Putting Our Trust in Hire Thinking: Leveraging Trust in Attraction and Retention

Trust is the tie that builds and bonds. For over 20 years, Dr. Darryl Stickel, founder of Trust Unlimited, has been helping individuals and organizations open themselves up to one of the most sustainable, but vulnerable, resources on the planet—trust. Grounding his work on a model developed for his PhD on “Building Trust in Hostile Environments” from Duke University, Darryl has since become one of the world’s leading experts on a topic that gets a lot of talk, but too little action.

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Better Business Begins with Strategic HR Partnership at Heart

Julie DeBuhr, head of HR for 1Password, knows just how far the human resources profession has come—and how exhausting the last two years of the journey has been despite the exponential progress made on multiple fronts. From winning the respect of employers juggling people problems on every front to championing the success of remote workers, the ascendancy of HR as a key business partner has never been more apparent. That said, it has not come without burden—and more heavy lifting with a light touch lies ahead.

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Virtual Workplace Confidential (Making a Practice of Privacy in the Remote Era)

Despite workplaces closing shop overnight in March 2020 to reopen the next day in home offices, kitchens and living rooms across B.C., nothing has actually changed in the laws governing confidentiality or privacy rights in the remote era. As Keri Bennett, a partner with Roper Greyell LLP explained to us, good faith has gone a long way to maintaining the balance of trust, but lax practices can settle in with the growing fatigue. Fortunately, she also had a few great tips.

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Virtual Leadership Begins with Real Self-Awareness

With so many having risen to the surface in the past two years alone, naming the greatest challenge facing leaders in the virtual era is, well, challenging. In fact, as leadership expert, author and presenter Vanessa Judelman has discovered over the course of innumerable conversations and training sessions, the primary hurdle remains one of self awareness— accompanied by unprecedented shifts and ongoing, unpredictable change.

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How to Create Cultural Belonging in the Workplace

Creating a sense of belonging in the workplace is every bit as important as finding where you belong personally. It’s a passion that has fuelled Jessie Sutherland — an international speaker, trainer, consultant and the founder of Intercultural Strategies — who has devoted her career helping organizations and communities to engage diversity, build belonging and ignite intercultural collaboration.

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6 Competencies Every Remote Leader Needs to Cultivate

Remote work has been around for decades, but that’s still very new in the context of the working world. Speaking with PACT News, Candace Giesbrecht, the Director of the Teamit Remote Performance Academy, explained the foundational research behind remote leadership and the six competencies every remote leader needs to cultivate.

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Behaviour Change is Easy (and Other Myths about Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at Work)

I don’t think any founder will tell you they don’t want an inclusive workplace where all employees can do their best work. Unfortunately though, intent is only half the battle. When it comes to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) at work, we often think in terms of training and behaviour change. Speaking with Sharon Nyangweso, founder and CEO of QuakeLab, she explained why behaviour change being easy is a myth when it comes to DEI work – and what founders should do instead.

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What Wave Does to Bring Humanity Into Talent Acquisition

You can theoretically forgive companies for not being totally honest about the bad parts of working there when it comes to talent acquisition. After all, they need talent in the door. But when you remember how much of your life you spend at work, suddenly the empathy fades away. Wave understands this reality, so the company is not interested in lying to people to get a signed employment agreement. Speaking with PACT, Wave’s VP of Organizational Effectiveness Joshua Siegal shared what the company does to bring humanity into their talent acquisition process.

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Why Recruiters Should Think of Themselves Like Sport Scouts

There are a lot of analogies you can use about recruiting, but they all boil down to one thing: in a heated war for talent, companies need to work even harder (and get more innovative) to find the right talent at the right time. Speaking with PACT News, Dan Jacob, the Head of Partnership and Development for The Knowledge Society (TKS) shared why he thinks recruiting should be more like sports scouting than anything else.

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The 4 Pillars of Emotional Intelligence for Startup Leaders

Emotional intelligence (or emotional quotient – EQ) isn’t about being the nicest person in the room, it’s about being the most effective person in the room. EQ is what allows us to get our intellectual and emotional resources working in concert so that we can be at our best, and in turn help others be at theirs. Dr. Leeno Karumanchery knows this conundrum well as co-founder and head of behavioural science at MESH/diversity. Speaking with PACT News, he shared the four pillars of emotional intelligence for startup leaders.

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How To Take Your Meetings From Dull To Delightful

Aydin Mirzaee is a self-described tech-loving entrepreneur with a passion for building great products, leadership and people. He is CEO and co-founder of Fellow, an app that promises to help managers and their teams work better together—and one way they do that is by making every meeting a productive and delightful work session.

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How to identify when an employee is about to quit (and what you can do)

Not all employee turnover is bad, but when they call it the “Great Resignation,” you’re forgiven for worrying. Thankfully, help is on the way. Debby Carreau has helped hundreds of companies with turnover and hiring through her company Inspired HR. Speaking with PACT, Debby shared her insights on how to identify when an employee is about to quit (and what you can do).

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How To Embed DEI Into Your Corporate Culture

Sage Franch is the founder and CEO of Crescendo DEI, a company on a mission to advance equity for all in all workplaces. It is a platform combining software and the human touch to deliver micro-learning opportunities and organizational analytics, for a personalized learning journey of diversity, equity and inclusion training unique to each individual.

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The Simple Processes CoLab Uses to Build Company Culture

As many startups grappled with the COVID-19 pandemic, CoLab was just finding its footing. Over the past year, the St. John’s, Newfoundland startup scaled from 20 to 50 people and is continuing to hire. Speaking with Tech Talent North, co-founder and CEO Adam Keating explained the simple processes CoLab uses to scale their culture as they scale the team.

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How Rewind Scaled its Culture as it Scaled its Customer Base

Mike Potter, the CEO of Rewind, believes culture is the driving force behind startup growth. Yet he also doesn’t follow traditional advice to build a certain system when the company was small, and a different system as it grew. Speaking with Tech Talent North, Mike shared how he views culture and how he scaled up Rewind’s culture as the company scaled up its customer base. 

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For Axonify, Culture Starts at the CEO Level

Waterloo-based Axonify, which provides a training and communication solution for frontline workers, has long prioritized culture as an important part of building the company. It’s why, every year since 2017, Axonify has been recognized as a Great Place to Work. Great Place to Work certifies workplaces based on internal benchmarks, and against other companies around the world with strong cultures.

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The difference between scaling from 0-50 and 50-100+, according to HiMama CEO Ron Spreeuwenberg

When a company is scaling, a lot changes about how to hire and retain the right talent. CEOs now have to think about the right processes that didn’t come to mind back in the scrappy startup days, and the question of seeking profitability or raising investment becomes an important one. In this wide-ranging interview, Ron Spreeuwenberg, CEO of HiMama, talks SAAS North about what changed when his company reached the 50+ employee milestone, and staying true to yourself as a founder.

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How Jobber supports employees at every step: CPO Sara Cooper explains

When growing a company, it can be difficult to grow your talent alongside your values. That’s why Jobber is intentional about growth and equity at every step of the way. In this feature, chief people officer Sara Cooper explains how Jobber keeps employees engaged in their career development, and how they prevent bias in hiring practices.

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P A C T People and Culture in Tech Newsletter #1

Hello!Welcome to our first edition of P | A | C | T!  Your bi-weekly newsletter about People And Culture in Tech!  I’ll be sharing exclusive interviews on topics affecting you and your teams, in addition to compiling tactical tips, hot news stories, and my favourite content from other leading publications, books, and podcasts.We want this newsletter to be valuable for you… Read More

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Latest Posts

Putting Our Trust in Hire Thinking: Leveraging Trust in Attraction and Retention

Better Business Begins with Strategic HR Partnership at Heart

Virtual Workplace Confidential (Making a Practice of Privacy in the Remote Era)

VanHack Waives Placement Fees and Fuels Global Opportunities for Ukrainian Tech Talent

Virtual Leadership Begins with Real Self-Awareness