Episode Transcript
Speaker 1 00:00:01 Um, well, I believe it's not only important you to a pandemic situation, but also when a company scales up in so many different countries, I mean, with so different mentalities background, time zones and everything, also in a remote setting, it is essential to keep the human aspect of life. Um, if someone break in the eyes, show an empathy and understanding and connecting the different peers with each other. Um, and this is what we encourage with several social sceneries. During our welcome week, I have the impression that it's super beneficial to have one common point for all the people advisor who either answers to questions or provides the solutions for their problem or who can direct the person to do so
Speaker 2 00:00:49 Chrisy answer great to have you on scaling so far podcast. Thank you for joining us. Um, first off I'd to your personal, what's your personal journey to where you are today?
Speaker 1 00:01:00 Uh, you very much for having me, first of all, and my personal journey, I believe it has quite a rollercoaster. So, um, in my twenties, I traveled Europe, um, and worked as a bartender in hotels and clubs, even on a cruise ship. And, but after roughly seven years doing this, I settled in Berlin. And to be very, I didn't wanna work always during the nighttime, um, and still wanted to keep working very closely with people and learn about their individual journeys. So HR was the best option to do so, and this is where coach up came into play. Um, because honestly speaking in my opinion, recruiting and acting as an is not so different from being a bartend at all.
Speaker 2 00:01:47 Mm-hmm <affirmative> absolutely. Absolutely. And you've been with coach hub since, um, now in that people advisory role, before we jump into that, can you tell us a bit about coach Hub's mission and vision?
Speaker 1 00:01:59 Absolutely. So the vision of coach is to Democrat is coaching for people of all career levels worldwide, and we do this and for our mission and we help organizations to unleash their people's full potential here at culture. We realized that while we give every employee and access to their own business coach and from interns or working students up to leadership management, cause everyone just profits from that big benefit.
Speaker 2 00:02:30 Excellent. Excellent. And you started to talk about this earlier on, but how did your role of people advise come about? What does that look like in reality at hub? And what would you say is the part of employee life cycle that you come in?
Speaker 1 00:02:46 That's a very good question. Um, so when I joined culture, we were just roughly 35 employees. So the HR team was quite small. Um, and back then we used the trustful connection that was builded up a recruiter and the talent to guide them through the first weeks, but the more we grow and especially also at this high pace culture, we, um, focused on having literally someone who's dedicated to the whole communication and starting as soon as someone accepted our offer till their very first date. So basically a people advisor takes over after a contract assigned and takes on the full communication with the talent till their very first date. And on the other hand, we also organize and coordinate a welcome week for them. So this is a multiple day onboarding experience with deep pipe and presentations with social interactions, especially in those remote settings. These are super important to transfer the culture of culture. Absolutely. And so basically speaking to people, advisor steps in before the first day of the talent and is present through the whole whole employee cycle as a go to person for all employees.
Speaker 2 00:04:04 Excellent. I can imagine this role has been hugely important over the past couple of years with the global pandemic forcing remote work and many onboarding companies without meeting the teams or peers face to face. Um, but it's actually a role that amongst startups I think is relatively rare to C prioritized. Um, do you, especially environment prioritized
Speaker 1 00:04:31 It's not only, but a so C time zones and everything also in a remote setting, it is essential to keep the human aspect alive. Um, like someone breaking the eyes, show an empathy and understanding and connecting the different peers with each other. Um, and this is what we encourage with several social scene during our work week. I have the impression that it's super beneficial to have one common point for all the people advisor who either answers the questions or provides the solutions for their problem or who can direct the person to do so.
Speaker 2 00:05:16 Excellent. Um, just going slightly off script here, you've mentioned culture a couple of times and, um, it's something I've been very aware of, of working in scale up myself. Um, how, when in this remote environment, um, how are you making sure that people really getting on board with the culture and that you're able to keep that consistent in an organization?
Speaker 1 00:05:38 Um, like you mean in an organization in general or
Speaker 2 00:05:43 Think, think a coach hub. So what, what are you doing there to really make sure that culture people are embedded in the culture and they're living and breathing it so to speak, you've talked about some of the activities already mm-hmm <affirmative> so what, what was your part within that and what sort of things are you doing?
Speaker 1 00:05:55 Well, honestly, speaking for it, it, it is our product. So we have a couple of teams where it is completely focusing working on this so different, um, measures to scale it up, to get the beneficial, to also just, uh, keep a regular routine on it. Um, the own, like the business coach is not really having some for, to do with our people department mm-hmm <affirmative> cause it's something that every employee gets in our like two different teams actually taking care of this. Um, but the people advisor and the people team makes sure that in the very beginning of each talent, it's already very much transmitted. So when to expect that the journey starts whom to reach out to if they're appear any obstacles in between. I hope that answers the question.
Speaker 2 00:06:42 Yeah, absolutely. Thank you very much. Great. And when do you feel is the best time to bring in a people advisor role? Is, is it a certain stage of growth or are there any trigger points that prompt hiring people advisor?
Speaker 1 00:06:57 Well, as you said earlier, it's quite a unique role. So I think in some companies, um, if they have a big onboarding team, they can cover these tasks in some other companies, maybe people partner take it over. So it's really individual from company to company. Um, I believe that as soon as the company grows international and, or at the same time, also as a super massive speed, um, it's important to have a dedicated person or little team, um, who take care of those new and the existing employees. So to say so soon as you realize you cannot keep track of who's doing what, um, it needs someone to make sure that all valid information is passed on the new.
Speaker 2 00:07:42 Absolutely. And, and are your closest partners across the business, you know, is it talent, acquisition, people, managers, um, what, what have you found is key to success in building those?
Speaker 1 00:07:55 Uh, yes. So the closes partners, they're actually the very, so on this communication scale up to their first day, we're working super close with our tech support, the people operation team, and also the hiring managers. Um, but once an employee has been onboarded, so during the life cycle, it's mostly people partners in our employer, branding team we're interacting with. And as you're asking for keys of success, I think clear communication and having an agile mindset are the keys to success. So to provide an excellent service ahead of the start date needs clear information. Um, but then we're also still in a start of our scale up mentality. So the last minute comes in or a last minute change, and then we just find different ways to get them board and believe me, you get creative after a while.
Speaker 2 00:08:49 I'm sure you do. I'm sure you do. So it's, it's quite interesting. The next question, and, and I think this is very pertinent. It really feels like your role is the connective tissue between co hubs people in the business based on what you just said, probably wider than that as well. So how do you create an effective feedback loop in that respect? What sort of processes or practices do you have in place to make that happen, especially at the pace you perhaps need in that sort of scale environment?
Speaker 1 00:09:17 Well, we work with a, um, a feedback survey at the end of our welcome week. So to get instant insights from the people, well, their experience is really fresh. Um, but we're also quite aware. There's some things they reflect to us. We cannot change right away, especially when you setting up new countries. For example, then we just keep those points in mind and, uh, want to improve them at the right time. And I also strongly believe in like short coffee breaks or walking meetings. So real one-on-one settings because people just, they open up more easily in, in a one-on-one setting rather than in a group or an anonym survey. Um, but I think also when it's a scale up environment, I think you constantly have to, um, step up your feedback services and find new ways because changing environment also needs changing processes. So to say, so we're still learning.
Speaker 2 00:10:15 No, absolutely. And I think if up all those different things, plus the regular surveys, at least you're getting a near to real time reflection of what the employees feeling. So now that, that sounds very good. Um, you've got global offices across, I think, 17 locations from Amsterdam to Melbourne and New York AMAM being in newest hub. Is that right? Um,
Speaker 1 00:10:37 Yes and no, <laugh> actually the am actually the Amsterdam office was launched by the end of last year. And in the meantime, we're already open to up in Melbourne in Australia, the latest.
Speaker 2 00:10:48 Excellent. So you you're moving a rate of not, which is great. The culture's been recognized by companies such as glass, all LinkedIn and many other employee focused accolades that you've, um, how do you scale your culture and that people experience across your global hubs, what initiatives, rituals, or measures do you have in place to do that?
Speaker 1 00:11:09 That's a very good question. And honestly, also tricky to answer. So what, what we do is yes, we've got several hubs already, um, the world, but they're very different from our headquarters in Berlin. And the idea is that once we have a large number of employees based in a central location like London, Paris, or Melbourne, then our office management and workplace teams, um, organizes a hub for them. But it's up to the people in that location to transmit or to encourage us a bit more live in the culture. It's very different, a culture that is lived in Australia or the APEC area compared to one in north America or within the EA region. So we're highly depending also on our leadership being based in those areas. And mm-hmm, <affirmative> the more the helps grow. Um, after a while they might also grow into a real physical office. Then we also have an office management to, to support little daily, regular meetings, festivities, and so on and so forth.
Speaker 2 00:12:13 Good, good. And when it comes to new starter onboarding, do you have any secrets or must do activities or initiatives that you're able to share with us today?
Speaker 1 00:12:23 I'd love to <laugh>. So I believe with all the theory at onboarding session, like life presented or in videos, it just needs something to spice up. Um, the theory with some casual fun things. So what we do is beginning of our week, we just make a fellow newbies round. That's very where all new can easily connect in mingle. Um, we also create or virtual lunch breaks, um, especially between different different departments so that the peers can mingle with people they normally would not meet. Um, I believe one should never forget to take time for some fun and laughter
Speaker 2 00:13:07 Absolutely, absolutely spot on. Um, and what would you say, um, some of your biggest learnings are when it comes to a people or comes to people partnering, um, or is there one bit of advice you'll always pass on for folks going through your type of role?
Speaker 1 00:13:24 I would say to be open and agile and put yourself in the Newby shoes. Um, I, I think especially with onboarding, it is essential to remember your own needs or questions or even fears. Um, you had when you were starting a new job adventure. So taking their perspective can help to provide a really memorable experience in a positive way. And the second thing I wanna mention is transparency. Um, I believe it does not always mean to tell every information during the process, but to share the thoughts and reasons why a decision has been made, cause that supports acceptance and also the trust from relations with your employees.
Speaker 2 00:14:07 That sounds like a really good actually you've combination, empathy and transparency there, and very, very, a questions to bring our chat to a close today. Is there anything that you are super passionate about that you really find unapologetic amounts of joy in this can be of course be professional personal or,
Speaker 1 00:14:30 Um, to be honest, I still enjoy to be behind bar counter and create cocktails. No. Excellent.
Speaker 2 00:14:38 <laugh> um,
Speaker 1 00:14:38 If it would be a concert or a festival or club night, it just having fun in a very busy night and working and dancing while working, it just gives me much energy and due to the pandemic situation, it became rare. Um, sure. So this is something I really do enjoy and I do love to play Patong from time to time as well. Oh, wow. Yeah.
Speaker 2 00:15:03 Excellent. You'll be looking forward to everything going back to some level then. So, um, no, that's that's that's great. Um, and is there, is there a thoughts, value or phrase that you live by
Speaker 1 00:15:14 Christy? There are actually many, um, but my favorite one is, um, everyone you meet is fighting a battle. You do know nothing about. So be kind, always.
Speaker 2 00:15:26 Absolutely. And I probably couldn't be more pertinent than it is right now after the last few years. Um, Chrisy I really appreciate your time today. I've really enjoyed our, um, it's to and yeah, hopefully we'll see you soon. You
Speaker 1 00:15:41 Thank you very much for me. A pleasure.
