Featuring scholarly and practitioner insights from HR and people leaders, industry experts, and researchers.

In this podcast episode, Dr. Jonathan H. Westover talks with Jevon Wooden integrating empathetic leadership into your strategies. Jevon Wooden is a sought-after speaker, coach, and author specializing in empathetic leadership. A veteran, CEO, and expert in emotional intelligence and DISC, he empowers leaders to build high-performing teams, foster thriving workplace cultures, and achieve sustainable business growth. Jevon's insights have been featured in Forbes, Entrepreneur, Inc. Magazine, and more.  Check out all of the podcasts in the HCI Podcast Network (https://www.podbean.com/podcast-network/HCI) !

In this HCI Webinar, Dr. Jonathan H. Westover talks with Jeremy Robinson about how executive coaching will impact HR in the future. Jeremy Robinson’s career as a leadership coach and trainer/developer of executive coaches has had breadth and depth since it’s inception. His executive coaching work skyrocketed in the early 2000 as buzz about the benefits of training key talent in emotional intelligence was starting to get loud. Robinson was sought out by several major pharmaceutical and financial service corporations which had just put serious efforts into designing executive coaching initiatives for key talent and high potentials. He migrated success at those companies through his knack at winning an over eighty-percent rate of coaching chemistry meetings with prospective clients. Soon, he became known as an executive coaching generalist who worked with both large and small organizations that had a commitment to empowering female, African-American, Latino and LGBTQ+ leaders. His practice has continued to develop as Jeremy has added a team coaching certification and group coaching work to his executive coaching remit. To date his has coached over 400 executive coaching clients.

This research introduces Employee Experience Capital (EEC), a strategic framework designed to help organizations integrate fragmented investments into a unified resource ecosystem. Rather than managing digital tools, wellness programs, and sustainability goals as isolated initiatives, the authors argue for a cohesive system that shapes a holistic employee journey. This integrated approach drives business performance through two primary psychological channels: work resonance, which provides purpose, and employee vitality, which supplies the energy needed for productivity. The research highlights seven core dimensions, including digital autonomy and inclusive cognition, that collectively transform human capital into a sustainable competitive advantage. Ultimately, the guide offers a roadmap for leaders to move beyond initiative fatigue and toward a work environment where human flourishing directly fuels organizational success.

Many organizations invest heavily in various tools, programs, and initiatives aimed at improving employee well-being, productivity, and sustainability. Despite these investments, results such as improved engagement, reduced burnout, and stronger connection often fail to materialize. The primary reason is resource fragmentation: companies implement isolated solutions that do not integrate with each other, leading to confusion, wasted effort, and employee cynicism. For example, providing wellness apps without addressing a culture of constant interruptions undermines the intended benefits. Highlights 💡 Organizations often invest heavily in workplace initiatives but fail due to fragmented resources. 🔗 Employee Experience Capital (EEC) integrates tools and programs into a coherent system. 🧩 EEC is built on seven drivers: digital autonomy, inclusive cognition, sustainability alignment, AI synergy, mindful design, learning agility, and wellness technology. 🌱 Integration of EEC drivers creates work resonance and employee vitality, driving performance and retention. 📈 Real-world examples from Infosys, Unilever, Aetna, and Siemens demonstrate EEC’s effectiveness. 🔄 Implementation involves mapping resources, experimenting with bundles, measuring outcomes, and scaling successes. 🤝 EEC ownership must be shared across the organization for sustainable impact. Key Insights 🔍 Resource Fragmentation Undermines Investment Returns: Many companies pour budgets into separate programs without integration, leading to wasted effort and employee frustration. This insight highlights that the mere presence of resources is insufficient without strategic alignment and coherence. Fragmented initiatives can even create contradictions, such as wellness apps paired with stressful work cultures, fostering cynicism rather than engagement. 🏗️ Employee Experience Capital as a Systemic Framework: EEC reframes workplace resources from isolated perks into a deliberately designed, interconnected system. This systemic perspective encourages leaders to think of resources as capital that grows in value when aligned, similar to financial or intellectual capital. It shifts the focus from “adding programs” to “building ecosystems” that mutually reinforce employee success. 🚀 Seven Drivers Provide a Comprehensive Blueprint: The seven drivers address the multifaceted nature of modern work and employee needs—from autonomy in digital tools to inclusive cognition that values neurodiversity, to sustainability that connects purpose with daily tasks. This comprehensive framework ensures that both technological and human factors are balanced, fostering an environment where employees feel both capable and valued. 🌐 Psychological States of Resonance and Vitality Link to Performance: EEC’s real power lies in activating work resonance (alignment of values and purpose) and employee vitality (energy and focus). These states underpin discretionary effort, retention, innovation, and daily productivity. This insight connects the intangible psychological experience with measurable business outcomes, emphasizing that employee well-being and organizational success are deeply intertwined. 🔄 Integration Over Isolation Yields Synergistic Benefits: The examples from leading companies show that combining EEC drivers—such as pairing AI tools with human oversight or coupling wellness apps with mindful work design—leads to greater trust, engagement, and productivity. This demonstrates that integration is not just beneficial but essential for realizing the full potential of workplace resources. 🛠️ Practical Implementation Requires a Systematic Approach: The five-step process—map, experiment, measure, share, and scale—provides a practical roadmap for leaders to transition from fragmented programs to integrated systems. This incremental approach reduces risk, builds momentum, and allows for continuous learning, making the transformation manageable and sustainable. 🤝 Cross-Functional Ownership is Critical: EEC cannot be the sole responsibility of HR. Involving IT, sustainability teams, line managers, and employees themselves distributes ownership and accountability. This collaborative governance model ensures that resources are relevant, effectively integrated, and continuously adapted to evolving needs, reinforcing the ecosystem’s resilience and impact. If this helped, please like and share the video. #EmployeeExperience #EEC #WorkplaceWellbeing #HR #Leadership #AI #Sustainability

Abstract: Organizations invest heavily in digital tools, sustainability initiatives, and wellness programs, yet struggle to translate these investments into sustained performance gains. This fragmentation reflects a deeper challenge: modern workplace resources are often managed as isolated interventions rather than integrated systems that shape holistic employee experience. Drawing on recent empirical evidence and the Job Demands–Resources (JD-R) and Resource-Based View (RBV) frameworks, this article introduces Employee Experience Capital (EEC)—a unified construct integrating digital autonomy, inclusive cognition, sustainability alignment, AI synergy, mindful design, learning agility, and wellness technology. We examine how these resource bundles enhance organizational performance through dual psychological pathways: work resonance (value alignment and meaning) and employee vitality (energy and self-regulation). Evidence demonstrates that while employee well-being directly supports performance, it functions as a contextual enabler rather than a boundary condition. The article offers practitioners a structured roadmap for building resource-rich environments that convert employee experience into measurable business outcomes, emphasizing that sustainable competitive advantage emerges not from single initiatives but from coherent resource ecosystems that simultaneously energize employees and align them with organizational purpose.

This conversation introduces Employee Experience Capital (EEC), a strategic framework designed to help organizations integrate fragmented investments into a unified resource ecosystem. Rather than managing digital tools, wellness programs, and sustainability goals as isolated initiatives, the authors argue for a cohesive system that shapes a holistic employee journey. This integrated approach drives business performance through two primary psychological channels: work resonance, which provides purpose, and employee vitality, which supplies the energy needed for productivity. The research highlights seven core dimensions, including digital autonomy and inclusive cognition, that collectively transform human capital into a sustainable competitive advantage. Ultimately, the guide offers a roadmap for leaders to move beyond initiative fatigue and toward a work environment where human flourishing directly fuels organizational success. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this podcast episode, Dr. Jonathan H. Westover talks with Jeremy Robinson about how executive coaching will impact HR in the future. Jeremy Robinson’s career as a leadership coach and trainer/developer of executive coaches has had breadth and depth since it’s inception. His executive coaching work skyrocketed in the early 2000 as buzz about the benefits of training key talent in emotional intelligence was starting to get loud. Robinson was sought out by several major pharmaceutical and financial service corporations which had just put serious efforts into designing executive coaching initiatives for key talent and high potentials. He migrated success at those companies through his knack at winning an over eighty-percent rate of coaching chemistry meetings with prospective clients. Soon, he became known as an executive coaching generalist who worked with both large and small organizations that had a commitment to empowering female, African-American, Latino and LGBTQ+ leaders. His practice has continued to develop as Jeremy has added a team coaching certification and group coaching work to his executive coaching remit. To date his has coached over 400 executive coaching clients. Check out all of the podcasts in the HCI Podcast Network (https://www.podbean.com/podcast-network/HCI) !

This research explores how integrating artificial intelligence into the hiring process functions as a strategic design challenge rather than a simple act of automation. When job seekers are allowed to choose between a human or an AI interviewer, that decision acts as a distinct signal of their underlying abilities and confidence. While offering this choice is often intended to support worker autonomy, firms that interpret this selection as data can improve their hiring accuracy and retention rates. However, this informational advantage for employers can paradoxically disadvantage lower-ability candidates who may have sought out less precise screening methods. Ultimately, the study advocates for hybrid screening systems where humans and algorithms specialize in evaluating different skill dimensions to maximize organizational performance and match quality.