As Vice President of Talent Operations at Seismic, I constantly challenge myself to always do better when serving our Seismic family. One mistake I’ve made at other points in my career, more times than I care to remember, is creating employee programs because “that is what good HR teams do and it’s HR best practice.”

Many times, this results in rolling out new HR programs that may leave our teams with their heads shaking because they don’t meet their needs or they aren’t centered around the needs of our teams. After all, industry best practices don’t always mean they’re best practices for Seismic.

This year I was determined to practice what I aspired to do and didn’t listen to “best practice” or other HR practitioners – I listened to our employees. Through our global engagement survey, we heard feedback from our Communities of Belonging and individuals that our employees wanted more comprehensive access to wellbeing programs, wellness coaching benefits, more globally focused programs, and fertility benefits that were much more inclusive.

We listened and, in the middle of this year, embarked on a journey to find solutions that meet these diverse needs.

First, we’re excited to roll out a global well-being program and platform through our partner, Lyra. This will meet the needs of our employees across the globe by providing access to coaches, wellness resources, and even free-of-charge clinicians to support our team at any point in their well-being journey.

Additionally, we found a global fertility and family planning partner, Progyny, that helped us create a global program. that’s fully inclusive and helps our employees with their family formation journeys. Whether a single employee needs fertility preservation, help with adoption, or a same-sex couple needs assistance with surrogacy, we now have resources for all.

As organizational leaders, we need to constantly make time and opportunities to listen to our teams so they can share what they really need from us. We can’t rely on best practices; we need to rely on what our employees tell us. Remember, best practice doesn’t always mean best practice for your organization.

If you’re interested in joining the Seismic family, you’re in luck – we’re hiring. Check out our careers page for the latest job opportunities and get ready to ignite growth in your career.