and his in in his church and all that. And I think that's changed in our society, and this the youngest generation sees work as it they need a place where this is connection. This is community. I'm not gonna turn myself off for 8 or 9 hours a day. So I think what do you think the lesson is for employers about attracting and, you know, retaining that generation with when they're looking for a specific kind of community?
Michaela Glendening:Absolutely. You know, a lot of companies have already started doing this. I think they're seeing the writing on the wall where really establishing a focus and investing in them and their career growth opportunities. Right? You'll hear a lot of times, oh, that younger gen z, they wanna have the corner office right away.
Michaela Glendening:I don't know if that's really the case. I think they wanna see the path to get there. So really having a good career pathway outlined and having those opportunities and knowing what they need to do to get there and also providing the resources so that they can be successful. That could be a mentorship program. That could be continuous feedback.
Michaela Glendening:They wanna know how they're doing. They wanna see what they can continuously do to improve to get to that next step. It's not that they wanna walk in and be the VP of x y z company. They just wanna know how they can get there. And so I think that's how employers could really help set up success.
Mike Coffey:And that goes back just to what they're really saying is they want good managers. A good leader shouldn't you should never find out. And I've I've got 3 decades in HR. You should never find out what your performance was the last year when it comes around to your performance review.
Michaela Glendening:Right.
Mike Coffey:And so, what, I've I've sucked at this job for the last 12 months, and suddenly you're telling me now? In reality, what you're really doing, it's a recency bias. You made me mad last week, so I'm gonna give you a bad review this week. But we should be giving feedback to our employees all the time. Absolutely.
Mike Coffey:My folks come into the office at the beginning or not in the office because we're fully remote now. We're in the and most of my folks are Gen z or, millennials, and they would if I bought an if I bought an office and put us back in an office, they would burn it down. I mean, they just would not come back, and it's working amazingly for us. But when they hit open their email in the morning, they they get a they have an email sitting there waiting for them that says what their performance was the previous day. This is what your quality score is.
Mike Coffey:They their peers audit each they pee they peer audit each other's work. And so, okay. Here's what the issues were. And so if we have a retraining and we monitor all that, and here's what your productivity was, they know where they stand against standards on a day to day basis. And they also know and have trust that we're gonna hold them accountable, but we're not gonna beat them up.
Michaela Glendening:Right.
Mike Coffey:Okay. You've had a rough day yesterday. Let's talk about what we need to do to make today successful. What do you need from us? Do we need retraining?
Mike Coffey:You needed some extra PTO. I mean, whatever is going on, let's I've got a lot invested in you as an employee, so let's figure out how to how to get you back where we need you to be. And Exactly. Nobody wants to not do well at work.
Michaela Glendening:Of course. And, you know, I think that's a really great way. It's just really touching base as well. Like, I talk to our leaders all the time. I'm like, hey.
Michaela Glendening:How would you do a check-in? How are they doing outside of work? Right? Showing them that you care as a person is what's gonna make them wanna invest in the company as well and wanna stay there long term. But they're gonna leave if they're just being as a paycheck, and they can always make more money elsewhere probably.
Michaela Glendening:So if that's all that they're seeing the value as, then, of course, they're gonna bounce around jobs.
Mike Coffey:Right. If
Michaela Glendening:they see you as a place to stay and plant roots, then that's what they're gonna do.
Mike Coffey:And that's something a manager has to be intentional about. I am the worst. I've been married 28 years, 3 of the best months of her life, but I, I'm the worst about remembering special dates. And I'm fortunate that I married someone who is just as bad and doesn't give a raps. But, you know, so I have to, like I'm lucky that I've my operations manager keeps on her calendar birthdays and all those and feeds those back to me because I'm just not that guy.
Mike Coffey:I've got us and if it wasn't for her doing that, I'd have some other system because I wanna have those connections, and I want folks to to know we do 1 on 1 check ins. I do with my direct staff, my direct, you know, reports, and then they each do with their their teams. And they, you know, they have full team meetings. They have 1 on ones. And then I try to connect to everybody at least once a quarter and, you know, where it's all via Zoom, and it's always awkward because they're all introverts, and I'm extroverted.
Mike Coffey:I'm like, hey. Hey in Zoom. You know, I'm all up in your face. What's going on? But they, you know, they do give the feedback that they appreciate that that there's a connection.
Mike Coffey:It's not a giant investment of time or money on my part.
Michaela Glendening:Right.
Mike Coffey:But it makes them feel that it it give it drives home to them that they're seen, they're heard, they matter. What they do is important.
Michaela Glendening:Exactly. And that's a great thing that you mentioned earlier, having your operation. Is that not your priority to or just not top of mind to have every day memorized for so many people that you could be supporting or in charge of? I do the same with my leaders. I put on my calendar and their calendar, and it works out really well.
Michaela Glendening:And, also, like, they want to acknowledge they wanna support, they wanna celebrate, but sometimes when you're juggling, you know, 10 plates, it's hard to do that. So I think also that's something for managers and leaders to partner with their HR team saying, I want to engage with my team. I want to show them my care. How can you help me do that? That's a perfect avenue for HR to step in and partner with them, whether you're an emerging professional in HR or not.
Michaela Glendening:I think that's just a great way to really kinda tie it all in because that's that's what our team is there for. Right? We're there to help you guys succeed just as much as your associates. So I think that's really great that you have that person that you are able to collaborate with, and that's that's all it is. Right?
Michaela Glendening:A lot of our associates know I put that on their calendar.
Mike Coffey:Right.
Michaela Glendening:But they still light up when someone says happy birthday. How are you? Do you have plans? Hey. Congrats on your 5 year anniversary.
Michaela Glendening:That's amazing. That's the kind of stuff they want and addition to so many other avenues. But just so many you recognize them as a person is step 1.
Mike Coffey:And we hear a lot, you know, that this young generation, all they wanna do is work remote. But I can say I've got an engineer a son who's an engineer two and a half years out of UT now, and he and I've heard from a number of his friends, they want to be in office because they want the mentoring. They want that relationship.
Michaela Glendening:I'm the same way. I think I personally do better in the office environment, but that's also I'm people focused. Right? I wanna be where the people are, and I would agree. We see that a lot more.
Michaela Glendening:I think there's an element of flexibility that I think companies are starting to adjust to. Like, if you need to be home this day to take care of something or you have appointments, I'm gonna work from home the rest of the day. That's a level of flexibility that our company does and I think a lot are starting to do, which I think is kind of alleviating that quite a bit. But then also, if you're expecting someone to be in the office and you don't talk to them all day Mhmm. Why are they there?
Michaela Glendening:Right. You know? So I think also as employers recognizing that if we're wanting people to be there, then we need to engage with them. Because to them, I can do this job at home in the comfort of my couch and sweatpants. Right?
Mike Coffey:Right.
Michaela Glendening:And if no one's gonna talk to me, then I might as well be at home. But I think that's really up to employers if you're wanting someone in person. Building those connections is key, and engaging with them on a regular basis.
Mike Coffey:So what kind of mentoring programs do you think appear would appeal to these emerging professionals? Because when I came into the workforce, it was there was no mentoring. Mentoring was when you got yelled at when you did it wrong. And that was my management style early in my career because that's what I that's what I learned. And then I quickly learned that's not as effective as other things.
Mike Coffey:So what does a good mentoring program look like for especially for a younger professional? I think
Michaela Glendening:it can tailor from person to person their own style, of course, and the manager. You don't want to push a manager too far out of their comfort zone. You want this to be successful. I think it's great when you can have the pairings that match up, whether it's this person is in the role that's the next step
Mike Coffey:Mhmm.
Michaela Glendening:Or having them on across different teams. I think it really kinda depends on what you're looking for in that specific mentorship pair up. Are you wanting to help them coach in their current role? Are you wanting to help coach them as a person so they can just be at a different level, like a leadership role? They probably don't have to be on the same team as you if that's what you're focusing on.
Michaela Glendening:And then you're also exposing them to other team members across your company. So I think it really does depend on what the exact goal is of the mentorship, but just having that one on one time is key. And, also, asking your emerging professionals, what do you want out of this mentorship program? Dallas HR, we have a fantastic mentorship program, and that's one of the questions that we tell mentors, like, hey. Talk to your mentee and ask what their goals are out of this because everyone's got something a little different maybe.
Michaela Glendening:And then now you can tailor their experience to what their needs are, but you're still within the same program of having that relationship, which is the main point of a mentorship, is to have someone to go to for resources, for questions that's maybe your boss, maybe not your boss. You know, sometimes you want that person you get asked the dumb questions to. Like Yeah. I have doused our mentors that I ask questions that I probably wouldn't tell my boss
Mike Coffey:Right.
Michaela Glendening:Or whatnot. But, also, I'm lucky enough. I have a fantastic boss, and I can reach out to her for pretty much anything. And she's always available to help coach me as well so I can take on more responsibilities. So I think having that balance and having multiple mentors in different areas of your life is also important for emerging professionals.
Michaela Glendening:So I think it's both ways.
Mike Coffey:And work you know, clearly, we're working remote, but also just the expectations of how we spend our days is different. I remember early in my career, there were days where I had everything done, but there's this thing called the Fair Labor Standards Act that said I wasn't gonna you know, I wasn't exempt, and I wasn't gonna get paid if I didn't and I was I, you know, I learned to ride the clock out, you know, early in my career, and it made me crazy. And I think this generation's even less patient with feeling like they're wasting their time because they could be playing Fortnite right now or doing whatever they wanna do. But what's that how do you balance that, making them understand there's times where there's not work to do, but you can always be learning something. There's always other things.
Mike Coffey:But sometimes they need to take the initiative on learning that rather than just riding the clock out because they wanna get paid for those hours, you know, especially when they're not exempt.
Michaela Glendening:Right. Well and I think that's a good point is there's other things you can be doing. For example, I'm here at HR Southwest Conference. Of course, I'm still answering emails and working and everything, but, you know, making sure that people are aware of what learning opportunities are out there. Because I think, you know, companies like, yeah, we have all this great stuff.
Michaela Glendening:Well, have you talked about it? Have you explained what you actually have available? Do you know what resources you have available to the emerging professionals? You know, our company, we have our own, like, learning platform, if you will, for engineers because we're a construction company. And so it's very technical skills based for the most part, but we have some soft skills in there as well.
Michaela Glendening:And so we tell them, hey. If you have downtime, this is where you can go. This is your library of resources. And what you're looking for, there's something in there. And you just gotta kind of push them to take the initiative, but making sure they understand what's available to them is key.
Michaela Glendening:Because as much as you want them to take the initiative, if they don't know what they can do, how are they supposed to even start?
Mike Coffey:Right.
Michaela Glendening:So I think it's it's a two way street. For sure, emerging professionals, you know, we could be doing better maybe to be more proactive in trying to take charge and, you know, telling people Owning it.
Mike Coffey:Yeah.
Michaela Glendening:Great. Tell your leader. Tell your boss what you want, what are your goals, and then I'm sure they can help you get the resources you need if they don't already have it available.
Mike Coffey:And if that leader's touching base that leader's touching base with their team regularly about their own performance, they know where they need to grow. And if they have some idea of what a path looks like to you know, some people never wanna be management.
Michaela Glendening:Right.
Mike Coffey:And but they wanna make money. And so maybe there's you know, here's what that path looks like, and here's the skill set you're gonna need to develop.
Michaela Glendening:Exactly. Like, and there's not everyone wants to be a leader, and I think that's okay to say. You know? Not everyone wants to be a boss, and that's totally fine. Well, then what are other ways that we can engage or help them grow in their career path where they're not necessarily having to go be a manager, go be a vice president, go be a director, whatever it may be.
Michaela Glendening:There's other opportunities to engage those associates that still want to grow and learn, but maybe they have a little bit of a plateau in their career for a bit, and that's okay. I think acknowledging that is fair because you'll see the younger generations, you know, sometimes they're so focused on the end goal, they miss all the steps in between is what you hear all the time. But maybe showing them this is the breakdown of how you get there. And maybe you're in this spot on this step for a couple of years, and that's okay. That's expected.
Michaela Glendening:I think that's really gonna help kinda show them how they can move forward in their careers as well.
Mike Coffey:And let's take a quick break. Good morning HR is brought to you by Imperative, bulletproof background checks with fast and friendly service. In the 25 years since I founded Imperative, we've introduced some great technology to make the process of ordering and retrieving background investigations more efficient, ensuring compliance with all the different laws across the country, and even improving the candidate experience during the background check process. However, we still rely on our professional analysts over algorithms or databases to ensure that our clients receive the most reliable, thorough, and legally compliant information possible. And if our clients ever have a question, they don't have to Google or try to talk to a chatbot to get the answer.
Mike Coffey:They can just pick up the phone and talk to one of our real people who will resolve their issue right away. It may sound old school, but I believe the human element is still critical to ensuring that our clients make well informed decisions about the people they involve in their business. You can learn more about how we protect our clients at imperativeinfo.com. If you're an HRCI or SHRM certified professional, this episode of Good Morning HR has been preapproved for 1 half hour of recertification credit. To obtain the recertification information, visit good morning hr.com and click on research credits.
Mike Coffey:Then select episode 172 and enter the keyword emerging. That's emerging. And if you're looking for even more recertification credit, check out the webinars page at imperativeinfo.com. And now back to my conversation with Mikaela Glendinning. I I I talked about, you know, giving numbers and giving that feedback, but one of the things I hear from my friends who are college professors and from my friends who are leading young professionals is they have a real challenge with deadlines.
Mike Coffey:And maybe in high school, especially they came up through COVID, things were very flexible. Friday didn't necessarily mean Friday. You know? You can get it done on you turn your work in on Monday or Tuesday. Right.
Mike Coffey:And they're hitting the workplace, and they're being held accountable to understand that a deadline meets a deadline.
Michaela Glendening:Right.
Mike Coffey:How would you suggest that a manager struggling with that address it with with one of the you know, when this one is young young employees who, to no fault of their own, just never has been held they've never been really taught that that, you know, 1 o'clock on Friday means 1 o'clock on Friday.
Michaela Glendening:Exactly. I think part of that too is giving the why. Like, why is this important? Why is this report needed? Because, also, sometimes managers, if you can't give the why Yeah.
Michaela Glendening:Why are we doing it? Yeah. You know?
Mike Coffey:Good point.
Michaela Glendening:So I think also showing them, like, the reason why I need this report by 1 PM on Friday is because I'm presenting it to this group of leaders on Monday at 8 AM. So I need it by that time so I can do x y z, or we need it for this, or whatever that may look like. I think it's really gonna also show that you trust your emerging professionals, showing them, hey. I want you to understand this process at a high level, and this is the key piece that you're being vital with. It's also showing them how important what they're doing is to the company and shows that you're investing or entrusting them with this very key portion of it if you give them the why.
Michaela Glendening:If you're just like, hey. Can you run this report? That's just a report. But if you tell them, hey. Can you run this report?
Michaela Glendening:I'm gonna present this data to the board of directors next week. Well, that's your that report's very important, isn't it, now? Yeah. A lot more than, like, oh, I'm just, like, crunching some numbers now. So I think giving that why is really vital.
Mike Coffey:Well, and I think that why kinda goes back. You touched on earlier that the this this generation especially wants to align with the mission and values of the organization. And
Michaela Glendening:Exactly.
Mike Coffey:So talk about how should you authentically, as an employer, represent that out to to this market of of emerging professionals? What's your your mission, your values are? How do you say that in a way that sounds authentic to them?
Michaela Glendening:I think, honestly, actions speak louder than words sometimes. Right? Like, I talk about our values at our company. One of them is treat people fairly and do the right thing. Sounds simple.
Michaela Glendening:Right? You hope people are doing that anyways. But we show it even in our business model, and we show how on projects we're making these decisions as a company, not just in your personal relationships. And so if your mission, your values are only pretty words on a poster board or on your website, that's great and all, but how are you living out your values? I think showing examples of how they should be utilizing those in their day to day, in the office, in their workplace, wherever it may be, that's also showing why these are important, and they're not just words written out that sound great
Mike Coffey:Right.
Michaela Glendening:When you're recruiting somebody. I think that's what's really important when you're talking about tying in the mission and values so they actually relate to the employees of the organization.
Mike Coffey:Yep. Every job posting we do starts with our values. This is what it looks like. This is what we value. And and there are 3 I mean, any of my employees can just without even thinking about it, it's like always act in the best interest of the customer, always act as one with respect and compassion, always act with integrity.
Mike Coffey:And integrity they get the speech from me on orientation. Integrity means doing the right thing, but also means that what you produce is fit for the purpose that we're delivering it for. And they can all cite that out, and we lead that through. And it's in our interviews. I can train people to do almost any job.
Michaela Glendening:Right.
Mike Coffey:I can't change their core values and their core behavior. And if this if what we value doesn't line up with what they're lining up, then I'm not going to be able to change that if they're gonna be uncomfortable, and it's gonna grind. So having that and, like you said, giving examples, we do that as well. And then we've got a process where every employee I stole this from, Andrew Pryor, who's probably knows more about employee rewards recognition in this environment than anybody. But every employee gets 5 hours of PTO each week each month that they they can give to another employee for an hour of for living at our values.
Mike Coffey:And we've got it built in our our internal network that can go in and say, thank you to whoever. You know? Thank you, Jolanda. I'll give Jolanda a shout out for doing this very specific thing, and I and it can't just be always being cheerful. No.
Mike Coffey:I want I want an exact example of how they lived out this value, and then it goes out to the whole team. So this person gets an hour PTO and this recognition, and my introverts kinda hate it because they they don't want any sunlight on them. But they but they they they do it, and they share it, and it it shows them that how how how we live our values.
Michaela Glendening:Right. And I think that's a great point too is recognizing people, even peer recognition. Like, it doesn't always have to be on the manager. Right? I know we kinda talked about how leaders and managers should be engaging with emerging pros, but also your peers in the workforce.
Michaela Glendening:We have so many generations happening right now in a melting pot that I think everyone's gonna benefit from that. Yeah. I know you mentioned your introverts may not like it, but secretly, I think they do. As extrovert, I can't speak to that. But Yeah.
Michaela Glendening:Yeah. To show that somebody cared, somebody saw me. I think maybe getting the public blast might initially embarrass them for 5 minutes, but the ending result's gonna be someone saw me do this, and they appreciated it.
Mike Coffey:Right.
Michaela Glendening:And that feeling is gonna stick with you. And, also, like, showing that we truly see you and what you're accomplishing and what you're doing for the company. A lot of our leaders have started incorporating in meetings, like, to give us example of how you lived out of core value. A real life example, not just the free words. And I think the more you see that where you're talking about it and showing examples regularly, then people are really gonna understand, 1, what your values are as an organization, and 2, okay, this is this is real.
Michaela Glendening:This is what this company wants. Like, you're talking about, you might have some clashes.
Mike Coffey:Right.
Michaela Glendening:And sometimes, maybe it's not a good fit, and that's okay to acknowledge. If a company's value doesn't match with yours, that's okay. And sometimes that's where you have to separate. I hate to say it.
Mike Coffey:I know. It's no. It's true. Yeah.
Michaela Glendening:You know? And I think the more you can learn that and see that quicker, then you either get bought in really quickly or you can under understand that maybe you need to go somewhere else.
Mike Coffey:Yeah. And, you know, we've been talking about the feedback from the company to the individual, but this generation definitely has found their voice earlier, I think, than maybe my generation did as far as speaking up in the workplace.
Michaela Glendening:Absolutely.
Mike Coffey:What what about getting feedback from them? How what does what do those systems look like to that what what will were they will respond to?
Michaela Glendening:Absolutely. So I think, you know, everyone doesn't well, I hope most people are doing employ me employment engagement surveys. You know, that's a great avenue because it's anonymous. Some employees may not think it's anonymous. It is.
Michaela Glendening:I promise.
Mike Coffey:Unless you write in, my boss, Joe, is a total jerk, and
Michaela Glendening:he Signs.
Mike Coffey:Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Michaela Glendening:I know. Smith. And, yeah, it's anonymous. But, I think that's one avenue that a lot of employers are doing right now. And when you do that, I think the misstep by most companies, they'll do the survey, get the results, and that's it.
Michaela Glendening:They stop. And that's that's kinda missing the point. You need to analyze the data, partner with your HR team. This is what they live for. I love looking at that kind of stuff and working with my leaders to kind of figure, okay.
Michaela Glendening:How can we how can we adjust? What can we be doing better? You know, some self reflection as well as an employer is hard to do, but it's so helpful to see, okay, if I change this one thing, I'm gonna have 50 more people engaged.
Mike Coffey:Right.
Michaela Glendening:What a turnaround. What a culture shock that you're gonna see if you actually do actions. And tell your employees, hey. We heard your feedback. This is a feedback we got.
Michaela Glendening:This is what we're doing. They're immediately bought in. Even if they didn't share that feedback specifically, they're gonna see, okay. You're seeing what the masses are saying and changing.
Mike Coffey:Right.
Michaela Glendening:And that alone is gonna do wonders for your engagement across the board.
Mike Coffey:It's amazing how much money is spent, and time is spent on employee engagement surveys. They just sit on a shelf, and and and that's not just your your young employees. That's all employees.
Michaela Glendening:Everybody.
Mike Coffey:Everybody. Because what you're telling them, yeah, we're hearing you, but we're not listening. Yeah. Exactly. And so yeah.
Michaela Glendening:And And I think that's something that could improve overall, not for all generations to have their voice and give that feedback. But in addition to that, like, that sounds great. You hope people fill out a survey, let's be honest, and everyone does. So what else can you be doing? I think that's where those 1 on 1 check ins come in too, right, where you're connecting with your boss or your lead on a regular basis, whatever that cadence is.
Michaela Glendening:And at the same time that you were providing the employee feedback, ask for feedback. Hey. What are some things we can do differently as a team? What are things I, as a leader, can be doing differently? And even if they don't have feedback at that time, the fact that you asked already shows that you care about them as a person, that you are trying to be better.
Michaela Glendening:Even if they don't have feedback to share at that time, already a stepping stone to really show that that's what you're building towards. That's what you're leading your company towards.
Mike Coffey:So what programs has Dallas HR done so far? And as y'all figure out what you're going to do for these emerging HR professionals, what kind of programs that have you done, or do you have planned ahead? Because those may be some things that employers might wanna just simulate too.
Michaela Glendening:Absolutely. So something that we're doing, since this is a newer program, we already had one event that was more of a networking kinda meet and greet with emerging professionals only, and they got to meet Dallas and Jarr, myself, and some of our committee members to see, okay, this is what we have available. What do you guys want? That's a question we asked them. What do you what are y'all wanting?
Michaela Glendening:We wanna build this
Mike Coffey:What a novel concept.
Michaela Glendening:I know. Crazy. Because as fun as it is to speak here about emerging professionals as one, I don't know the answer for everybody. Right? Like, this is my opinions and what I may think we should be doing, but I wanna know what everybody wants to be doing.
Michaela Glendening:And so from that, we actually are gonna be having our 1st education event in November, November 7th. It is on the Dallas HR website. Anyone is in the Richardson area. It's gonna be for emerging professionals only. So if you have more than 5 or so years of experience, it's not gonna be content for you.
Michaela Glendening:Thought that we wouldn't love to have y'all. Just may not be relevant for what you're looking for. And so it's actually gonna be learning the lingo, which I think we're gonna hope to build too.
Mike Coffey:Learning the lingo.
Michaela Glendening:Yes. So we're gonna make that into, like, a series. So this one specifically benefits 101.
Mike Coffey:A lot
Michaela Glendening:of people going through open enrollment right now. As a HR professional, everyone's asking you questions. Right? I get so many calls about benefits, and thankfully, I've been involved for a couple years now. So I would like to think I'm fairly informed, but I don't know the answer to everything either.
Michaela Glendening:So that's why, you know, trying to make sure that you understand, like, what are these terminologies are changing all the time. Also, like, what is an HSA? Maybe you don't wanna ask your VP of HR what that question is. Right? Like, obviously, I've been in HR for several years now, so, like, you know
Mike Coffey:Yeah. That
Michaela Glendening:you get there over time. But, you know, my 1st year, I probably was just as confused as everybody else. So I think it's really gonna be a great event for us to kinda kick this off. And in 2025, we've already started planning multiple events for networking, education, and other areas for us to get involved. We're also, you know, in typical younger generation fashion, we do have social media.
Michaela Glendening:So we do have a private LinkedIn group, which is a safe space again for you to ask questions. We also share resources on there through Dallas HR and other opportunities for you to connect virtually for those folks who may not be able to come in person and also just making sure that they're aware of what's going on. And so we're kinda getting the full range for all emerging pros, whether they're able to come in person for these events, online, whatever that may look like. But, of course, if anyone has ideas, you can message me, or Dallas HR. As we build this program, it is new.
Michaela Glendening:So we're learning as we go, but, I'm really excited to see what we have planned for the
Mike Coffey:Perfect. Thanks for joining me today, Mikaela.
Michaela Glendening:Thank you so much, Mike. I appreciate it.
Mike Coffey:And I assume people can learn more about Dallas HR's, Emerging HR Professionals Program at dallashr.org?
Michaela Glendening:Absolutely. Yes. It is on the website and everything, or you can message me directly on LinkedIn. I'm happy to help connect you either way.
Mike Coffey:And we'll include her LinkedIn and her social security number in the show notes. Well, thanks. Thanks again for joining me.
Michaela Glendening:Thank you, Mike.
Mike Coffey:And thank you for listening. You can watch this podcast live, the video of this podcast live or search our previous episodes at good morning hr.com or on Facebook, Instagram, or YouTube. And don't forget to rate us, review us, subscribe wherever you get your podcast. Rob Upchurch is our technical producer, and you can reach him at robmakespods.com. And as always, thank you to Mary Anne Hernandez, our marketing coordinator at Imperative, who keeps the trains running on time.
Mike Coffey:I'm Mike Coffey, and until I see you next, be well, do good, and keep your chin up.