The Employee Experience at TSNE: How We Are Centering Equity in Recruitment, Compensation, and Wellbeing

TSNE staff are truly amazing. Their unwavering commitment, expertise, and unique contributions are the driving force behind our organization’s impact and success. Our employees are the heartbeat of TSNE, and it is our utmost priority to ensure they have an employee experience that aligns with our core values of justice, progress, and impact. 

Employee experience is not a one-time occurrence but a comprehensive journey and interaction that individuals have throughout their employment. It encompasses their overall perception, emotions, and satisfaction derived from their work environment, culture, and interactions with colleagues and leaders. It comprises various interconnected components, including recruitment, onboarding and orientation, development and growth, work-life balance, recognition and rewards, communication and transparency, compensation and benefits, diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging, and overall wellness and well-being.  

We firmly believe in continuous growth and improvement and are always striving to move in the right direction to provide the best employee experience possible. This mindset ensures that as an organization, we remain dedicated to enhancing and refining our practices to meet the evolving needs and expectations of our valued employees. 

Today, I want to share some of the impactful initiatives that TSNE has implemented to enrich the overall employee experience. I will focus on three key areas: Recruitment and Onboarding, Compensation and Benefits, and Employee Wellness and Wellbeing.  

With the help of our exceptional Human Resources Team, including VyVy Larson, Tyler Girard, Raquel Duncan, Jeannette German, Christine Carreiro, Christine Moire, and Bobby Brickey, we selected some examples to share with you. 

Recruitment and Onboarding 

Creating an inclusive and equitable recruitment process is essential to living our values. To minimize bias, we have implemented an anonymous interview process that focuses solely on qualifications and skills. In addition, we involve staff members from different levels of the organization in the interview process, ensuring diverse perspectives and a more comprehensive evaluation of candidates. With the shift to remote and hybrid work models, we have adapted our onboarding practices to provide a seamless transition for new hires. We prioritize clear lines of communication, streamline new hire paperwork, and offer timely notifications to ensure a smooth onboarding experience. Building personal connections, we facilitate opportunities for new employees to connect with their team members individually, fostering a sense of belonging from day one. We have implemented comprehensive Performance Review trainings that benefit not only managers and supervisors but all employees, demonstrating our commitment to ongoing improvement. 

Compensation and Benefits 

We recognize the importance of fair and competitive compensation. To ensure equity, we conduct annual pay audits that go beyond just gender comparison looking also at race, religion, disability, among others. We use a set of factors which are in alignment with our organizational values to assess every job position such as experience and qualifications, job responsibilities, risk and decision-making level, performance, seniority and market trends. 

We have established a compensation strategy which aims to make us a leader in the market — our goal is to be at the 75th pay percentile for every position at TSNE. To inform this strategy, we conducted a comprehensive compensation study encompassing all the unique job roles within the organization. In addition, we regularly benchmark our benefits to industry standards (which we are proud of exceeding). We also gather data through various sources to understand what our staff value the most, and we openly and transparently share this information with our employees, ensuring their voices are heard and valued. 

Employee Wellness and Wellbeing 

We prioritize the holistic well-being of our employees, recognizing that their health and happiness are fundamental to their overall experience. As part of our commitment, we have replaced sick time with health time, expanding its purpose beyond traditional illness-related leave to include personal well-being. Furthermore, we understand that the loss of a loved one extends beyond immediate family members. That’s why we have expanded our bereavement leave to include pets and friends, recognizing the importance of supporting our employees during difficult times. To support physical, mental, and emotional health, we offer monthly wellness webinars, provide resources, programs, and initiatives tailored to the well-being of our staff. These efforts prioritize self-care, work-life balance, and a supportive environment where employees can thrive. 

As the Chief People and Culture Officer, I am committed to fostering an inclusive and equitable work environment at TSNE where excellent employee experience is prioritized. We continually assess and refine our practices, ensuring they align with our organizational values of justice, progress, and impact. We are always striving to improve and learn from the experiences of our employees.  

I invite you to join us on this journey by signing up for our newsletter. By staying connected, you’ll have the opportunity to learn more about our initiatives, gain insights into our ongoing efforts to enhance the employee experience, have access to resources and discover how we are dedicated to creating a workplace where our employees can thrive! 

About Luzdy Rivera, Chief People and Culture Officer 

Luzdy brings to TSNE an unwavering commitment to unlocking the potential of our most valuable asset: our people. With over 20 years of experience in human resources and people operations, she has specialized competencies in strategic leadership, with a focus on centering diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in every facet of our organization, with emphasis in leadership culture, employee engagement, performance and development management, policy development and change management. Luzdy has a passion and commitment to help build organizational cultures where people thrive in an environment that celebrates individuality and embraces collective strengths.