The Employee Handbook

A monthly newsletter about current challenges and conversations for values-driven HR professionals

Building a Thriving Virtual Community

Here’s a tale of real corporate ambition. In 2020, the global energy behemoth Baker Hughes constructed an elaborate blueprint for a five-day gathering for learning and skill-building. The pandemic quickly ended those plans.?

Enter Sean Conley, Baker Hughes’ chief learning officer. Conley wasn’t about to let his co-workers, all 55,000 of them, down. An aficionado of all things social media, he took to the digital realm and created a virtual voyage to accomplish all of the collaboration and learning that would have been done in those five days.?

This virtual learning community “needed to be a safe environment for people, and it needed to be fun,” he told our audience in a recent virtual fireside chat.?

So, maybe you want to create your own virtual learning community–or you already have one, but people aren’t participating. You’re in luck. Using the acronym LED, Conley sheds light on three different ways to boost participation.?

L - Learn

Folks can access e-learning courses and curricula they complete on their own. You can choose what you want to learn, on your own time.

E - Engage

Employees are able to chat with other learners or get coached along the way.?

D - Deliver?

There’s an opportunity for employees to teach what they know. Have a skill that you don’t often get to show off? Well, this is your time to shine.?

The learning community is so successful because engagement is built in and the learners have agency. “Our evolution is to let the learners guide the community and run the community,” said Conley.?

And, of course, the experience is gamified: Workers can earn badges by learning, engaging, and leading, and many do so. Who doesn’t love games??

You can read more about Sean Conley’s fireside chat session here.?

Community Beyond the Workplace

People everywhere have a strong desire to contribute–not only to their workplace communities, but also to society at large. In 2019, 90% of S&P 500 companies proudly shared their Corporate Social Responsibility reports–a remarkable rise from the 20% back in 2011.

How are you making a positive impact? Leaders from WizeHive and a few other organizations focused on doing good gave us a few ideas.?

The takeaway: If you’re not utilizing AI to enhance your ever-important CSR efforts and micro-actions, you definitely should be. Read the recap or watch the recording and share with colleagues.?

Join us!

We recently celebrated our fifth anniversary! In just five years, we’ve created a community of 72,000 attendees across our virtual and in-person programming. If you haven’t already (or if you have and loved it), we hope you’ll join us soon.?

Here’s what we’re up to:

We’re hosting a half-day virtual conference on Nov. 8 about “Casting a Wider Net: Fresh, Productive Approaches to Diversity Recruiting.” Leaders including M&T Bank’s Chief Diversity Officer Glenn Jackson and JCPenney’s Head of Inclusion and Belonging Shenece Johns will be there to offer expertise on topics ranging from improving the talent pipeline to AI in diversity recruiting.?

Here’s the agenda. Your exclusive, complimentary VIP pass is waiting for you here.

We also recently announced a new calendar of virtual events. We’ll be meeting to discuss topics like DEI, the future of benefits, and energizing your workforce.

Too busy for a half-day event? We also have a wide selection of 60-minute webinars here. Those cover trending topics from student-loan support to building loyalty.?

And, of course, we’d love the chance to connect in the real world at one of our full-day live conferences. We were just in Boston talking about conscious capitalism, workplace culture, generative AI and the employee experience. Click here to see when we’re coming to a city near you.

See you there!