Bill Kerr: In the course of two decades, LinkedIn has gone from a virtual Rolodex and job board to an all-encompassing career, business, and social platform that boasts 900 million members. It’s also a key source of data on labor markets, professions, jobs, and skills. As a major tech company in its own right, acquired by Microsoft in 2016, LinkedIn has the benefit of that market intelligence. What can the firm tell us about the rapidly changing world of work?

Welcome to the Managing the Future of Work podcast from Harvard Business School. I’m your host, Bill Kerr. I’m joined today by Teuila Hanson, LinkedIn’s Senior Vice President and Chief People Officer. Teuila’s career path has taken her from law to human resources. We’ll talk about the company’s culture, workplace trends, the skills picture, credentials, and diversity. We’ll also talk about internal mobility, the importance of social capital, and why leaders need to hone their change-management skills. Welcome to the podcast, Teuila.

Teuila Hanson: Hi. Thank you for having me.

Kerr: Teuila, let’s begin with a little bit of your background, kind of the path going from law to being Senior Vice President and Chief People Officer.

Hanson: Yeah. Happy to take you through that. So, yep, went to law school. I worked as an employment attorney for several years, both as an attorney in a law firm as well as in-house counsel. It was when I worked as in-house counsel at a global firm [that] I started working really closely with human resources and trying to understand how can we proactively put programs in place to prevent employment law issues coming through the other side and working with heads of HR and HR leaders. And that’s where I was able to dip my toe into the diversity and inclusion space. And for a while, worked as both our lead employment law counsel, as well as starting a diversity and inclusion effort for an organization. And then I guess kind of caught the bug and decided to go in full time with leading diversity and inclusion for an organization. And then that translated to additional opportunities leading talent development and also picking up employee experience. I then had the opportunity to go to the Federal Reserve and to lead the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco in both strategy as well as lead people and culture. And so, thinking about my career path, I don’t think I ever imagined that I would lead a human resource function. That was never something that I aspired to. I sort of thought that I was more of a subject matter expert, going deep into particular areas, and always saw the Chief Human Resource Officer role as more of a generalist role. When I worked with the president of the Fed, he had a particular vision around modernizing the HR function at the Fed and getting more people-centered, investing more in learning and development. And so that was a really good challenge for me, just personally in terms of my own career growth, of getting into an organization and implementing a multiyear change-management plan. And then from there, I had the opportunity to join LinkedIn, which is a dream job for me. I’ve always admired how LinkedIn approached their talent practices, how they thought about diversity, inclusion, and belonging, how they really sort of set the tone in terms of creating a particular employee experience.

Kerr: Great. We’re going to talk about many parts of LinkedIn internally, but I’m guessing most every podcast listener that we have is on LinkedIn, and we all use it as a source of information at times. And you’ve got a very unique kind of broad view of the labor market. What are some of the big trends that you are focused in on?

Hanson: So we continue to see that cultures that foster trust and flexibility thrive when it comes to attracting and retaining talent. And our LinkedIn data is showing that flexibility has become a key determinant for employee satisfaction. We see that workers are 2.6 times more likely to report being satisfied with their work and about 2.1 times more likely to recommend working at a company when they can choose their location and their work schedules. So that agency and autonomy over work is really important. Most recently, in our latest State of the Labor Market report, we’re seeing that particularly in the U.S., the data in the U.S., that the percentage of jobs offering remote work has decreased, nine out of the last 10 months, with only 12.5 percent of postings offering this flexibility. And that was as of January 2023. But we’re also seeing a demand for remote work, that the demand for remote work remains high, with 50.8 percent of job applications in the U.S. going to remote work, particularly among women. So that’s just an interesting trend that we’re seeing, and we’ll continue to follow. And it’s definitely helping us inform how we’re thinking about our talent attraction and retention efforts. The second trend that we’re paying attention to—and these are just interesting insights regarding the future talent and first-generation students—this is, as of a survey from January 2023, that more than half of U.S. workers, so about 61 percent, are considering leaving their jobs in 2023, noting that a higher percentage of Gen Z and millennial workers are planning to call it quits more than any other generation. In terms of first-generation students, we’re seeing in our data that first-generation students make up a significant part of professionals entering the workforce, with data showing first-gen students make up a third of all college students. And the first-generation graduates are having trouble getting jobs, when compared to their classmates that perhaps are better coached and better connected. And as we think about skills being the currency for the future, how do we ensure that, as we see first-gen students graduate, that we’re able to really understand the skills that they’re bringing to the table so that they have a fair chance at getting the jobs that they’re interested in.

Kerr: A few of those numbers, especially the more than half, are going to maybe scare a few of our listeners out there—and one to think about. You mentioned, toward the end there, a focus on skills. And in 2023, among HR leaders and business professionals, there’s a lot of attention toward what role skills we’ll have as the foundation for job-candidate selection going forward. How do you see that in the LinkedIn world?

Hanson: So we’re seeing that hiring for skills is really making employment more efficient and it’s also helping to enable equity in the organization. So what we are seeing is that 61 percent of black workers, 55 percent of Hispanic workers, 66 percent of rural workers, 61 percent of veteran workers have in-demand skills, but they do not have bachelor’s degrees. So when we’re looking at tight labor markets or we are looking for hard-to-fill jobs, it’s really interesting seeing companies trying to understand how can they look past degrees and really get to core skills. And what we believe is that, when you do focus on skills, it just democratizes opportunity and provides and opens up economic opportunity, which is deeply aligned with our mission and vision. And I think in order to make that happen and make that a reality, it’s being very clear within your organization, what are the skills that you need in order to activate your business strategy, but then also ensure that you are deeply investing in the employees that you currently have. And we also know through our LinkedIn data that an employee has a 75 percent likelihood of staying with an organization for an additional year when there is robust internal mobility that’s focused on skills, versus a 50 percent chance of staying at an organization when there isn’t any internal mobility. So as organizations are thinking about workforce planning, what they need for the future, we believe it’s really important to make sure that you’re leading those conversations with a skills-first mindset.

Kerr: Across the geographies that you’re looking at, do you see big differences in issues and priorities?

Hanson: Yeah, we do. I’m seeing that the talent market is uniquely regional, and in addition, not just regionally, but you are seeing, definitely, differences among industries. I think what we’re seeing in the U.S. and in the tech sector isn’t necessarily the same experience that’s happening in every single geography. So, for example, in APAC, our data shows that hiring has started to level a bit, which is definitely different from than what we’re seeing in the U.S. tech sector. I think where things do look the same globally is in regard to gender diversity. We still do see globally that women hold less than one-third of senior leadership positions, and women remain underrepresented in STEM education. So that is something that I think, from a talent perspective, is a global phenomenon. But when you look at different industries—what we’re seeing in healthcare, what we’re seeing perhaps in energy—and the energy sector is very different than what we’re seeing perhaps right now in financial services and what you’re seeing in tech.

Kerr: Yeah, that can help, because sometimes we feel the uncertainty in different ways. We have both tight labor markets, and we have layoffs that are happening depending upon the sector and where you’re at. Let’s continue though on the workforce diversity. And I’d like for you to begin with an overview of how you’re approaching that, both in terms of LinkedIn, in particular, but also how it influences the workforce strategy that employers should be bringing.

Hanson: Yeah, thank you for that question. Here at LinkedIn, we call our diversity and inclusion and equity efforts, we call it “DIB”—diversity, inclusion and belonging. And it’s part of our culture, it’s part of our value statement, it’s how we operate. Here at LinkedIn, we take a very integrated and embedded approach to it. So as we think about the talent lifecycle, so if you think about what does that mean? That means, how do we source a candidate, how do we recruit candidates, onboard them, goal setting, engagement, development, promotion, all the way through offboarding an employee and seeing them off to the next play. We look at the talent cycle, and we look at what are those points where we should be ensuring that we’re applying a DIBs lens. So it’s not a standalone program, it’s not a training course that you take once every other year. It fits more into the rhythm of business, of how we operate. And I think the rigor and discipline that we have around it, in terms of ensuring that we have action plans and we have dashboards and we have robust conversations at the executive level, understanding what’s working and what’s not, is the core foundation for the success that we have at LinkedIn. I think what we’re seeing right now is actually quite interesting. I think that, whenever there tends to be uncertainty in the economy, it causes all business leaders, as everyone should, to reexamine your priorities exam, reexamine your investments to ensure that you are thinking about the long-term success of your organizations. And what we’re seeing, in terms of our data, is that we are seeing that there is expressed concerns around diversity, equity, and inclusion types of programs. So in a recent global LinkedIn survey, 66 percent of C-level executives across the globe have expressed concerns that the progress of diversity, equity, and inclusion programs may be at risk of rolling back due to what they’re facing with the macroeconomy. So that’s probably another trend, to your earlier question, that we want to make sure that we’re taking a look at and that we’re understanding how that might have impact to overall workforces and how they’re operating.

Kerr: Yeah, it’s a point where I think commitment will be important to continue the trends. And LinkedIn, you didn’t mention these numbers, but you’ve had more than 100 percent increase in Black senior-level employees over the last three years and similar increases for Latino employees and so forth. So a lot that has happened there. Along the way, you talked about the steps of recruitment, support, career development. Is there a place in that journey where you really are focused right now or you feel like this is the place that, if we could do the following, could really move the needle further?

Hanson: Yeah. I’ll take a step back a bit. Not too long ago—shortly after all of the energy around the pandemic—as an executive team, we had a conversation about our culture. We asked ourselves questions based on three principles. First is, when we look at our culture and values, are they still applicable in the current environment? Meaning, has the world changed so rapidly that our culture and values no longer apply? We then asked ourselves, okay, are they still relevant? Do they still help us achieve our vision? And then we asked ourselves, do people know what they are? Because we’ve hired so many people remotely and our organization has changed. And so I think we answered yes to the first two questions, like, “Yes, our culture and values are still applicable and it’s helping us achieve our vision.” But the last one, I don’t think that people sort of understand them and maybe a few of our value statements have lost meaning. So we spent time as a team enhancing them, making some changes to them, ensuring that we provide a definition. We launched a yearlong reconnect program where we essentially have re-onboarded our employees into what it means to be a LinkedIn employee, how do we get work done, how do we make decisions, how do we treat each other and engage with one another. And every month we have a reconnect moment, where we are on this journey of reinspiring and bringing back energy and ensuring that we’re leading with culture. And then with that, that body of work then lends us to, are there things that we want to do in terms of ensuring that we’re providing a robust experience alongside our values. So, such as the work that we’re embarking on now is being much more intentional around internal mobility, career development, ensuring that our employees are growing and learning and having opportunities.

Kerr: That circles us back to one of the earlier things we wanted to sign post, which was the internal mobility training, education, and kind of reskilling programs. And many of our listeners will know and use LinkedIn Learning. So maybe you can, with both that internal and external perspective, talk about encouragement of internal mobility at the organization and what you’re engaged in.

Hanson: I think about our critical roles. Are these critical roles that can be filled internally? Do we have an opportunity to upskill our talent? How does this inform the external recruiting strategy? Where is that talent? Where do they exist? And so I am able to think through what this overall talent plan looks like, so that we’re future proofing ourselves, and we are taking an assessment of the skills we have, the skills that we need and where we have these gaps. I think from an employee experience perspective, it’s really important to understand, am I developing skills that are going to be of value to both me and to the organization? And then the question then becomes, how do I do that? What are the tools to do that? Is it through a coaching plan, a development plan, external resources? Are there external skills that I need to pick up? Do I use LinkedIn Learning? And it’s a combination of all of those things. And we do use LinkedIn Learning as the basis of how we are developing skills within LinkedIn. And we have apprenticeship programs in our sales organization, in our engineering organization, as well as in recruiting. And these apprenticeship programs are really skills focused, where we look for, for example, for our sales organization, we have a program called “Unlock.” And we take experienced professionals—so these are folks who do not have any sales experience whatsoever, but they have the intent and the desire to work in sales. And we really do focus on that transition of, how do you transition from being a personal trainer to going into sales, and how do we help, really, identify, there are some transferrable skills. If you are able to get someone to get fit, you are able to influence, you’re able to negotiate, and how do we maximize that desire and those skills and translate them into sales roles and quota-carrying roles. And we do something very similar with our RAMP program in recruiting, as well as what we call our “Reach” program in engineering. And it’s very powerful, because as you think about technical skills, engineering skills, I think every organization that you talk to is saying, how do I get more of that? How do I get more people interested in STEM? And what we found out is, yes, they’re amazingly talented people who go on and they get a CS degree. You need those individuals as well. But if you want to get very creative and really lean in and understand the power of skills, you could develop an engineering apprenticeship program and create opportunities for anyone who has passion to start careers in engineering and help them along the way with developing those skills. Even if they don’t necessarily have a strong CS education or background, you could get them there. So those are some of the ways that we’ve been able to activate our commitment to skills.

Kerr: With all this focus on skills and the many different pathways to obtaining them, where are you right now in terms of credentialing, versus four-year college degrees and so forth, the key to unlocking an application and saying, this candidate should go forward?

Hanson: In recent years, we removed our degree requirements for most of our jobs. We’ve also added sort of a skills section. So for any of our LinkedIn jobs postings, we made sure that we’re highlighting the skills that we believe are most valuable for a particular role. So that’s been great, because it has helped us think more broadly and more widely around the types of candidates. When I think about the history of why you have these types of degree requirements—and I think in several jurisdictions, particularly in the U.S., you have a lot of regulations that you need to abide by, and sometimes, if I think back probably 40 years, it was easier to recruit this way—I think what we’re now learning as an industry is, easy does not necessarily mean better. So what we are learning is that, regardless of pedigree or degrees—we’re not saying that education doesn’t matter or those experiences don’t matter—but when you look at skills, you’re able to get better fidelity into what does that mean in terms of the role that you have and how you’re helping individuals gain access to opportunities in a much more robust way. So I think being able to understand how skills translate, it will continue to be top of mind for us and a lot of other talent organizations. I have to admit, I don’t think that we have it all figured out. I don’t think that we have sort of the perfect playbook that we could share with other organizations, because what we’re also seeing is that there are millions of skills out there. And there are different levels of skill proficiency. And what we are doing at LinkedIn is, we have a skills taxonomy that we maintain, that we’re looking at, and that we’re continuing to work on as we continue to see skills being top of mind. I think that we’re making good strides right now with helping our recruiters who use a LinkedIn product, help them search on skills. We’re helping job seekers, provide them with an opportunity to highlight their skills, and will continue to learn as we see more energy and investment in the skills space.

Kerr: Teuila, many people recognize the need for reskilling. And yet, oftentimes, this confronts the challenges of management and leaders and kind of resistance. And so change management becomes a really, really important part of this leadership journey. Talk to us a little bit about how that is being done at LinkedIn and how you’re working with the managers and the leaders to make the changes with the employee skill base.

Hanson: Since I left the legal field and stepped into the talent space, I think my job has just been 100 percent change management. When you think about what it takes to create a diversity function within an organization, what it takes to drive talent development, help an organization action around skills, or introduce anything new from a culture and values perspective, you’re relying on change-management skills, even if you don’t even realize that you’re relying on change management skills. So I believe that it is core to any leader, in order to be successful now and into the future, to really understand and take inventory of how they’re able to lead through change. Even your early adopters and people who say, “I love change,” they don’t. I think there’s always a little bit of the human, how we are built as human beings, that love safety and security and wanting to know what’s predictable. And so I think that that human nature that we all have around wanting safety and security always it gets activated when there’s a new change that comes into the realm, be it, “Hey, we’ve changed the size of the cups in the lunchroom,” to, “We are now changing the culture and values of an organization or enhancing the culture and values of the organization.” There is an emotional response that’s associated with both of those things. So I think, especially in this post-pandemic world, where you have people who are experiencing the organization in a hybrid world, they’re experiencing the organization in a remote world, I think what’s core to any change management skill is the ability to communicate, communicate often, communicate even if you don’t know what’s next. A perfect change-management program doesn’t mean that you’re going to get 100 percent people to adopt your change. If you’re lucky, you will get 80 percent of people to adopt your change, and you just want your 20 percent of the people who are resisting just not to be detractors. And then you could give yourself an “A.” I think another important skill to go that complements change management right now is design thinking. As you’re designing something, as you are creating something new, have empathy for your end user, really understand how they’re experiencing the environment. What is their natural rhythm? What are their natural habits? Design to meet them where they are and to influence them from that spot.

Kerr: Great. Maybe as a final question, in addition to being a senior executive at LinkedIn, you’re on the boards of the Smithsonian and also the University of California, Merced. From those vantage points, what are some of the issues you’re focused on?

Hanson: Yeah, thank you. So it’s an honor. I recently joined the board of the Smithsonian National Museum of American History, which is just phenomenal. Being a part of a phenomenal institution with just amazing vision and just being a part of what it means to collect objects and stories from American history, what is American history, and to be a part of that esteemed group is just phenomenal. I’ve attended one board meeting as of March 2023. So I have much, much more to learn and opportunity to see how I could be influential and impactful against the mission of the National Museum of American History. So looking forward to that. In regard to my involvement with UC Merced, it is an amazing university that’s part of the UC system. Seventy-three percent of their undergraduate students are first gen. And that is double the national average and is absolutely highest among any of the universities in the University of California system. So with that, it’s phenomenal and wonderful to see these students get an education and bring the promise of economic opportunity to their families and to their communities. And I’m honored to be a part of that. And then with it comes its challenges, in terms of fund-raising and alumni support, since they’re a young organization. So being a member of the board to help think through what are those connection points. From a LinkedIn perspective, how do we ensure that we are connecting these amazing students to opportunities, helping them think through skills, helping them think through networking and what roles they might be interested in—to start to make those connections and to help close the gaps for those students.

Kerr: I think those connections between business and education are very important going forward. And Teuila, thank you so much for joining us today.

Hanson: It was my pleasure. Thank you for having me, Bill.

Kerr: We hope you enjoy the Managing the Future of Work podcast. If you haven’t already, please subscribe and rate the show wherever you get your podcasts. You can find out more about the Managing the Future of Work Project at our website hbs.edu/managingthefutureofwork. While you’re there, sign up for our newsletter.