Employee Recognition and Innovation at HPE

The Next Practices Weekly call series has become a well-attended and wide-ranging discussion for HR leaders each Thursday at 11am ET / 8am PT. On this week's call, i4cp Membership Director Jenelle Buatti, and i4cp Senior Research Analyst Tom Stone, facilitated a conversation with special guests Samanntha Dubridge, Vice President of Global Benefits, Culture & People Experience and Cile Lucas, Global Culture & Team Member Experience Lead at HPE, the Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company. Here are some highlights from the call:

• HPE is a global edge-to-cloud company that delivers solutions as a service that help organizations connect, protect, analyze, and act on all their data and applications. HPE was formed in 2015 after a split from HP Inc. HPE has about $30B in revenue, around 60,000 global team members, produces around 1,000 patents annually, and recently was #32 on Fortune's 100 Best employers.
• HPE's four core beliefs help to shape their culture, with each having three related behaviors:
  • We believe in accelerating what's next. (Obsess over the customer; Look beyond the competition; Commit and go)
  • We believe in bold moves. (Be relentlessly curious; Embrace courage over comfort; Fail fast, learn, and improve)
  • We believe in the power of 'Yes We Can'. (Exercise healthy impatience; Push for better; Demonstrate WE before I)
  • We believe in being a force for good. (Solve for humanity with humanity; Use technology to make the world better; Be unconditionally inclusive)
• Similar, HPE has a "Four E's" of How We Lead:
  • Engage: Energize others to collaborate and win together
  • Empower: Develop and enable our people to succeed
  • Evolve: Demonstrate courage and boldness to transform
  • Execute: Obsess over our customers and deliver excellence
• They shared how HPE integrates culture into the daily lives of their team members:
  • Culture component in senior leader meetings and goals
  • Tailored approach to key segments (e.g., Sales, Tech)
  • 700+ Culture Catalyst Network
  • Campaigns and events for key culture beliefs and moments
  • Global team member contests
• They also shared their holistic approach to team member wellbeing, which they provide tools and resources across four pillars: Physical health, Financial well-being, Mental and emotional health, Community well-being. Three campaigns that they shared were:
  • Global Wellness Challenges: twice a year, team members connect with each other and increase their physical activity.
  • Financial Well-Being Campaign: Tools, webinars, 1:1 consultations, to help team members with budgeting, investing, and preparing for life's big moments.
  • International Women's/Men's Days: Focus on mental and emotional health issues more common among women and men.
• One of two innovation-focused initiatives that they shared about was called "The Innovation Quest." The purpose is to reinforce the role of innovation in HPE transformation, to fuel the spirit of innovation as part of their culture, and to create potential for game-changing outcomes. The Innovation Quest is an annual global contest inviting team members to submit their boldest and most innovative ideas to accelerate our transformation. It includes executive sponsorship and finalist judging at EC level, and has had 1,600 ideas submitted in first 3 years. All ideas are referred to the business for consideration, with winners participating in a development forum and securing resources to implement.
• The other innovation-focused initiative is called "Escape the Red Tape." It is a global team member contest for ideas to remove inefficiency and drive productivity/engagement. Ideas are submitted under three categories: "Fix it", "Accelerate it", or "Eliminate it". They've seen over 650 entries narrowed down to 22 finalists, with winners in each category selected by the CEO and executive team, with support and project team then provided. Celebration for all winners reinforces HPE's commitment and spirit of innovation.
• They also shared what the key areas of focus are for their HR team -- the initiatives that are helping HPE to sustain high engagement and low attrition, while helping to attract talent and accelerate business transformation: culture and innovation; Hybrid work environment; Team member wellbeing; and Team norms and future of work.

Links to resources shared on the call:

• Upcoming i4cp virtual events
• i4cp's Next Practices Now conference
• Information on i4cp Membership
• i4cp's The Productivity Predicament report (members only)
• i4cp’s The Productivity Predicament brief (publicly available)
• i4cp’s Next Practices in Holistic Well-Being (report)

 

This event is approved for certification credits.