Talent Acquisition Roundtable.

• Author: Bicknell, Lindsay

This month, we partnered with Kim Wittman, VP of talent acquisition at Vivint to host a roundtable event featuring Utah's talent acquisition leaders speaking on company culture mid-pandemic, hybrid work models, and acquiring talent in a post-pandemic world. Moderated by Elisa Gam, executive director of Utah SHRM and VP of digital brand at GBS Benefits, Inc., here are a few highlights from the discussion.

What have you done to maintain and improve culture during the pandemic?

Kim Wittman | VP, Talent Acquisition & HR Partner, Corporate & Technology | Vivint

We had a lot of urgency around intentional culture building and making sure that the teams had what they needed, not just from an equipment perspective, but also that they had the right setup to do their work within the teams that they were part of. As time went on, this became more and more challenging because people started to be comfortable in what they're doing. So we implemented things like weather surveys that went out once a week just to get a pulse on what the organization was feeling.

Sheena Blauvelt, SHRM-SCP | Director of Human Resources | USANA Health Sciences

We all had to transition to working remotely, which a lot of our managers were completely against previously, and then they had no choice but to make it work. Some of them have just decided we'll continue to stay remote, but it was important to us that we maintain those lines of communication. We also moved all of our learning and development online very quickly. In addition to that, we offered some networking opportunities because we recognize that one of the things missing when you work from home is that quick interaction where you see people in the hall, or you just stop by someone's office. So we offered some opportunities for virtual networking.

Chad Littlefield | VP of HR & People Solutions | Industrial Supply Company

We had to become much more flexible because we didn't have that many people who could work from home--we were [considered essential]. We found that we had to rethink almost all of our policies regarding attendance and distancing. And a lot of those things that we had to rethink were things that I had been hoping to push forward for a long time but now had the advantage of the pandemic to help implement.

Mat Parrish | Talent Acquisition Manager 11-800 Contacts

After about two months of being home, [our leadership team] hired three different psychologists to be on standby for any of our associates and their family members for any [mental health concern] free of charge. In fact, we still have them on a retainer right now.

What are you doing to stand out from a talent acquisition standpoint considering the current shortage?

Chad Littlefield | VP of HR & People Solutions | Industrial Supply Company

I can tell you that we're failing. I don't know what we're going to do, honestly. But what's really made a difference for us is [retaining] what we have, making sure that we're valuing people and recognizing contribution. But beyond that, the only success that we've really had in recruiting or attracting talent...