Transcript for "The Automation Advantage: How TheGuarantors Saved 3,300+ Hours with 100+ Workflows":
Hello, everyone. We're gonna let folks come in, so we'll give people a few moments. Hi, Karen. Hello? And feel free, in the meantime, as you're coming in to just put in the chat where you're calling from. I'm coming or I'm calling from New York, and we're actually you know, it's funny. Me and Karen literally live across the street or, like, work across the street from each other. Yeah. So a small world. small world. Actually, where did we first we first met in where did we first meet? A coffee shop right in between our buildings. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Blue Bottle. Yep. Yeah. So Blue Bottle in New York. Wow. I see people are all over this country. Some people are in New York as well. Arizona, Dallas, Chicago, New York. Okay. Amazing. This is, from, Baltimore, which is where I am? from. Oh, yeah. Where who's from Delaware? Or who's calling from Delaware? I saw a couple. see it? Okay. Oh, Lindsay Cropper. Yeah. Go Delaware. Oakland. Okay. I I was previously to New York. I was in Berkeley, California, so close by. How is everyone feeling about November starting? I mean, for me, I'm getting used to the cold. It's so cold now in New York, so I'm like, this is I gotta adjust to this, but I don't know. How how are you feeling? The November and fall, I guess. Melissa Dill. Love it. It's cold even in Florida. That's surprising. Argentina. Cammy is calling from amazing. Oh, wow. Okay. It's already been two minutes. So I think before we get started, thank you all for coming here today. Before we get started, I'm just gonna do quick housekeeping situation just to share who we are, the sponsors of this interview. So, obviously, we have a very special guest, Karen, and, I'm Vanessa. I'm, representing Rippling. And, yeah, we just wanna do quick housekeeping. So bit about Rippling is our mission here is just free smart people to work on hard problems, and we are an HCM end to end platform. And so if you're interested or if you wanna learn more about our platform and what we have to offer, you can always press book a demo at the top corner of this this interview and this webinar. But, yeah, that's kind of all we wanted to talk touch base about for now, and we wanna save time to really dive into this first live session of the automation advantage series. And we are so excited to have Karen as our first guest. And Karen is the senior vice president of people at the guarantors. And so thank you so much for taking the time to. be here today and for chatting with me, and I can't wait to dive into how you've automated and transformed your entire company. So with Rippling. But, yeah, enough about me and Rippling, and I guess we can just get started and. talk all about you and your journey. Sounds good. Okay. So I'd love to begin at the beginning and kinda take us back to, I guess, like, what for actually, first of all, could you just tell us a little bit about the guarantors and the company, just for people who are on this call and who might not be aware? A little bit about, the company and what you kinda do there, and then. I'll go in. Yeah. So, as you mentioned, I'm I'm the head of people. I have been with the company for coming up on four years now. The company is, a fintech company about I guess, we're about ten years old at this point based in New York City, and we operate throughout The US. And essentially, we help renters gain access to homes, and while also providing protection to landlords. And we do that through security deposit replacements and lease guarantees. We have a globally distributed workforce of about 400 people, and of that, about 260 are in The US, and a handful in Canada. Amazing. So I know that when we first met, you kinda walked me through, I would say, like the evolution of how you've been able to change and transform what HR does at the guarantors. And so I think that's kind of like the guiding north star of this conversation where we I would love to, like, kind of break that down. And so I think it makes sense for us to start at the the beginning. Tell us about what happened when you first joined the guarantors. What was it like to be facing those disconnected systems? Like, tell us what that was like for you. Yeah. I mean, it was a kind of an impossible task, honestly, because nothing spoke to one another. So it was very manual, very redundant work with a lot of potential for human error. Quite frankly, just, you know, copying and pasting and, you know, navigating different clunky platforms. And we didn't have one central source of truth for information, so it was impossible to have reporting or data and metrics. So it was just rife with issues quite frankly, that immediately, even during my onboarding, I was like, this has to change. And what was the, like, what was the, perception that HR kind of had when you first joined? I know that we kinda talked a little bit about this, but I just wanted to help paint the picture for our audience here Mhmm. of the challenges not only with the systems, but just the the the view of what the c suite even had on HR at the time. Yeah. I think since the company was still relatively new around, excuse me, about six years old and really no formal structure around HR. So it was kind of, like, to equate it to, like, the wild wild west. Like, everyone was doing their best, and they were just kind of, you know, doing doing what they could, but it wasn't necessarily cohesive or, you know, the the most efficient way by any means. So the perception on HR was not great, and very much of, you know, they didn't want me to come in and say, no. You can't do this. You have to do it, you know, my way and, you know, compliance and, oh, HR is here. You know, that that was the general perception. So that also was a bit of an uphill battle and I think a very common challenge that a lot of HR professionals face, especially when they're joining a new company. And what did what did, like, having fragmented systems or just systems that didn't talk to each other, how did that impact your team's ability to function and be efficient? Like like, where did that what what did that suck away in terms of, like, time? I mean, that was all of our time. Right? That that was where our time was dedicated. So we couldn't necessarily have the not only time, but, like, the mental bandwidth to wrap our heads around any more meaningful type of of tackling those issues and meaningful conversations, because we were just trying to keep the systems that we had up and running and in place and kinda keeping the lights on was essentially all that we could do at that point in time because, we're just constantly, you know, data entry. Right? And, and you couldn't you couldn't do anything else other than just making sure that what you had in place was working correctly. Mhmm. So once you knew, like, something had to change, I guess, like, what what type of criteria were you looking for in different alternatives or a solution? Like, what kinda made Rippling stand out for you? Yeah. So Brooklyn kinda came in late in the game and kinda swooped out the competition, honestly. At the time at that point in time, I was solely looking for, essentially, an HRS that could be the source of truth for all of our information while consolidating our US payroll and benefits, Canadian payroll, EOR contractor. Right? So, that was about four different systems already, in one that I knew we could house in one platform. And at that time, that was really the the main criteria where it could also integrate with some of the other platforms that I was either looking to implement, or, to consolidate some others or, you know, some of the the existing ones that the teams were using. And I remember, shout out to to Benny Jacob at Benny, was the person that I worked with. And, I was going through and telling him about, you know, the systems and and the other ones that I was vetting, and he threw out Rippling. I honestly didn't know about Rippling. It was not on my radar. And I did a demo, and the more that I learned about it, honestly, it was the workflows which we're going to get into with the automations really is what hooked me and the ability to customize the platform and make it work for us rather than us essentially working for the platforms, where, you know, it was gonna save us time. And I kind of saw saw the vision, so to speak. Yeah. Well, very grateful for Jacob and Benny, I guess, to give you that final say, because we're really excite we're really, like, grateful that you chose Rippling because I guess what I was, like, really blown away by was I mean, it it's in the title of this this interview. The fact. that you've been able to build, like, so many workflows, save thousands of hours, and literally, like, transform the role and the actual function of HR. And so I think, like, yeah, I guess this is a nice segue into getting deeper into that because I'd love to talk about so once you migrate to Rippling, like, how did you really approach rethinking about your entire operations for HR? Like, what were those, like, first things that you knew you had to automate, and, like, how did you know? Yeah. I think it was so looking back, I think Rippling did help in really consolidating. Like, any platform really would consolidate all of the need to need to do things, like, the things that keep the lights on. And I guess you could kinda say that's, like, the plot of land that you're gonna build a house. Right? It's just like the basic. Like, the foundation. of the pocket. Right. And then, so I was like, okay. This is great. Some of the really big pain points that we were facing were just solved by consolidating everything into Rippling and some of the native functions, that were already built in. So, I really looked at with my team. Okay. Well, where are the other pain points? What are the the manual steps of internal communications was the biggest one of where. do people have visibility, where, you know, who are the key stakeholders, and when do they need to know information specifically around onboarding since we were bringing on so many people at that time, and it was a completely manual process. The onboarding, process. mhmm, yeah, so we, we really looked at, you know, that general basic foundation of internal communications and looking at from when someone signs their offer letter through. their first day of, you know, who needs to know what and when and how do we message that and also customize it, which is the powerful part based off of location or employment type or department to be able to, effectively one click of a button that that the offer letter signed, and then the workflows does everything that it needs to do. So that was really the basic foundation that of where we started. Mhmm. I I think it's really important to start at the foundation because that's kind of like setting the stage for what you can automate next. And, like, if you don't have the basics automated, then you probably can't continue to build on those workflows. So I guess I have a poll for our audience here. And after this, I'll share the onboarding workflow that you've built. But for our audience here, what's, like, the most repetitive task that you would love to automate tomorrow? Whether that's onboarding or offboarding, payroll changes, reporting and compliance tracking, or all the of the above. Feel free to just put in the poll what you think. Like Karen mentioned, onboarding was definitely a huge pain, And so I see a lot of people saying d. Okay. So a lot of people wanna automate a lot of things. But I think I think offboarding and onboarding is a huge one. So how about I share the workflow that you've built and just. so people can see the interface? And then do you wanna, like, walk us through, I guess, more tactically, like, step by step how if someone were to start using Rippling, like, tomorrow and wanna onboard, or sorry. Wants to automate onboarding. Like, tell us about, like, this process here as I'm sure. To be hired. And so you have to, you know, look at the criteria of, you know, what the the conditions are that's gonna trigger the the the work. Sorry. I think it cut off first I I think it cut off the I realized when I played the video, it, like, totally cut you off. Could you start off I I can hear the beginning, and I don't know if our audience did too. I'll start from the very beginning because I don't know where. it cut off. So basically, the the particular example here is we we broke down our onboarding based off of, location and employment type. So this is for our FTE specifically, and the logistical things that need to happen on the back end once somebody is, considered hired and they sign their offer letter. So you'd look at the conditions on what that means for for that particular workflow. So in this case, it'll be US based full time hires. And then we then said, okay. Well, what are the things that have to happen at that point in time? And we built out, essentially different, actions that will happen, all at once at that time based off of that the conditions that we selected. So, in each one, you can set a calendar event or a Slack message to a group of people or individual. We send out a welcome email that links the new hire, their manager, IT, and the people team, like, everyone that needs to know for onboarding and ask questions. So it does everything in in one one action, essentially. Yeah. Amazing. Okay. I'm gonna I'm gonna play the the the video now, and then I think it'll be one more when it's playing, I don't think it, people can hear us, but it'll be done in, like, thirty seconds. So this is for everyone to see visually what Karen is talking about, and this is specifically inside of the rippling platform just so you could see the workflows. So I'm gonna share it in one second. Okay. I think that it's might be yeah. I hopefully, that gave you guys a little bit of a glimpse into the platform. Next time, I'll make sure I'll figure out how we can narrate or make sure we're live as well with it. But, thank you thank you for sharing that specific one. I think a lot of people can, like, have that as their automatic, like, checklist for this is something that HR should not be spending manual time or, like, manual effort doing. Like, this is a this is definitely something that's, like, a must have automation for any HR team. And so I think, hopefully, people can take away from that. So thanks for sharing that. Yes. I guess, not only have you built a workflow to automate onboarding, but you've built over a 100. And. so could you share another one of maybe, like, a more sophisticated and complex workflow? Or, I guess maybe one of your favorite automations as well, like something that has really changed the game for your team and the way that you operate, outside of onboarding. Yeah. I think one a big one is around, visibility around, you know, leaves or time off, and kind of showcasing that extra step of just visibility and that human touch that it'll open up. So if someone submits a bereavement leave, then it sends a Slack message to the HRBP and the manager to connect saying, hey. This person entered bereavement leave. Check-in on them. You know, make sure if you're not already aware if they're okay. And that's just one example of, as we know, the many types of leaves, or, you know, just generally, if during payroll, if there's a someone submits a state change or there's, you know, a visa change, the appropriate people know, and it it automatically sends out notifications, within our internal channels. So there's never a guest worker, you know, very not very often anymore does someone come to me and say, oh, I didn't know that. And I think that's kind of the most powerful part, of opening up the visibility around these different actions. I mean, with the the payroll and and off boarding, you can essentially do the same thing for for all of them of making sure that whenever there's a change or an action that's taken place, the appropriate people are notified is it is really how we've continued to iterate on all of our workflows. How what have you been able to do now that you've saved so many hours? Like, the the three thousand three hundred hours that you've been able to save with automation, like, what has that done for you and your team? It's really opened up I mean, obviously, time. So it's it's saved time. And, I mean, essentially, it's a full time and a part time person that we don't need on the team. But also with the team that I do have that's a lean team, we have the the mental capacity to be able to tackle some of the more, you know, strategy conversations, difficult conversations, coaching. My team meets with with every manager on some level of cadence. So two people essentially and and myself, meeting with every manager of the company, typically at least once a month, to have check-in conversations. We have that time while also managing all of the other things that we do. And that allows us to be much more tapped into the business to then be more proactive in helping support of, oh, hey. This thing is happening, in this department, and, you know, maybe it's something that we we can support with. It just, opens up that time for us. Mhmm. And I I yeah. I I mean, I guess, like, the time the time thing is, like, once you have the time, it's like, oh, now what do I do? I guess and I think also just because automation in HR might still be fairly, like, new or upcoming. I think it's also something people are learning to like. How do you harness that for, like, becoming a truly strategic, like, partner or role? Like what? Like and what are those, like, actionable steps that people can take once they have so many more hours on their hands to still like lead change across h. R, like into the real into the business? And I guess I'm curious to know, like. How were you able to also change the perception of how your your company views HR? Like, what do you think really helped evolve that picture for for you? That's a big question. I think, one, it was it was time. Right? That's it took time for me taking action versus just saying, oh, we can do x y z, but slowly chipping away. And, you know, as I was you know, my me and my team were building these different automations and solving for, frankly, our own pain points and problems, we were also afforded the time and made a active decision to get to know the business and the key stakeholders. And, really, what we did was it was an active conversation of, hey. The perception of HR is not great. Mhmm. And we we know that, Mhmm. in in general, let alone in the in the business. And we wanted to be very intentional about our approach and really showcasing and showing that we are knowledge experts in in what we do, and we can provide some guidance and support in certain areas. So it was just talking to people. Right? That, like, we're the. in the company? Yeah. Like, in in talking to people in the company, all of the managers, and getting to know people and understanding what they were trying to accomplish and what their pain points were. Mhmm. Where where didn't they have visibility? Where where did we wanna collect data and metrics on our our people and how we're performing and how people are feeling, so surveys and, you know, performance data and all of that. So as we were able to save time in the basic admin, we were also able to not only collect data with Rippling, but then showcase that data and and utilize it in conversations. And because we are saving time by automating, we're able to have those discussions. Right? So it's kind of full circle. It all works in tandem. And I'd say anyone that's trying, it sounds like a really big task. And it's not easy, especially depending upon where you are in your career, where you know, how big of a company you are, or how established the business is. But it's really just getting to know the key stakeholders and understanding what they're looking for. We, Yep. you know, we are here to support and and guide and coach, and we can't do that unless we really truly understand, you know, our business partners. Mhmm. And then also, like, I feel like you not only understand, but be the person who's providing value and, like, the not saying, like, tell me what to do. Like, you're going to them saying, hey. Look at this number or look at the stat. And you need the data to show that, and you need the systems to to have that data as well. So it's like, were there any conversations specifically that you can recall that you felt like you were able to almost, like, prove the like, hey. Like, HR has that value. Like, you should, like, almost prove that point in a way. Like, not I don't know how to describe it fully, but Yeah. I think, utilizing data and metrics with our, like, performance reviews and and check ins, coupled with engagement surveys, that's a big one. And I'm very proactive about having conversations around that and ensuring that we have high participation rates, especially in. the gate surveys. And, you know, I wouldn't be able to do a full analysis and really pull out, you know, what I see as trends and, you know, recommendations for different teams and also being tapped into the business from the time that was saved. Being able to have those proactive conversations of, hey, this this is the feedback that we're getting. This is the general performance, and feedback from managers and employees around overall performance in the day to day, and, you know, kind of marrying that data. We now also have all of that data, in Rippling. We implemented, the the talent suite as well. So having all of that together, has been very helpful and I think really has helped shape the conversations that I have at least on, you know, with the department heads, and really showcase that, you know, we we can add value and we can add insight, that they can then also go back to their teams and implement. Mhmm. When you look into the as we, like, look into the future of what, technology and systems and different, platforms have to offer for the field of HR, I guess, what are you most excited about being able to, like, double down on in the future? Like, what would you truly want to dedicate all of your energy towards if you had everything manual automated? Oh, wow. I think I think what I was just saying, I really enjoy the conversations around, you know, what's working and what's not working for teams. You know, we talk about internal communication, you know, navigating change. I think every workplace or most workplaces today are constantly evolving and changing, especially as technology is constantly and very rapidly evolving and helping people adapt to that. So, I would love to be able to dedicate more time to that and making sure that people enjoy coming to work. Right. We. we spend so much time at work. Mhmm. It's not going to be, you know, a party every day. It's it's gonna be hard work and and challenging a lot of times. But at the end of the day, we wanna be able to make sure it's an environment that people wanna be in, Mhmm. and that, you know, people are generally, happy with not only, you know, fulfilled with or satisfied with what they're doing and have some sort of fulfillment. And I think you have to keep a constant, like, monitor and and pulse check on that, and being able to have actual data and collecting that, to have those conversations would really, for me personally, where I would love to to spend more time on. Mhmm. Is that kind of what brought you into the the field of, I guess, HR leading people in the first place? Like, what makes you wanna stay? Yeah. I think any HR person, especially today, sometimes questions their career decisions, and it it it can be challenging in a a lot of the time. But, yeah, I really do truly I kind of nerd out about the data sometimes, and I get really excited about seeing trends and being able to have these proactive conversations with managers. And, sometimes there's some crazy curveball situations that you're trying to navigate and help a manager or an employee navigate and and helping them. You know, I wouldn't I think early in my career, I was like, oh, I like working with people. I like helping people. And a lot of ways that's still true. I think it's just in kind of a a different way today, of being a bit more proactive in how I go about that rather than just on a individual level. It's like collectively, how can we make this a great environment. that people wanna be in? I think that's also just really it's it's yeah. It's like, I guess, important for every organization to have someone who cares about that because it's at the end of the day, people are not enjoying going to work. And if HR is not there to help build that culture, it's like, who is and like, who is going to create that space for people to really feel something when they go to work. And I think that is, you know, HR is, like, superpower in a way. We just have to, like, unlock it almost. Yeah. And I think, you know, we there there's also this misconception or maybe some some HR teams and some companies operate this way, but I feel pretty strongly and passionately. Like, we are there also to help the business, but employees, like, we kind of bridge that to to. line. Yeah. And, you know, we wanna make sure that people are performing and they're consistent and they're efficient. And, you know, we're attaining the business goals and sometimes they're very lofty goals. Mhmm. And also they can happen simultaneously. People enjoy the network. Right? And Yeah. it's like there can be a lot of pressure and it can also be satisfying work. So, you know, you just kinda have to figure out how you can help manage that and and balance it out as people navigate their their day to day workload. Mhmm. How do what do you think, like, how do you build that bridge? Like, and, like, how do you communicate that to the CEO too who might only, like, be focused on profit profit? Like, how do you how do you paint that picture and then also, like, actually serve as that, like, bridge almost between the two, like, people in I mean, company. I not to go back to the engagement surveys, but I I do think that having some some hard data, right, what what numbers and and being, thoughtful about the the types of questions and the exact wording of the questions. We've iterated that a lot and having some hard data to speak to of, hey. You know, maybe, internal communication isn't great or maybe, you know, people aren't feeling great about this other thing and actually having, clear actionable things to talk about to, you know, say, we wanna attain these goals and, yes, it's profit and, yes, we wanna, you know, make more money. That's every every business. But unless you have, you know, talented, excited, driven employees that wanna be there and share in that goal. If you're not creating that environment, then you're not gonna attain that goal. So, you know, it's it's really understanding what is happening in the business and what, are the pain points and having, frankly, data to go off of, that is kind of indisputable, because this is the direct feedback that we're getting, is I have found the easiest way to have those conversations coupled with, hey, this is what we're getting in engagement surveys and then this is what we're we're getting from, performance reviews and we have, metrics there as well. So To yeah. really utilizing that data to have. those conversations because it's gonna be different for every business. Mhmm. And, you know, you really need to I have found, unless you have the the data and something to point to, the conversation is just gonna go around in circles. Mhmm. Were you always able to use data to have those conversations, or do you think like, what like, how did you how did you start to know how to use data, and and why does the systems you operate in help you with that? I did not always have the data. And then yeah. Like, I'm curious, like, how did you get the data, I guess. Like but I because I do. agree with you. You need the numbers to. have the facts. Yeah. And I think that was one of the biggest challenges I've I've had in my career is if I don't have the data. And I was, walking into this particular role. You know, four years ago, I had zero data, and that was another reason why I wanted a single source of truth system. And, you know, the more that I've been able to pull into Rippling, the more powerful the the data and reporting has been, and it's only helped with those conversations. But it really hasn't been until recently that we've been able to actually see trends because we implemented it about three years ago. So we don't have. as much data as a lot of larger companies. But I'd say if you have access to the data, you're already ahead of ahead of the game. Yep. And, you know, just being intentional about what data you wanna collect, and, you know, how you want that narrative to go is gonna be step one. And then how do you collect that data, is gonna be the the next step. But it's it's almost impossible, at least for me. I I never was productive in having those higher level conversations with senior leadership without data. Yeah. I think that's so key. Like, I think everyone watching this should actually and even me included too, just, like, knowing that when you step into those rooms or when you speak to leadership, you do like, otherwise, you if you do not have the the data or the numbers, like, what facts can you, like, lean back on? And then also, like, the the numbers and the the patterns and the trends, like you said, like, those are all what frames the narrative. And I think that's really interesting because. then once you have all that data, you can really, like, analyze, okay. Like, from this performance review, I can say this with certainty. Like, Mhmm. we need to implement this. And, like, I think that's that's really interesting because then you can become this, like, architect. But if you don't have the system, it it's like where you can't start anywhere. So I it's almost like automation is the is what provides data at the end of the day as well in a way. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it it really helps. You know, we the the self-service of employees going in to be able to enter in data managers as well, and we're we're the more that the easier it is in the system for, really everybody that interacts with it and and opening up access for people to interact with it. So it's not just the HR team. Right? It was not just us doing all the data entry. The the easier that is, the more automations that we can build off of that. So So it kinda goes hand in hand. Right? It's it's opening up access. It's, you were able to collect more from because we have the automations. And then from there, we're able to, have, as you said, the facts. Right? Like, the facts to. be able to take away and and and analyze. So it all works hand in hand. I don't think you can really segment it. It's kind of a cohesive, approach that you have to take. Yeah. Totally. I think thank you for sharing all this. I think that we've gotten some questions in the chat already, and so I'm thinking that we can take a second to answer some some questions from people here. Also, if you have any other, questions for Karen, please put in the chat, soon. So I think Jessica Hardy asked, how did how did you track and automate leaves across a global workforce? Can you share this workflow further? So it was more of, this is getting a a little bit more technical and rippling, but we set up different policies, for different leave types, and, we're able to create based off of, their permissions and their rules, based off of how they're coded with their, location or employment type, and that automatically adds them into the appropriate leave policy. And then from there in the workflow studio, we can build and have built out different notifications, based off of those. One person asked, have you quantified the impact, of into hours of your automations, I think, they're asking. Like, have you quantified even, like, like, a dollar amount, I think? Not a dollar amount. It's more around, and it's actually, when Vanessa and I when we were talking, you know, beforehand, I initially said it was, for 2023, it was seven hundred and fifty ish hours that time was saved. And then I looked for this calendar year, and it was, you know, over three thousand hours. And that's really just the exact time that it saved, but it's not accounting for, you know, other areas that, you know, from a human being's perspective, that time saved. So, I I'm sure there's even more that I didn't even calculate into the time saved. But I would say it would basically be essentially the headcount of one and a half, you know, full time employees at, like, a admin or coordinator level. So if you consider how much it costs to hire a a full time and a part time person, essentially, that is, the roughest estimate of cost saved. Mhmm. Yeah. And it's like I I did remember that you mentioned that your team is now super lean as well. So I think that also has like, most of the members in your HR team are not administrative, if I remember correctly. Like, they're all strategic because you. don't need the administrative person anymore. Is that correct? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And it's, you know, even thinking of hiring an intern, it's it's almost like, well, what would we give them? I know that. sounds crazy. But we've we've had that conversation about, you know, what. what type of work could we we give them, to help with. And it's, it's almost too too high level even for that role, which we could talk for another hour on the inherent potential problems down the road for that. But, but, I mean, yeah, essentially, our team is very, sufficient in terms of, you know, not needing that admin support. Mhmm. Jennifer Fox asked, how were you able to sell this concept to leaders without data? I think maybe she's asking, like, how were you able to sell the impact that you made in HR without data, and then how long did it take for to get leaders on board when you had the data? I think it was initially just cleaning up the process. Right? So all of the things that were not going well and making my own team and department, efficient. And then from there building off of it, it wasn't an immediate sell. It was definitely a, you know, show showing it and kind of proving that, you know, this is this is our worth, and these are the things that we can bring to the table, and this is the value that we bring. It's as we collected data, it was a slow thing. It's not a one conversation overnight. thing. Because, No. yeah, it definitely. is not. I I think it was probably at least a year and a half of, you know, chipping away Wow. at at implementing rippling, consolidating systems, putting together processes that make sense. You know, we had to iterate several times to make it make sense for all the teams, and we didn't get it right every. time. But it was that willingness, I think, to adapt and say, okay. This isn't working for you. You're giving me that feedback. Great. Let's find something else that works. And over time, now that we've, you know, set these processes up and people are starting to see the impact. So it's I guess I guess to answer your question, it's not necessarily a conversation. It's, you know, showing, and, you know, putting things in place interesting. that adds value. Yeah. It's like you you and I like I remember last time we talked to you, it was like this iterative, almost like entrepreneurial process where you're not just, like, throwing out an automation and, like, a workflow and it's like a checkbox. It's like, Right. no. You have to kinda go back and you have to see what happened and then iterate and then build and then iterate. So it's like you're that's why I think it's like HR is becoming this people, like, architecture, systems designer almost because you you gotta think in that, like, operational kind of way. And and when you have the tools, you can start to do that, and that's really exciting, I think, for people because the potential is, like, limitless for what you can create now Yeah. or, like, Yeah. automate. And I think, you know, speaking to the the workflow specifically and even some of the permissions and, what's called, like, rules and and policies and. approvals, within, like, native Rippling, it's very much like I don't have to ask someone else to do it. I. have this idea or this kind of vision, and I go in and do it. And then if it's not I mean, I can go in and tweak it. If I'm really stuck, then there's support to help. But, you know, at the end of the day, I can just go in and kind of AB test it and say, Yourself. Yeah. I have this this spot or, hey. This is working, but I think maybe through conversations, it's you know, I can make this other thing even better. I I. can tell you how many times I'm in conversations and then something pops in my head of, oh, that workflow, I should change this particular part part That's so interesting. You're yeah. It's like you're thinking like an engineer. it. I guess so. It's. like yeah. Like, your entire workforce is like, people operations is like your, your big project almost, and it's, like, continuously evolving. And, you have all these little, like, neural networks, I guess, or not neural networks, but, like, networks. And, I guess they kinda live on rippling, but, it's interesting because it's like this never like, it's like a continuously evolving project, I would almost say, where you're. just you're like you're saying you're like, I have an idea. Like, let me go change that. Let me go iterate that. And that's really interesting. Yeah. Yeah. And, Yeah. I mean, the I talked about how lean my team is, and, the the two ladies, for people ops, they when I told them about the saved hours with workflows, their reaction. was, oh, we actually even still have a list of ones that we wanna build. So it. was, yes, we do. We still have a list. And I kind of think of it as more, like, if we're using, like, the house analogy. It's like we've built the house, and now we have some of these other workflows that are kind of, like, in like, decorations. Like, they're nice to. have, and they would be, I, love that. household. where, That's such a good analogy. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So it's like they're kind of waiting in the wings and when we get to it, we'll build it or if it becomes a need. Sometimes. that happens. It's like, hey. This might become a a thing in the future, so we should proactively build this workflow. Sometimes it gets to a point where it's like, oh, yeah, we meant to build that and now it's essential. Yeah. We definitely have that running list. It's like that's so that's that's like a like, almost like an automation with wish list or whatever. I did. Yeah. Yeah. No. But, also, I I love the house analogy. I never thought of that, but I it it was just, like, clicked my brain because it's like, you need okay. The most important part about a house is the foundation. Like, if you do not have a foundation, the house is gonna literally crumble. And so it's like but once you build that foundation and then you build, like, the brick, and and it's also, like, brick by brick, almost, like. workflow by workflow. And then now once you did all the hard work, you'd like you said, it was not easy. You said, like, an a year and a half of not not saying, hey. Look at me. It's like, no. I'm showing you, like, hard facts and, like, real impact over a whole year. And you've built this house, and now you have your whole team with you, then making it pretty and designing it and, like, you know, making the garden pretty and, like, changing. a room and, like, adding a lamp or whatever. And it's, yeah, that's like but if you wanna get started, you gotta have the foundation, and that requires a good system. Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. So I'm sorry. I just, like, share that. That that just, like, came into my mind. Yeah. I I see, like, a Eduardo asked two questions. Let's see if we can combine them in a way. He asked, any estimates on the impact of these changes in HR to retention of top talent and attracting top talent to the company? I think that's a really good question, actually. What are your thoughts on that? That's a a big question. I think because I think in a way, yes. Right? It professionalizes the company. Right? The the first if we're going back to onboarding, the the first interaction that employees have, is with with HR, talent acquisition, and people ops. And if we can make that process as seamless as possible and engaging as possible by customizing it, making sure everyone has the right information at the right time so it's not information overload, I think it just really is like a, wow. This was a great experience and easy to onboard and carry that throughout the employee life cycle. I I don't have a way to but now I'm it's a challenge. Now I'm gonna have to figure out a way to, you know, estimate the impact on that. But I would like to hope that, you know, people see that, helps reinforce that we are a professional efficient, you know, company, and that we care and and collect the data and then use the data in a meaningful way to help, you know, help them with their career overall. Mhmm. And I think, like, the impact is also, like, long lasting too. Like, you might not see it, like, right away or tomorrow, and, like, you might not be able to quantify it tomorrow. But I feel like as you are able to spend more time on the strategic stuff too, that totally impacts culture, which impacts employee experience, which impacts retention. And so I think, like, behind the scenes too, this is totally, like, playing a role. And as you also said, like, once you have the data, you can probably have more leverage in shaping those conversations with, like, it like, leadership decisions, which impacts the people. So, yeah, I think, like, I'm excited to see where, I guess, the house will be at, like, a year from now, but I I assume, like, it'll just keep getting better as well and growing. So Yeah. I. I think it's we're almost coming to an end, hope this conversation, and I wanna be very conscious of your time. so. So I guess we'll take one more question. And, also, I put a a pull out for everyone in case you're interested in learning more about rippling. Feel free to book a demo if you're interested and learn about how you can automate your systems. But let's see. One more question. Is there one that you see that you're interested in, Karen? I'm just looking through the chat in the q and a. Without spending too much time looking through, I see, Scott Graves asked about, how smooth compliance tracking with respect to pushing required training to people, tracking completion, reminders, etcetera. Essentially, that's all automated, with, adding people to the appropriate training, sending the appropriate, you know, documentation if it needs to be signed, and then sending out reminders. And then a really cool thing that we also, implement in certain areas, and this is one of them, is you can create a report and then have that report sent to particular people on a regular cadence. So, you know, we have a report that automatically sends out to the people team to say who hasn't done something or completed something, to then also be able to personally follow-up because as we all know, sometimes it takes chasing people and sending an individual Slack saying, hey. Can you please do this thing even though they've been getting the automated reminders? But I definitely think it's limited the amount of work that, my team needs to do and the chasing that that they need to do. With the automations, like our benefits open enrollment, we basically didn't need to do anything. It was the most seamless easy open enrollment, I've ever had in my career, on the back end. So, yes, it definitely helps a lot with that. Amazing. Hopefully, Yeah. that answered your question, Scott. Okay. Well, I know that we didn't get through every question, but thank you all in the audience for joining us today. And thank you so much, Karen, again, for being willing to do this and to share your journey with automation and just getting really tactical. I know that you kind of really broke down, like, specific technical stuff, and, hopefully, people can take a lot away from it. And, and, yeah, I'll I'll remember the the importance of using data in the boardroom. So, yeah, thank you again. Thank you for having me. This was a lot of fun. Thank you all again. And like I mentioned too, if you're interested in, if you're interested in learning more about rippling, you can press the there should be a pull button, I believe. So, yeah, the pull button for the demo is over there. But, yeah, thank you all again for joining us for this automation advantage series or session, and we hope you have a wonderful rest of your day. Okay. We're gonna log off. Thank you.