5 Takeaways from Gloat CEO’s talk with Seagate’s CHRO

On Thursday, April 15th, Ben Reuveni, Gloat’s CEO, met up with Patricia Frost, Seagate Technology’s CHRO, to talk about HR’s role in innovation, cultural transformation, hybrid work models and talent management, in a Gloat-hosted event. The high-profile meeting provided participants with exclusive insights into the reasoning and processes of enterprise-level HR, as well as thoughts on the future of talent management and skill development. Perhaps most importantly, though, the two discussed methods to boost adoption rates of technologies like the Talent Marketplace, and encourage acceptance of change and advancement.

Reuveni and Frost are both pioneering HR entrepreneurs, but the similarities don’t end there; the conversation started with both leaders speaking about how the found their way into HR through their military service – a setting which heavily influenced and shaped the way they approach talent and skill management, as well as how they think about their and their organizations’ responsibilities towards those in their employ. In a sense, the lessons they learned there are the core tenants and experiences on which they still base their attitudes to HR today.

1. People are Everything

“In the army, what I learned from day one was that people are everything,” Reuveni said.

“If you develop your people, and if you help them be successful where they are and in what they are doing, the company as a whole will be very, very successful.

A significant part of the value of a company is its human capital – so how do you handle that? How can you make sure your human capital is aligned with your business?

In some organizations, I see that understanding is still missing. It’s not just HR – it’s much more than that. HR should drive the entire workforce in light of the company’s success. They should be aligned; even the end-employee in the smallest position should be aligned with the company’s values and the company’s KPIs. We need to make sure everyone, when they’re thinking about the company, has the ability to think about how they contribute to making it successful.

So how do you align that? How do create more engagement? How do you make your employees happier? I think that in the next few years, we’ll be seeing more and more companies and products dealing with these questions.”

I reached out to my HR colleagues, and asked ‘who out there really understands internal mobility?’ My previous experience had taught me the value of artificial intelligence and I knew how that could really accelerate what we were doing at Seagate, and that brought me to Gloat.”

2. Tremendous Value in the Workforce

“There’s tremendous value in the workforce,” Frost said. “When I think about COVID, and especially those in manufacturing, companies have continued to be successful on the backs of those on the front lines. So let’s recognize that for a moment, and thank those front line workers, who’ve kept profitability high, because they had to come in to the workplace. So let’s value the entire employee chain and understand that everyone should be part of the shared success of any company.

I reached out to my HR colleagues, and asked ‘who out there really understands internal mobility?’ My previous experience had taught me the value of artificial intelligence and I knew how that could really accelerate what we were doing at Seagate, and that brought me to Gloat.”

3. 88% Adoption Within 45 Days

It’s clear that Frost is a big proponent of the Talent Marketplace as a concept, but what’s truly impressive about her implementation of this technology at Seagate is the high adoption rate she’s managed to drive – and the speed at which she’s done so.

“We managed to get 88% of our employees registered. They registered within almost 45 days, which is pretty incredible – but more important than that is the high profile completion rate; 87% of those registered have a high profile completion rate,” Frost explained.

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“There were two different ways in which we approached this. First, I had help; I had the CEO’s support. We decided that hiring managers could not go externally to hire, until you used the platform we call Career Discovery – which is powered by Gloat’s Talent Marketplace. All hiring managers had to start with Career Discovery, and they had to ensure they had exhausted every opportunity internally before they could come back to HR and say ‘I would like to go externally for this position.’

And that all starts with how an employee fills out their profile.”

4. Not Looking for the 100% Solution

“One major behavioral change that we had to get our hiring managers used to, was to stop looking for the 100% solution. We said that a 75-80% fit as we are using Career Discovery had to be enough – and if we still couldn’t find the right candidate, that was a good way for us to start understanding where our skill gaps are in the company.

The other thing that was done was starting an upskilling program, to get that 80-100% candidate, internally. So they might start off being 80% right for the job, and we would then top that up with an academic curriculum, to ensure that they can be successful.

So it’s easy to understand an employee’s hesitation to apply for a job they’re not a full fit for, but in that case we have to really stand behind our words in our actions, and invest in bringing them through that last stretch.

Because, hey, let’s be honest – we rarely hire someone who has a 100% of the skills that we need, anyway.”

5. The Road Ahead

“So far, we’ve received really positive feedback from our employees about the Talent Marketplace, but there are places we are still excited to go to in the future in our partnership with Gloat.

Mobile, for instance; we have a lot of employees who don’t necessarily work from a desk each day. With a mobile platform, we look forward to bringing them in to Career Discovery as well.

Career pathing, as well, is so important. With it, employees feel that they own and they can architect their career journey. Ideally, I’d like their next step to be within Seagate, but as a true professional, I’d like to help them, if I can, find their right fit in another company, because then that maybe makes them Seagate For Life, and they’ll talk about what a great experience they’ve had at Seagate, but also – because it helps them on their journey, and if Career Discovery, powered by Gloat, does that, and they recognize where their true fit is, then I’ve done my job as a leader.”