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Epoch recently hosted a fireside chat that explored the evolving dynamics of hybrid work and leadership development. Moderated by Jade, Epoch’s Co-founder, the conversation brought together Keith, Director of Internal Communications at Vertafore, and Ali, Senior Director of Learning and Enablement at Vimeo. The session focused on how these leaders navigate the hybrid work model, engage employees, and develop leadership skills amidst an ever-changing work environment.
Ali has been with Vimeo, a company of 1,200 employees, for about three years, focusing on all things learning and development, onboarding, performance management, and employee engagement. She is actively involved in a culture shift at Vimeo, especially aligning the company's values with a new CEO's vision.
Keith is relatively new to his role at Vertafore, which has 2,500 employees, where he’s spent the last six weeks building internal communications strategies. His primary focus is on change management and rolling out product refreshes. In his short time at Vertafore, he’s already making strides in improving how employees receive and engage with information.
Ali explained that at Vimeo, employee experience is about enabling employees to achieve their best so that the business can also succeed. Vimeo’s approach to employee experience has evolved into a "people enablement" strategy, with a focus on productivity metrics gathered through onboarding surveys and engagement surveys. Ali highlighted how they track how productive employees feel and compare that with managers' assessments.
Keith echoed similar sentiments but approached employee experience more from the lens of engagement and purpose. He described it as a feeling of looking forward to work and thriving both personally and professionally. For Keith, it’s also about fostering an environment where employees feel comfortable bringing their whole selves to work, recognizing that employees are people and face personal issues that occasionally spill into other parts of their lives.
Ali shared Vimeo’s strategy of blending productivity with cultural values in performance evaluations. The company balances what employees achieve with how they accomplish it, emphasizing the importance of aligning work behavior with the company’s values. This dual focus ensures that productivity doesn't overshadow the company’s cultural goals.
Keith discussed his belief that strong employee experiences can naturally lead to better performance. He emphasized that employees who feel connected to their work and their teams are likely to contribute more and perform better in the long run. For him, it’s also about providing purpose and ensuring that employees understand how their work fits into the bigger, strategic picture.
Ali provided insight into Vimeo’s evolving approach to hybrid work. While the company initially embraced a remote-first model, leadership changes have led to a stronger focus on in-office work, particularly in New York. Ali mentioned that the new strategy, called "Gather at Vimeo," emphasizes intentional in-person meetups for departments and teams to maximize productivity and connection. However, she acknowledged that the budget limitations might make this challenging.
Keith shared his experience with hybrid work at Vertafore, where the company follows a "flexible first" model. He noted that while the Denver office is the main hub, many employees come in only one or two days a week. Keith expressed the value of being intentional about in-office time, ensuring that when teams come in, they focus on meetings, collaborations, and in-person interactions that cannot be replicated remotely.
Both Ali and Keith highlighted the importance of data in decision-making for employee programs.
Ali mentioned how Vimeo uses productivity metrics and feedback from surveys to shape their employee experience strategies. She emphasized the qualitative aspect of gathering feedback from employees through focus groups and surveys to guide their decision-making. According to Ali, understanding the voices of employees makes it easier to justify programs and get leadership buy-in.
Keith, on the other hand, emphasized the importance of quantitative data when proposing new initiatives. He shared how he successfully advocated for hiring additional team members by providing clear data on workload and productivity. By presenting concrete numbers and tying them to outcomes, Keith was able to secure additional resources to meet the company's communication needs.
Keith voiced concerns about the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) in communications. He expressed skepticism over AI’s readiness, noting that while AI can automate tasks, it still lacks the nuance needed for effective communication. Keith emphasized the importance of communicators adding the human touch to content, which AI currently cannot replicate.
Ali shared her perspective on using AI as a tool to assist with initial drafts or brainstorming. While she agreed that AI isn’t perfect, she found it useful for generating content that her team could then refine and edit. This approach saves time and helps her tackle communication challenges more efficiently.
Use Epoch to plan your employee events and programs, then track analytics on how the events went! Epoch is an employee engagement platform used by people teams at Salesforce, Reddit, and more. Epoch supports any internal event that needs email, Slack announcements and reminders, calendaring, and reporting. On top of impactful engagement and feedback analytics, Epoch provides a simple way to communicate and promote events to your workforce, helping events reach employees where they prefer to receive messages.
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