HR STRATEGY

In charge

Most HR professionals can’t imagine overseeing salary, benefits, and people strategy for nearly 1.6 million employees, but Judy Werthauser, CPO at Walmart US, says it’s not that different than running HR for a small company.

Werthauser, who joined Walmart in Feb. 2023 after more than four years as CHRO at 5 Below, recently spoke with HR Brew about how she measures success one year into her role and what a typical day looks like (hint: she doesn’t get up at 5am).

Keys to success. While some executives tout the benefits of hardcore early-morning workouts and daily journaling sessions, Werthauser, a mom of three, says that’s not how she structures her day. She’s not a morning person, and believes everyone needs to find their own rhythm. “I am not the four o’clock, five o’clock morning person. Everybody here knows that,” she said, adding, “I understand how to manage my energy, and I had to learn that.”

Leading at Walmart. Retail moves fast, Werthauser explained, but more than 20 years in HR helped her prepare for Walmart and build credibility as a leader. Werthauser claims the job isn’t as overwhelming as one might imagine. “It’s not all that different than being a CPO even at a smaller company,” she told HR Brew.

Keep reading here.—KP

PRESENTED BY ASHBY

Uplevel your sourcing strategy in 1, 2, 3

From analyzing half a million sourcing emails to interviews with experts, Ashby released these fresh resources to help you find quality talent:

• The latest Talent Trends Report reveals key benchmarks for open, reply, and interest rates. Use it to figure out how your sourcing efforts stack up against the competition and where AI can help improve.

• Next, enrich your strategy with actionable insights on the Offer Accepted podcast. Special guest Liz Smith, Ashby’s in-house sourcing expert, covers how market mapping can enhance your sourcing function.

• Finally, make sure to attend an upcoming live demo of Ashby to get insight into how their platform enables end-to-end hiring supported by real-time data and AI-enhanced automation.

Happy learning and happy hiring, y’all.

TECH

ProductAIve

New AI tools are emerging every day. Businesses are actively learning about new technologies and figuring out how to deploy them, and many business leaders are eager to reap the productivity gains AI tools promise.

Cassie Kozyrkov, CEO of Data Scientific, joined HR leaders and executives in Silicon Valley for the Society of Human Resources Management’s (SHRM) AI + HI Project event. She told people pros researchers have found that the AI applications bursting onto the professional landscape are really good at “the copy-paste work, digitized and repetitive.”

“[Digitized and repetitive] means lots of examples [exist], all available electronically. What does [AI] want? Examples from which to draw patterns that get turned into code. So, that is why the impact is hitting there,” she said.

When choosing new AI tools, Kozyrkov suggested HR professionals ask three questions.

Keep reading here.—AD

COWORKING

Meet the maestro

Here’s this week’s edition of our Coworking series. Each week, we chat 1:1 with an HR Brew reader. Want to be featured in an upcoming edition? Click here to introduce yourself.

Karla Wagner has more than 25 years of experience in the HR function, with stints in retail and crisis communications, and is now the CPO at Fenton, a communications agency focused on social justice. While Wagner was hired as the CPO to “be the conductor of the employee orchestra, ensuring everyone is playing in harmony and hitting the right notes,” her initial mandate was to create a “world-class professional development function.”

Wagner told HR Brew she spent her first two years with the firm developing people infrastructure and solidifying its culture, enabling the firm to grow dramatically in size. Wagner is now focused on creating on-the-job training for employees, overseeing a learning curriculum for leveling-up employees.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

What’s the best change you’ve made at work?

Introducing a program that among other things incorporated unlimited (flexible) vacation, working from home, and a gradual return to work post-parental leave. It’s important to note that this was pre-Covid, and at the time, the culture of that organization valued presenteeism, celebrated (literally applauded) very high utilization percentages. This program was a seismic shift for the culture, and I was pleased to work with firm leadership to usher in.

Keep reading here.—AD

TOGETHER WITH TAKE COMMAND

Try the ICHRA way. Is your expensive group health plan creating headaches? The individual coverage HRA (ICHRA) allows employers to reimburse their employees for health insurance instead of buying it for them. It’s a game changer. Take Command’s 5 Ways HR Leaders Can Win with ICHRA webinar will show you how it’s done. Save your spot.

WORK PERKS