Workhuman at the Wildhorse:
Connections, Insights, Achievements

Cowbell, anyone? That was the resounding noise at our customer celebration as attendees used their cowbells in place of applause while peers accepted awards. From mingling over moonshine to the awards dinner hosted by the lively duo of Workhuman’s Executive Vice President of Customer Strategy Chris French and CHRO Steve Pemberton, it was surely a Nashville night to remember. Here are some highlights:

Congratulations to our award winners:

Culture Award 
Abbott 
Baker Hughes a GE Company

Amplify Award 
Icon 
Mastercard

Best-in-class 
Proctor & Gamble

Accelerate Award
Edwards Life Sciences 
First Tech Federal Credit Union 
Momentive Performance Materials

Best-in-class 
BP

Innovator of the Year Award 
Dell Technologies, Inc.

Luminary Award 
Cisco Systems

 

A thank you to our ambassadors

Jennifer Wilson
Compensation Manager,
Amgen

Eva Macian
Sr. Compensation Business Partner,
Intuit

Sharon Reynolds
Rewards Manager,
Symantec Corportation

Colleen Burgess
Director of Compensation & Market Intelligence,
Dell Technologies

Greg Treuhaft
Compensation Consultant,
Cisco Systems

Denise La Mere
Sr. Director, Talent Mgmt & Development,
UnitedHealth Group

Nancy Brickman
Director, Organizational Performance,
Amerisource Bergen

Amanda Linard
Compensation Director,
Cardinal Health

Cesar Villa
Director Global Compensation,
Cardinal Health

Darlene Marino
Compensation Manager,
Corning Incorporated

Alice Carroll
System Director of Learning,
OhioHealth

Maytal Russ Comeras
Consultant, Culture,
Engagement and Inclusion,
OhioHealth

Kecia Reichstein
Human Resources Director,
Kaiser Permanente

Kerryn Smith
Product Owner, Performance & Recognition,
BP

Renata Krzeczkowski
Analyst, Global Compensation,
Edwards Life Sciences

John McGowan
Manager, Global Compensation,
Edwards Life Sciences

Rob Claudio
Benefits Lead,
Bristol-Myers Squibb

Roseann Kobialka
AVP Organizational Development,
Atlanticare

Lynn Boucher
Sr. Engagement Coordinator,
Baystate Health

Christine Souliere
Director, Human Resources,
C3i Solutions,
an HCL Technologies Company

Derek DeSousa
Director of Communication Programs & Events,
Citizens Bank

Jennifer Garber
Senior Manager, Human Resources,
Exact Sciences

Lindsey Prout
HR Director,
First Tech Federal Credit Union

Kelly Poulson
Coach. Dream Chaser. Ass Kicker.,
Kelly Poulson LLC

Rina Mathai
VP HR – Corporate Functions & Global HR Solutions,
Mitel

Sadaf Diwan
Director, Global Compensation,
Nutanix

Jennifer Sweda
Director, Global Compensation,
Nutanix

Mark Wojcik
Sr. Manager – Talent & Leadership Development,
PSAV

Laura Bolton
Employee Engagement Specialist,
Rehau, Inc.

Jennifer Wuertz
Director, Human Resources,
SSOE Group

Dave Bond
Director – Total Rewards & Talent Management,
The Minto Group

Leah Verhoeven
Program Manager, Human Resources,
Xilinx

Dave Watson
Global Solutions & User Experience Lead,
Merck

Michaela Leo
Director, Compensation,
Merck

Karin Rossi
Director, Global Talent and Organizational Development,
Qlik

Innovations & Libations

In past years, we’ve modeled this special event after the ABC series “Shark Tank” (and originally the European show “Dragon’s Den”) with Workhuman employees pitching product innovations that our customers then voted on. But in 2019, we decided on a new twist – we asked you, our customers, for your innovation ideas in advance. And boy did you deliver!

Of the three ideas pitched, two were collaborations with our customers, CAE and Cisco Systems. The pitches were followed by two minutes of collaborative brainstorm, and then a question period for the entrepreneur. After all three ideas were out, we voted using a real-time app – and then we had dinner, of course! Here are the highlights:

As attendees enjoyed Nashville-inspired signature cocktails and mingling, Workhuman’s VP Product Strategy Grant Beckett opened the evening with a nod to some of our past product innovations that have come out of these evenings. And then introduced the first entrepreneur to kick things off.

 

Pitch 1: Ronan O’Dulaing, Data Treasure Trove

Ronan’s pitch began with a question: What if I told you that you were sitting on a treasure trove of data which could give you insight you never thought possible? There are on average 53,733 unique words in each Workhuman Enterprise customer instance – this is more than in the entire body of Shakespeare’s works! This innovation proposed to build the capability of seeing patterns and behaviors in those words that could unlock insights from your data to help you make better decisions. To unlock or not to unlock – that was the question.

Pitch 2: Greg Stevens, Retention Safety Net

Retention is a big issue in today’s workplaces – and turnover is costly, but it could also be preventable. What if you could reengage people in real time? This innovation posed a three-part solution: AI that recognizes the early signs of disengagement, a system that reaches out and reengages those employees, and tools that help managers and HR identify and engage those people at risk.

Pitch 3: Marcy Ricci, Gratitude Accelerator

We need to empower others in our organization to help spread the seeds of gratitude – how can we do this? With the proposed Gratitude Accelerator functionality, program managers would still be very much in control, but would be able to delegate with due diligence things like mass awards or program creation. Identified power users could create mass recognition moments, identify the audience they wish to recognize, or add an entirely new program to meet business needs in an instant without encountering bottle necks. 

And the winner was…Pitch 3: Gratitude Accelerator!

Thank you to all of our customers who contributed ideas and also to those customers who showcased demos of their platforms in Workhuman Central for all to see: BP, Merck, and Qlik!