T.This month we show how Nasdaq works through its effects Health and wellness Practices, especially a year after a global pandemic. We interviewed Nasdaq executives who help employees manage well-being and work-life integration in a remote setting. Rich Taylor, vice president of employee experience at Nasdaq, shares the leading culture in a remote setting.
Talk to us about your role as Vice President of Employee Experience at Nasdaq. What does that mean?
I manage many aspects of working at Nasdaq that make it a positive experience. This includes typical “HR” things such as training, career development as well as diversity and inclusion, but also broader cultural aspects such as empowerment, an innovative mindset and the question of whether it is easy or bureaucratic to get things done in the company.
What was one of the greatest opportunities or challenges in leading the Nasdaq employee experience in a remote setting?
I’m very skeptical of an employee experience leader who doesn’t really come out from behind his desk to hang out with employees and understand how they’re doing – but we couldn’t travel in a pandemic. So we had to find new ways to get involved, including zoom-based listening sessions and much more frequent all hands meetings (which were 100% driven by our CEO Adena Friedman).
How has the importance of corporate culture changed in the midst of a pandemic and remote working?
Many aspects of Nasdaq culture were reinforced during the pandemic. For example, Nasdaq employees are known to be effective and efficient, and this has never been more true than when the entire company had to move to remote working in a matter of weeks – which we did without missing a clock that many ran out of of world markets. But one less prominent aspect of Nasdaq culture has come to the fore and that is empathy. We have lots of kind, generous people at Nasdaq, and we’ve been very patient with each other as we’ve juggled challenging job roles with wild kids at home, barking dogs, and sometimes just taking a break.
What have you learned that employees have valued as part of the Nasdaq culture over the past year?
Employees were very grateful for Nasdaq putting employees first and providing a sense of security during this difficult time. Things as simple as sending out face masks at the start of the pandemic, giving a home office equipment allowance to every employee, and promising not to promise mass layoffs went a long way in reassuring people that we were actually all were together and we’d come through together. Our employee loyalty values rose significantly in response to this.
How has your team promoted the professional development of employees in a remote environment, especially those with burnout?
The pandemic accelerated our transition to digital-first operations, which meant we quickly adapted classroom training and even new employee onboarding to match online experiences. We also took the opportunity to introduce new professional development opportunities, including a core curriculum for everyone at every career level, a new mentoring program, and new technology training to keep Nasdaq on the cutting edge of SaaS and cloud development. We have combined this with additional free time in the form of “Flex Days” and new benefits such as backup childcare and the Calm app to support people in coping with a new, demanding work-life situation.
The views and opinions expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
