#HRTechChat: Workplace Transformation & HR Leadership with Kathy Claytor

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As companies navigate hybrid work models and return-to-office (RTO) strategies, HR leaders are pivotal in shaping workplace culture and ensuring a seamless transition.

3Sixty Insight’s Dylan Teggart sits down with Kathy Claytor, Chief Human Resources Officer at Delta Dental and board director at HRCI, to explore why HR should take the lead in facilities management. With over 25 years of experience in HR leadership across financial services, government, and technology, Kathy shares how workplace design, employee well-being, and strategic planning impact productivity and engagement.

She discusses Delta Dental’s approach to hybrid work, the importance of space planning, wellness initiatives, and how organizations can balance business needs with employee expectations.

Are companies rushing RTO too quickly? How can leaders create an office environment to which employees want to return?

Tune in as Kathy shares her expert insights on the future of work, hybrid work trends, and how HR can drive workplace success.

Our #HRTechChat Series is also available as a podcast on the following platforms:

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Transcript:

Dylan Teggart 00:00
Hey everyone. It’s Dylan Teggart, here again with your most recent 3Sixty Insights #HRTechChat. Today, I’m joined by Kathy Clayton. Kathy is currently the Chief Human Resources Officer at Delta Dental, and is the board director at HR CI. So you’ve got over 25 years of experience leading HR organizations in financial services, government and tech, and she’s got a passion for tech. And stacks are tech startups. Kathy, thank you so much for joining me. Yeah,

Kathy Claytor 00:28
hey, Dylan, Thanks for Thanks for having me here. Just a little bit more to add to my background. HRCI is a real passion organization for me, human resource Certification Institute, which is the largest global certifying body for for HR professionals, as well as more broadly, in the learning space. I also have a passion for for tech and tech startups. I was involved in a tech startup in Chennai, India, working in the HR space. And I was also involved in a tech council here, regionally focused, focused on tech startups. And you know, all of them, all of the support that goes into organizing and leading tech and tech startup organizations. So thanks for having me, Dylan,

Dylan Teggart 01:23
my pleasure, and with all the experience you have, I’d love to know kind of your general take on you know, from your viewpoint, what you’re seeing in the HR landscape right now, and how you’ve been adjusting to it, how you’ve reacting to it,

Kathy Claytor 01:37
yeah, so I think, to To sum it up, I think what we’ve seen is lots of unknowns and unexpected things coming our way in just rapid, rapid fire, if, if you Will, we’ve seen a lot of return to work and the associated kind of HR leadership necessary to to quickly have folks return to the physical office space. We’ve seen that with Amazon recently. We’ve seen that with federal government. And I think there’s, you know, certainly, certainly more to come. I think with that, the onus is, you know, born a lot by HR professionals, to make sure that as much as possible that can be done in a kind of smooth and orderly fashion, that the workplace culture is is maintained in a strong fashion, and that team members are all supported, as we, you know, quickly, in some cases, make the transition back the to the physical office.

Dylan Teggart 02:52
And with that transition back to the physical office, you know, obviously you work in one organization, but from Word on the street, what is the the general kind of feeling? How are people receiving it? Are people, is there an angst towards it? Are people welcoming to it? Are they, you know, happy to be out of their houses and and and onto that? Is primarily the return to office, a hybrid model always. And are we seeing a higher percentage of that with businesses?

Kathy Claytor 03:23
Right? Sure thing. So I was on a call earlier today with some colleagues, and some of the colleagues were based in the Washington, DC area. They They reported that by 5am this morning, there was a backlog of traffic, and, you know, in some cases, miles long, looking to find parking places. I think you know this return to Office, especially in DC, has, there hasn’t been a lot of time to plan and prepare to to ensure folks have plenty of parking, to ensure that there’s, you know, plenty of physical space for them to return to. I also heard a story from another colleague who said, you know, in some cases, folks who are returning to the office, in some cases, just this morning, are, you know, lined up around a conference room table, head of eight laptops. You know, sort of deep. Some are lined up in hallways simply because there’s not enough physical space and there wasn’t enough time to to to plan to ensure that folks were set up for success when they did return.

Dylan Teggart 04:36
Yeah, in terms of setting up people for success, it sounds like business leaders are making the decision, okay, we want to return people to office without any of the prerequisite kind of infrastructure that goes with that. Is that, would that be correct to say, I’m sure there’s exceptions, but are you finding it’s being rushed along a little too much? Yeah,

Kathy Claytor 04:54
I think that’s, I think that’s fair to say. I think, you know. From a from a personal standpoint, team members need some period of time to prepare. If they need to, you know, locate child care. They need to organize their commute. If, to your point, they’re, you know, they’ve been on a hybrid schedule, and if they’re returning full time to the office. There’s just a lot of prep time, personally that, you know, that all of our team members go through to prepare themselves. There’s probably also a mental, you know, aspect to, gee, I have to get in my car, I have to drive to the office, you know, I’m going to see my my coworkers, maybe for the first time in a long time. And so all of that takes, you know, just, just mentally preparing, and, you know, doing a lot of planning, especially with kind of family units, you know, I think on the on the other side, I think that from from an HR leaders perspective and an organization’s leadership perspective, there is, you know, a certain prep and a certain timeframe to to organize and get folks back so that they’re not bumping up against each other around a conference room table, to make sure that folks have, you know, plenty of space to work and do the best job that they can possibly do for their organization,

Dylan Teggart 06:24
yeah, and for the company you work for. Have you returned to office or is still in a hybrid model? Right?

Kathy Claytor 06:30
Exactly. So, you know, we’ve the method that we’ve used has been very, very effective. We’re on a hybrid, a hybrid model, and the focus, really is on a focus on our customers and providing the best support we possibly can for for our customers, and it’s also on team member and team member support too. So so we’re we’ve been very measured, and that’s been very successful for us.

Dylan Teggart 07:00
So what have what have been some of the strategies you’ve done, and why do you think that it was important that HR was in charge of that aspects of the facilities management and bringing people back to Office? And what, what could you share for people to implement that you did that work?

Kathy Claytor 07:16
Yeah, exactly. So, you know, it’s interesting, because in my role, responsible for HR, and I’m also responsible for facilities management, space, physical space planning and and dabble a little bit in real estate, even so, in in that kind of comprehensive and broad viewpoint, I’ve been able to, you know, certainly with with my executive and leadership team, I’ve been able to to take a look at not just, you know, a workforce planning kind of perspective, but also kind of physical surrounding. So, for example, you know, as we worked towards getting folks, you know, back in the office. We made sure that that spaces were comfortable. We made sure that we had, you know, a large enough kind of open space where folks could gather, meet each other, have a cup of coffee, you know, sit in our kind of cafe area. We also found that it was really important for folks to have quiet spaces too. So you need a small pull up space to have a zoom call, like what we’re having here, and, you know, making sure that there’s a good balance from from a kind of physical space perspective. And this is where kind of this, this blend of HR leadership and facilities leadership has come into play. Made sure that natural sunlight was coming into the building. We have a building. It’s a beautiful building where natural sunlight reaches you know, from one end of the building to the other. We have a beautiful kind of atrium and skylight, natural sunlight coming in there. I think there are many studies that that are out there talking about the benefits of, you know, having natural sunlight. We We have also a focus on health and health and wellness. We have a employee kind of gym and workout area. We also have arranged our space so that we have a big center staircase where folks kind of go up and down multi floors. The elevator is sort of tucked off to the side, you know, encouraging those who are able to take the stairs versus, you know, hop in the elevator to take them to the to the next floor. So those are just a couple examples of just kind of a thoughtful approach to arranging physical space so that it supports the workforce culture that is really, really. Important, especially, you know, in this period of time that we’re that we’re going through now, yeah, it makes

Dylan Teggart 10:07
a lot of sense, because you know, you’re bringing people, most people probably prefer to work at home, like, let’s be honest. Obviously, depends on what you do, of course, but you have to entice people back in a way. You got to sell that office. And we’ve seen, you know, various ends of the spectrum for that, like, to the is this an office or a playground? To the exactly, you know, the you know what you envision in like a corporate, you know, gray office. But for you as someone who is making a decision on these types of things, on curating that experience, what is the kind of, how do you get the buy in from leadership and what how you successfully advocate for these things? What are you kind of proposing to them, in terms of, is it like very scientific? Is it kind of just common sense, right?

Kathy Claytor 10:58
Exactly? Well, you know, I think it certainly starts from a science or a data perspective. So we’re looking at kind of workforce planning. How many are expecting to come back? How many are going to be, you know, hybrid. How many will be full time back? How many will be working fully remote? And so it does start from a data perspective. It starts from a science perspective, too, in that, you know, we’re looking at, you know, what are the kind of, what’s, what’s the right mix, what’s the right blend to to really provide a strong workplace culture where people want to come back. Think that’s that’s really important, I think, to your to your point, you know, there’s some folks who may not want to come back. And it’s really, really, really important to create a welcoming environment, an inclusive environment, a place where, you know, they can sit down and grab a cup of coffee, they can work out in the gym. We also, for example, have a team member garden in the back of our in the kind of the back lot of our building completely, you know, kind of team members sort of run. But we, in the spring and summer time, we offer this kind of big plot of land where folks can, can, you know, plant fruits, vegetables, things like that. They kind of bring it in and leave it in our kind of employee cafe where we’re, you know, we’re sharing, for those who kind of want to share. I know it sounds maybe a little bit, a little bit kind of back in the day, but you know, it’s, it’s really, really great. Our folks appreciate it, and it’s fun. Once again, it kind of supports this whole idea of natural sunlight, health and wellness, you know, with a blend of obviously, work to support our customers too, which is an important focus, yeah. And

Dylan Teggart 12:58
in terms of that, you know, the sunlight thing is important. I think just because a lot of people envision the office in like, the most negative sense, a lot of the time, where it’s like a dark place or not getting any sunlight. But also in the United States, works workplace spaces mainly dictated by company policy, where, like, if you look at somewhere in like Germany or something, there’s actual laws in place dictating how much, you know, it’s just how much space is needed, etc. And I’m not sure if that was the case also when you worked abroad, but how, where is that policy originating from, and how is it kind of being spread or carried over in the greater facilities management or office management,

Kathy Claytor 13:42
right? Spaces? Yeah, so, so, you know, I think it’s, it really should start with kind of available space, obviously, and how you can maximize available space to kind of build and drive the drive the culture. Where does it originate? You know, it originates, you know, with, with a leadership team and a strong buy into, you know, arranging space to support the culture, kind of, from a practical, hands on standpoint. It, it lives and breathes with, with my team, so that we’re focused on bringing the data number one, bringing the science number two, kind of doing an overlay in terms of what available space that we have, and then how can we maximize it? So we are, you know, bringing these important elements in, but we’re also, as practical matter, you know, arranging work pods. We’re arranging, you know, quiet spaces, phone booth space, if you will, for zoom calls. We’re arranging conference from space and so forth. So, so, you know, so the support starts at the top, and obviously there’s a, you know, a cost element to and then the planning, you know, to support and drive the cold. Or kind of resides with, with my team, and I obviously with, you know, support from the top. And has

Dylan Teggart 15:07
that always been the case, that it’s always been with HR, or has it historically been with with different groups within the company? And why should HR be the ones in charge of this, right? If so,

Kathy Claytor 15:19
great, great question. So I think probably this is, this is an anomaly. I think we’ve seen facilities management, workforce planning, physical space planning, really kind of reside in another in another area of the of the company. Facilities managers do a do a great job. They have a hard job, planning, playing space, but I think was until kind of reset times when there’s been more of a focus on workplace culture that, hey, you know, there needs to be a conversation, and potentially even, you know, a leadership aspect with with the HR team. You know, maybe I am an anomaly. Maybe it’s an emerging trend too, that if, if it’s not owned or led by HR, that at least there’s consultation with with HR, a partnership with those who are managing physical space, you know, along with those who are responsible for for workplace culture and, you know, team member engagement to the to the degree that’s, that’s, that’s feasible.

Dylan Teggart 16:33
So if you were to break it down for someone you know, who’s about to be in the position where they need to be in charge of a facility, be in charge and kind of do what you just did. What would you say are the three to five main takeaways for someone like that?

Kathy Claytor 16:51
Wow. So I think surround yourself with a great team. I think it, you know it, it is maybe not in hrs, kind of natural, kind of body of learning to deeply understand facilities, Facilities Planning. I think it takes a partnership with great team members who are expert in that space. You know, sometimes you don’t know what you don’t know. And and relying on those who are experts in the physical, you know, in this physical space and facilities management is probably, you know, CR number one, you know, in terms of, in terms of importance, I think you know other other elements to consider in terms of importance. Are, you know, certainly buy in from the top, the the the way that workplace culture can be supported with physical spaces. Number two, just critically important, and the support from the top, you know, the buy in there. Let’s see other items to make sure, to keep our eye on, I think, team member engagement, you know, measuring, you know, employee feedback, team member feedback, to the degree that you’re able, making sure that you’re listening to folks, I think, you know, as we talked about at the beginning of this conversation, folks are coming back and kind of a quick, a Quick kind of pace, and to the degree you’re able making sure that you’re listening to your team members in terms of, you know, are they in a comfortable space to make sure that they’re able to to be really, really successful in what they’re doing. And ultimately, they’re, you know, supporting customers. They’re supporting, you know, folks within the governmental sector and so forth, critically important to make sure you’re listening to your team members to the degree that you’re able, and if you’re not able to, you know, respond immediately, at least, putting that in your long range planning in terms of physical space and opportunities that you might have.

Dylan Teggart 19:26
Yeah, and do you think that return to the office is going to be something that comes back? Do you think we’re ever going to get back to the point where we were before the pandemic? Or do you think that ship is kind of permanently sailed?

Kathy Claytor 19:40
Uh, great question. You know, I I think the ship has sailed. I think we’re really in a new and different place from from a workforce perspective, I think there’s a different expectation of all of our team members who lived through COVID Such. A such a tough time, very impactful time on, you know, from a work perspective, from a family perspective. So I really think that we’re in a completely different space, little bit Uncharted. I think, you know, from from a talent perspective, making sure that we’re, you know, getting the best and brightest work for our companies, making sure that we’re able to retain that talent. You know, is, is really, you know, critically important for overall business success. So really, I think we need to make that pivot. And I think you know what’s taking place currently. Current events are really causing us to kind of sit up and pay attention to workplace to talent attraction, talent attention and business success.

Dylan Teggart 20:54
Because I feel like when you think about the trajectory we were on, you know, in 2019 it’s kind of difficult to think that we ever would have been able to, you know, companies would have been able to remain competitive if they just kept relying on their local talent base. Right in the world we’re in now, where the world is a lot smaller, you kind of got to take who’s the best at the job, whether or not they live in Wichita, Kansas or wherever shouldn’t matter. It’s more, are they effective? Because you can’t find that person anyway? Well,

Kathy Claytor 21:27
exactly. It’s, you know, as I said, it’s, it’s about, you know, supporting your clients or customers. It’s about business success. It’s a, it’s, you know, really, to your point about some brightest wherever they live, even, you know, as some cases around the globe, it truly is, is about that.

Dylan Teggart 21:51
One interesting question I have that is a little unrelated, in terms of your you were working on the ground in India for quite a while. It sounds like I

Kathy Claytor 22:00
didn’t live in India, but I was, you know, a frequent flyer there. Shall we just say? So I spent a lot of time in India. Yeah.

Dylan Teggart 22:07
And just as that world gets bigger and people work with people from, you know, Asia, South Asia, more often, on a regular basis, how are those two How do you predict those two cultures are going to kind of interact? Because I think eventually we’re all going to, you know, people already have tons of colleagues from all over the world, especially from Asia and South Asia. How are you envisioning a future like that, where you’re now managing and for someone like yourself now juggling all of these different work cultures? Right?

Kathy Claytor 22:40
Exactly. Great, great question. You know, I think it, it starts with an openness and a willingness to to be curious and learn. You know about your work colleagues around the globe. You know something as simple as, hey, tell me about your family. Tell me about yourself. Personally, I’m getting to know someone kind of at that, at that personal level, that really kind of promotes workplace and, you know, productivity, success, if you will. I think it’s easy to go into a relationship, you know, where you’re, you know, halfway around the globe from each other, either having, you know, preconceived sort of thoughts about about who you’re working with. What I found is, is, if you’re open, if you’re curious, then that opens the door to personal connection and work success.

Dylan Teggart 23:39
I guess finding that common ground, is it going to

Kathy Claytor 23:42
be exactly yes, most important Yes, exactly well,

Dylan Teggart 23:45
before we wrap up, is there anything else you’d like to add?

Kathy Claytor 23:49
So, you know, I think this is, this continues to be really challenging time for folks in in HR roles. Or really, I think, you know, perhaps the unsung heroes and in all of this, for leading through leading through COVID, for leading through these conversations about return to Office, about physical space and and, you know, I think we need to to make sure that organizationally, we’re, we’re lifting up those who are, you know, doing some heavy lifting themselves. So kind of taking care of each other in this HR space is really important.

Dylan Teggart 24:32
Yeah, for sure. It’s definitely an unpredictable time for the for the profession, I would say, Absolutely not sure it’s ever going to become less predictive. You know, it’s going to become any more predictable anytime soon. But all right, Kathy, well, thank you very much. And if people want to reach out to if they have any questions, if they’re somewhere, they can contact you. Yeah, sure

Kathy Claytor 24:57
thing, they can find me on LinkedIn. Um Catherine Claytor, and you know, I look forward to look forward to the connections,

Dylan Teggart 25:07
fantastic. Well, listen everyone, thank you for checking out this podcast. Kathy, thank you again for joining me, and I’ll see you on the next one. Great,

Kathy Claytor 25:15
super. Thanks so much. Dylan.

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