Ummm ... what???
https://www.forbes.com/sites/jenamcgregor/2021/11/09/keeping-the-elephant-dancing-ibms-first-head-of-culture-explains-how-hes-working-to-keep-its-people-focused-like-its-strategy/?sh=36bab0c66922
Another shift, he says, is to push for more difficult conversations, not only between employees and managers but between colleagues. The company needs to shift “from a culture of appreciation and recognition to one that’s really of constructive challenge—saying the uncomfortable truth so we can course-correct.”
Meanwhile, to increase IBM’s diversity, Louissaint says, the company has also been taking a more skills-based approach to hiring, lowering its emphasis on credentials such as college degrees and boosting its focus on individual skills. Over the past four years, IBM has gone from requiring college degrees for as many as 95% of jobs to just 50% having the stipulation. More recently, it’s been doubling down on apprenticeships and hiring from hybrid high school and community college programs, Louissaint says, to create “onramps” for more employees who don’t have degrees.
Finally, as companies look for ways to support employee mental health, access to apps, meditation programs or therapy benefits can only go so far. Without outside vendors who were able to handle a company of IBM’s size, an in-house team of occupational therapists and medical professionals created a “mental health allies” training program to help employees deal with colleagues’ mental health crises. Employees aren’t expected to become therapists, but the training is aimed at helping people spot potential warning signs among their colleagues and react with empathy.