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Exclusively with HRO, Dianne DeSevo shares how to drive a new chapter of employee engagement in a performance-driven glocal culture, with technology, and most importantly, understanding and role modelling.
Retaining talent has become more challenging in the fast-evolving and increasingly complicated world of work. HR leaders now play a more strategic role in leading a company through the headwinds and tailwinds by shaping a corporate culture to create a workplace where people want to stay and thrive.
This is well exemplified by Dianne DeSevo, Chief People Officer at Dow Jones.
Having joined the global provider of business and financial news and information in 2021, right in the middle of the pandemic while the company was in a time of transition, the New York-based HR leader has been instrumental in helping the company strengthen and support its workforce as well as develop the Dow Jones culture.
“What’s been most satisfying to me about my time at Dow Jones so far is the way my team and I have been able to have an impact on the company’s culture and the ways in which we all work,” she tells HRO’s Tracy Chan during her recent visit to Hong Kong.
“Our now CEO (Almar Latour) had assumed the role the year before and was thinking critically about how to orient the business. Together, we have made a number of functional changes that have moved the company forward.”
Driving changes to make an impact
To navigate the critical time and address the evolving employees’ needs and preferences during and after the pandemic, Dow Jones has since implemented several prominent HR initiatives under the new leadership, including:
- a fully hybrid work model with global employees in the office three days a week;
- an enhanced benefits package with expanded paid parental leave to 20 weeks for all benefit-eligible employees, regardless of caregiver status, and expanded bereavement leave with removal of the family member qualifier from it; as well as
- the recent introduction of a one-week-per-quarter remote work perk to all employees.
Apart from the above, another way to make a difference in the company's culture has been changing the way of thinking about the workspace.
"When I joined, I was given oversight of our facilities team, which we have shifted into a workplace evolution team,” she elaborates.
This development has brought in a new addition – Anthony Parzanese, who oversees the global real estate for the company. “His role is to think deeply about how we can transform our physical offices to create employee-driven services and special moments for our staff. He has done amazing work in this space which has made a huge difference to the culture.”
The changes DeSevo and the team have made have had a significant impact on the company, and a lot of effort has been put into creating an open and fun culture at Dow Jones – one that she is really proud of. “We all work incredibly hard, but it is also an enjoyable experience to have fun while doing great work,” she says.
Dow Jones' People Team
Focusing on performance
During the transition, Dow Jones has laid out its intent to become a performance-driven company and introduced 'PerformancePlus', a holistic approach to view and measure employee performance, both individually and organisationally.
With this approach, the company has made clear the expectation that employees would think about how their performance contributes to Dow Jones’ success, and, importantly, that the company would be equally vested in contributing to the success of each employee.
“We take seriously our commitment to providing tools and resources that can help employees further their ambitions and grow in their careers,” DeSevo affirms.
To that end, the company has recently named Susan Flack, a long-time Dow Jones HR executive, as Head of Learning & Development, where her focus is on creating essential training opportunities for employees across the organisation.
This also comes with the introduction of a series of secondments within the company, which allows employees to temporarily work within a different department or with the parent company to gain invaluable experience through a special project that will ultimately benefit the team.
“Dow Jones has a wide array of businesses and roles within our portfolio, and giving people the opportunity to move throughout the organisation and test out new skills is yet another way to build a really strong workforce.”
Going ‘glocal’ with diverse talent
DeSevo agrees that in every industry and role, there are certain hard skills that professionals must have to qualify for a specific role, but to really help them stand out and succeed are soft skills, including critical thinking, a strong work ethic, high emotional intelligence, curiosity, and kindness. And these attributes are what Dow Jones looks for.
To build the most effective and high-functioning teams, the company places an emphasis on hiring people with diverse perspectives, backgrounds, working styles, and interests to represent the diverse audiences and customers it is serving.
As a global organisation housing more than 5,000 employees, DeSevo believes it is crucial to have a culture that embraces regional or local flavours. Not only does this enable adaptation to local regions, effective communication with all colleagues, and cultural sensitivity and inclusivity, it also fuels creativity and innovation.
To cultivate this idea of a 'glocal' culture, Dow Jones has been holding global all-hands meetings. While most of the meetings are broadcast out of its headquarters in New York, the company has set up a series of local watch parties to allow colleagues from around the globe to gather and get updates from across the business with executive leaders in those regions.
Meanwhile, smaller regional and business unit town halls have also been held, where leaders from other teams or offices participate. These town halls provide an opportunity for external leaders to talk about the company’s overall plans with localised content, making it relatable to the respective region and its employees.
To further promote diversity, equity, and inclusivity, employee-led 'Inclusive Resource Groups' are also active in all regions with localised initiatives for each region. “For instance, in the US, we have a group dedicated to promoting Asian culture, while in Asia, this same group narrows their focus further and promotes Southeast Asian culture,” DeSevo explains.
Working more efficiently and effectively with technology
With much of Dow Jones’ business and services provided to customers underpinned by technology, DeSevo equates how technology is used as an HR tool similar to how the company treats the customers. To her, technology is an essential part of the approach to work for the employees.
“Empowerment and giving people the ability to go deeper and access tools and resources is a huge part of how we leverage technology to aid people in their day-to-day roles,” she shares.
One example of how the company has embraced technology as an HR function is with the launch of ‘Sofi’ for HR, a self-service tool which empowers employees to take control of many of their HR-related tasks and questions through a dedicated platform.
While Sofi automates a lot of the general information and question-solving part of the HR role, it has allowed the HR team to focus on the high touch, higher impact parts of the job that require and benefit from human engagement and interactions.
“Technology is an enablement tool for us, and we have found that since introducing Sofi for HR earlier this year, we have been able to vastly reduce the number of emails our people team fields, unlock powerful data capture and analysis capabilities, and significantly improve the overall employee experience,” says DeSevo.
“The intangible results are that we are continuing to foster a culture where employees are engaging with our platforms and resources more often and at their convenience, and finding different touch points through which they can learn more about Dow Jones and feel a connection to our overall culture.”
Engaging people through understanding and role modelling
After all, DeSevo believes the best way to retain top talent is pretty simple: give them good work to do and foster a culture in which they can grow and where they enjoy showing up to work every day.
“People don’t quit jobs, they quit bosses and they quit cultures. If you create an environment in which people feel safe and seen at work, they enjoy the work they are doing and they believe in what the company stands for, you will retain top talent,” she indicates.
“That’s why it is so important to not only have a company vision that is clear and accessible, but also to work hard at building a culture that supports the calibre of talent that you hope to attract and retain.”
Therefore, as a leader, she strives to empower people to be their best selves, and to do their best work, by understanding their needs.
“It is important to really know your team and the individuals in it and to understand their needs and give people what they need to succeed, fully recognising that it is different for everyone,” she says. “Some need space and some need more mentoring and coaching. Knowing the difference is important.”
And she strongly believes in the power of relationships and that forming connections with co-workers and employees is essential for success. “Soft skills like emotional intelligence and really understanding how to relate to your colleagues and team members comes into play.”
Another key to engaging employees is prioritising their wellbeing. Viewing the topic of employee wellbeing as being more about leadership than policies, DeSevo emphasises the importance of making sure the policies, benefits, and structures are in place to support employees, and then walking the talk as leaders.
She herself has taken this responsibility seriously and is very intentional about modelling the types of behaviours that she wants her team to internalise.
“I work hard and have a high standard for myself and others, but I also appreciate the need for balance and flexibility,” she asserts. “As a leader, I try my best to practice what I preach and to lead by example.”
She cites taking paid time off (PTO) as an example. “As a leader, if you don’t take PTO – or don’t fully disconnect when you are on it – your team members won’t either. If you’re sending emails at night and on weekends when it isn’t urgent or time-sensitive, your employees are internalising that as normal and will do it too. I’m a big fan of ‘schedule send’ on email for a reason!”
Be gratified by the past, get prepared for the future
Recalling her HR journey of more than 25 years, DeSevo remarks that she has had many memorable milestones. Among all these moments, what stands out to her the most is how many incredible people she has met and had the opportunity to work with along the way.
“When I have changed jobs or moved into other companies, what has been most rewarding are the relationships I have built and fostered,” she reflects.
“I have developed many lasting friendships with people who I respect and with whom I have enjoyed working with. The ability to build teams and create a core group of colleagues who have chosen to follow me along this journey has been really gratifying.”
Going forward, in the face of all the business and economic uncertainties ahead, she understands there is so much unknown that cannot be planned for. Therefore, she believes the most important thing as a leader is to focus and not get distracted by noise.
“I have learned to accept the fact that every minute is uncertain,” she says frankly.
“As a business and as a leader, you have to have a clear vision, know where you are going, and how you are going to get there. You have a large group of people following you on that path. Be prepared for challenges and bumps ahead and practise resilience.”
She concludes: “The path is likely going to change dozens of times, but if you stay focused on your goals, you will be able to get back on track each time. And throughout the challenges and hard work that are ahead, make sure you find some time to have fun along the way.”
All photos / Provided
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