Jennifer Preston of Flex HR On How to Create More Inclusive Workplaces

An Interview with Rachel Kline

Listen more. Talk less. Listen to your employees. Listen to the verbal and non-verbal. If someone is missing a lot of work — check in with them — understand what is going on. If someone is getting angry in meetings, talk with them 1:1 and learn what may be underlying the frustration. Getting to know your employees, beyond the surface, will truly help to foster inclusivity.

Creating inclusive workplaces is crucial for any organization that wants to get the most out of its talent. This means creating an environment where everyone feels like they belong, has equal opportunities, is empowered to do their best work, and feels comfortable making requests and contributing ideas. In this series, we asked prominent HR and business leaders about the steps they take to create more inclusive workplaces. As a part of this series, we had the pleasure of interviewing Jennifer Preston.

Jennifer helps manage consulting and recruiting projects for Flex HR’s clients throughout the country. Her responsibilities include managing the recruiting process, talent acquisition, onboarding, employee relations, performance management, career development, employee engagement, and future talent growth planning with our clients. Jennifer’s background includes Human Resources leadership and delivery across large-scale enterprise-wide operations as well as start-up organizations.

Jennifer was previously with Accenture in a global human resource delivery role and led performance management, senior executive matters, career counseling, workforce management, and employee relations, and was involved with merger and acquisition activities.

Jennifer led Human Resources at a start-up where Jennifer managed employee relations, compensation and benefits, legal compliance, plus performance management. Additionally, Jennifer managed the entire recruiting and selection process for all technical, consulting, and management positions and independently recruited more than 75% of its employee base.

Jennifer is married and lives in Glenview, Illinois, and has three active kids who live in ice rinks following their figure skating and hockey passions. Jennifer loves to attend their events and games, work out, read, travel, and take long walks with her dogs.

Thank you so much for your time! I know that you are a very busy person. Before we drive in, our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you tell us a bit about your ‘backstory’ and how you got started?

I love my “How I got started story”! After I graduated from Vanderbilt University with a degree in Human and Organization Development, thinking I was ready to take on the world, I was working as an HR Intern post-college for Information Resources. I applied and was invited to interview with Arthur Andersen/Andersen Consulting. I jumped the train to the city and feverishly walked across town to 33 W. Monroe. As I frantically arrived at my interview I sat down and took notice of my one blue shoe, my other black shoe, a hole in my “hose” and a missing button from my jacket. I was mortified. I nailed it in the interview and got the job! Gosh, I will always be grateful for the grace, the recruiter, Marichu, my now friend, gave me on that day. I landed the job and thought for sure I was hired to do big, cool HR work. I found myself in the Employee Services team doing data entry. Yes, data entry! I was later tasked with new hire orientation. I was told I needed to be in my position for one year before I could request a transfer. I put in my time, volunteered for everything, and was able to transfer into an upward role one year later where I feel my HR career and learnings truly started as a Human Resources Representative for the Change Management Practice with Andersen Consulting (now Accenture).

It has been said that our mistakes can be our greatest teachers. Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

The funniest mistake or perhaps my most embarrassing moment is that when I wrapped up orientation at Andersen Consulting, I was shown to my desk/shared office space. My new boss pointed to my computer and a stack of papers nearly taller than I am — 60”. I was told to enter all the highlighted information from the documents into the computer to the HRIS. I had two immediate responses: 1) “I was hired to do HR, not to do data entry” and 2) “How do I turn the computer on?” I had never worked with a computer before as in college I used a Smith Corona Word Processor (I am showing my age). The lesson I learned from that experience is that nothing is ever beneath me. I learned and have always embraced since that point that you have to start somewhere and that once in, get involved, raise your hand for everything, and don’t take your foundation for granted. Embrace a “roll up your sleeves mentality” — this will get you more places than you can believe. Everyone must start somewhere, even if that somewhere is at the bottom doing HR data entry. I did anything and everything to learn new skills, meet new people, and take on new responsibilities. I was in a room with 5–6 other people. I was the only one who moved up and I will say not because I was unfairly given advantages — I begged for more and more, I raised my hand every time, and I volunteered.

None of us is able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful for who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story?

As I launched myself in a new role after a year in the HR Data Entry position, I worked for a very serious, no-nonsense workhorse intimidating Managing Partner, Karen Dale. Karen taught me more in the years I worked for her than anyone I have ever met. One story that I nearly repeat to every starting new hire class across organizations, that I learned from Karen, is that if an invitation is extended to join a meeting, don’t just show up. You need to use your seat make sure your voice is heard and speak up. Otherwise, according to the former partner for whom I worked; it is a wasted chair in the room. So, if a person wants a seat at the table, use your voice wisely and confidently or the chair has been wasted. That said, think before you speak and make sure you have done your homework and are prepared to make a statement worth listening. As I work in HR roles today across clients, I always have Karen in my mind — and think WWKD — What Would Karen Do? She commanded a strong, credible presence and I try and emulate her in how I present myself, how I dress, how I speak, and how I act. Thank you, Karen!

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

The best life lesson quote I live by, many thanks to my late grandfather “Bapa” is to “Thine Own Self be True”. He lived by and embraced these words by William Shakespeare which he modeled for my cousins and me and encouraged us to live by. These are words I always consider in my daily word, action, and thought. I am a person with strong convictions, and I am not afraid to speak my truth, as hard as it may be, and as ill-received as it may be. I interpret this quote as being true to yourself first and foremost. Being authentic and genuine, especially in an HR business partnership role is crucial to building trust and forging a long relationship with all levels within an organization. I am a values-based person and I operate based on my own core values. I use my values in every decision I make across the many organizations I work and apply them to the people I serve.

Thinking back on your own career, what would you tell your younger self?

I am grateful that I have truly always lived and worked how it serves me. I have made myself, my 3 children, and my family a priority — always. I worked long and hard for the first sixteen years of my career and then I took time off to be a parent of my three children. I loved taking a break to focus solely on parenthood. While I wish I could have forged an opportunity to maintain a part-time role — truly part-time — at the time, that was not as possible and as embraced by organizations. That said, I loved every minute of raising children, and I would not have done it any differently. I was truly a parent when my children needed me the most. I wish perhaps I had thought to become an HR Consultant earlier in my career, as many had suggested and urged me to do. At the time, I felt vulnerable, doubted myself, and was scared. I would tell my younger self — take a chance — you have nothing to lose. Nothing to fear, but the fear itself. I am beyond grateful for where I am today, and I credit my past experiences and mentors for helping me get here.

Let’s now move to the central part of our interview. What systems do you have to ensure your workplace is as inclusive as possible?

The systems that I encourage in my clients are multi-faceted. Below is a non-exhaustive list I encourage.

• First, first impressions are everything. A company founded with a mission and vision and fundamental core values that reflect on respect for the individual, honesty and integrity, customer service, and a strong relationship focus (to name a few) forge a strong foundation that people matter, and that people are at the core of our organization.
• Inclusivity is reflected in the social media sites — LinkedIn and other sites that deliver messages and outreach to the clients, customers, and community. This can be achieved by ensuring the mission, vision, and core values are on the website. Sharing messages around key holidays and including team gathering pictures on the website all help to reinforce the inclusivity messages.
• The recruiting and onboarding processes are some of the first reflections of the company: making a candidate feel respected, appreciated, welcomed, and heard are fundamental systems to help a person feel included. Ensuring an onboarding process is values-driven and welcoming helps to reinforce inclusivity.
• Recognizing birthdays, anniversaries, additions, and promotions, and sharing that information within an organization does so much to make an employee feel a part of something bigger than his/her role.
• Organizations can benefit from a culture team or a task force that focuses on bridging departments, and bridging levels, and overall brings people together for social, fun, community service, or recognition-type events. Taking time to bring people together apart from showing up to work each day will build a team-togetherness spirit.
• Last but not least, as it is one of the most important, I take the time to build and foster relationships. I listen and make myself available. The employees all have my cell phone and know I am available for them to hear them, listen to them, and be there for them. I provide an ear, and a sounding board, and offer advice if needed. People want to be heard. Listen to your employees — both verbal and non-verbal — and do what is necessary to respond in confidence. I encourage every manager and leader within an organization to do this as well.

At the end of the day, inclusion is how we treat people. The golden rule for me; treat others as you wish to be treated. Everyone top-down, bottom-up in an organization can make a huge difference towards inclusion, by living this motto.

Based on your experience and success, what are your top five tips for creating more inclusive workplaces? Please share a story or an example for each.

1. Inclusivity cannot be forced; it must be genuine. It generally starts at the top. The top leaders must develop a set of core values that demonstrate the genuine and authentic importance of the people as the best assets. Documenting, sharing, communicating, and living out the core values is the first step. A client of mine that has been in business since 2022 recently took their leadership team off-site to develop a formal mission, vision, and set of core values. This has helped establish a baseline of values deemed important and is now linked to performance management and to the recruitment process.
2. A culture committee — for example, at one of my clients, we created a team called “The HUB”. The mission of the HUB is to foster better communication to enhance and unleash creativity in our collaborative and unified culture.” “The Hub” is the organization’s dedicated steering committee, comprised of team members, responsible for organizing, planning, and establishing various enterprise-wide activities and events to bring people together. A budget for team events and off-site gatherings. Sounds simple, yet often forgotten. And everything is more expensive these days. Even bringing in a pizza lunch and having a big company “town hall” can help people feel included. A company where I worked held an anniversary party off-site this year. It was a great, fun event, after work. There was an unveiling of a new logo, the mission, vision, and core values. A great way to celebrate, honor, and recognize individuals and teams.
3. Listen more. Talk less. Listen to your employees. Listen to the verbal and non-verbal. If someone is missing a lot of work — check in with them — understand what is going on. If someone is getting angry in meetings, talk with them 1:1 and learn what may be underlying the frustration. Getting to know your employees, beyond the surface, will truly help to foster inclusivity. People spend 40+ more hours at work each week. Work should hopefully feel like family or as close to a 2nd home as possible. Encourage their ideas, listen to their ideas, and respond accordingly.
4. The recruiting and onboarding processes must reflect and tie back to the core values. Selecting and hiring candidates who appear to genuinely have values aligned with the shared values of the company. Values such as empathy, trust, honesty, and integrity. It is harder to discern these in brief interviews, but they should be and can be garnered depending on how questions are asked and answered.
5. Performance Management that includes a 360-degree component must evaluate how well people are embracing and living out the core values. Companies must hold their people accountable. This is crucial for developing and embracing an inclusive culture. Evaluating people on their core value modeling and behaviors goes a long way. People need to be held accountable and if they are falling short, the company needs to help coach a person toward improved performance or make a difficult decision to part ways. All it takes is one bad egg to hurt a hard-earned culture. Don’t let those bad eggs stay in the culture too long — they become toxic, and quickly spread to others.

Can you share 3 or 4 of the most common mistakes you have seen businesses make while trying to become more inclusive? What should one keep in mind to avoid that?

There are some common mistakes businesses can make while trying to become more inclusive.

1. The first one is simply “virtue signaling”. Using the buzzwords of inclusion, but not doing anything to truly ensure inclusion. This does more harm for a company that thinks and speaks to inclusion but does not embrace inclusion.
2. Believe it or not, Human Resources should not lead and drive inclusion efforts. The likelihood of an inclusive environment having staying power is less than if it is led organically through employees and top-down AND bottom-up.
3. Authenticity is key. Taking other companies’ language and values and adopting them as your own, sets you up to fail. Again, being genuine and authentic to your own organization is fundamental to the success of ongoing inclusion efforts. Truly think about who you are, who you want to be, and what makes your company unique and different.
4. Companies should listen to their employees. Listen carefully to what they are saying and even more importantly, what is not being said. Human Resources can help with this by building relationships and having frequent 1:1s with employees. Get to know your people. Find your leaders and embrace them within the organization to spearhead activities and events that bring people together.

How do you measure the effectiveness of your DEI efforts?
I believe in diversity. I believe in inclusion. I do not believe in equity. I do not support DEI. Diversity in a workforce makes for a stronger workforce — employing and ensuring representation of both genders, all races, and all backgrounds. However, I believe in hiring the best person for the role at any given time. I do not believe in hiring to achieve a target. I have always believed in diversity, but I do believe strongly that the pendulum has shifted far too significantly. We are now seeing companies deviating away from DEI mission and targets realizing this hurts more than it helps an organization. In fact, it creates a reverse discrimination scenario — where unqualified individuals are landing in positions not suited for them when better, and far more qualified individuals are not being hired or promoted because of their non-diversity factors. This is a very costly mistake.

I believe in equality — giving people the same opportunities for hiring, promotion, advancement, etc. I do not believe in leveling the playing field for everyone AND helping a “disadvantaged” group have more opportunities because of their race, gender, and background. I do not believe social systems have been intentionally designed to reward or not reward specific demographics that are rooted in discriminatory practices and beliefs. I have interviewed and hired people from all walks of life. I hire the best people for the role. I advocate for promoting the best people for the role. I advocate for letting go of the underperforming, unqualified people for the role regardless of demographic. And I advocate for coaching, career development, training, and performance management opportunities for ALL.

I do not measure, nor do I encourage leaders, to measure the effectiveness of DEI efforts. Rather, I extend my efforts to taking a pulse measuring the engagement and satisfaction of employees and gathering their performance data. There are a few ways this data can be gathered. First of all, engagement surveys where one can gather the Employee Net Promoter Score (ENPS) a useful metric to know how people are doing, and what is working and not working. Performance management tools that include a 360-degree component not only evaluate performance, results achieved, and accomplishments but also evaluate employees on their effectiveness embracing and modeling the core values are very effective in determininghow well employees are doing living core values. Lastly, as employees exit an organization either voluntarily or nonvoluntarily, attrition and exit interview data can help gather helpful and insightful information. These are all steps that can measure how well an employee is doing and feels valued and goes over and above measuring DEI efforts.

Are there other organizations you admire for their approach to DEI? Can you please explain why?

Honestly, I admire organizations who are realizing that the DEI approach shifted too far and are now dialing back their DEI efforts. I admire a company like Tractor Supply and other organizations that are realizing that mistakes were made. That DEI is, in and of itself, racism and discrimination. In many cases, it is a “check the box” effort. I admire a client of mine, an Atlanta-based Law Firm. They are a very diverse workforce. They have partners and they also have collectors. The employees from the firm hail from a variety of backgrounds and walks of life. The two main partners know every employee by name. There is great recognition for hiring the best people for the role and promoting the most qualified into roles. They work very hard to coach and improve the performance of every employee, but when the end has been reached, they do not shy away from having to part ways with underperforming employees. There is a culture committee that embraces and builds events, programs, and communications to bring the company together focusing much on community service and outreach, and humanitarian efforts. Like every company, there are challenges, but we tackle those every day to figure out how best to handle individual and team situations with practical, articulated solutions to help advance the direction of the company. I am proud of the work I/we have done over the past year.

What do you do to address Proximity Bias? How do you ensure remote workers are treated the same as onsite workers and have equal access to opportunities?

To start, I want to address a quote I found on SHRM directly from the Proximity Bias link you posted: “We know that underrepresented groups have a stronger desire for hybrid and remote work — one survey found that 21% of white knowledge workers want to return to full-time, on-site work compared to just 3% of Black knowledge workers.” The key word in this statement is DESIRE. If underrepresented groups have a DESIRE to work remotely or hybrid and while white workers want to return to the office, it comes down to CHOICE.

In this instance, life is about choice and every person in the workforce has a choice regardless of color, etc. as to where they work. Many companies promote remote opportunities, while others do not. Sometimes it is not up to the employee. However, if given a choice and the employee makes a choice, they may need to go over and above to make themselves visible.

I just wrote a long article about remote vs. in-the-office and career advancement in remote work. I will quote myself from my previous article:

“These opportunities can be wonderful and very rewarding for people and yet others may feel that this situation holds them back professionally. These work-from-home positions are truly not for everyone. Some roles lend themselves better to these opportunities due to work function, experience level, skill set, and independence, while other roles are simply not as advancement successful in the long-term as remote positions. Telecommuters must consider some key tenets to ensure individual continued strong performance that helps drive advancement in his/her roles.

1. Ensure there is a dedicated, professional space for work.
2. Turn on your camera for every Zoom or Teams call and be professionally ready.
3. Schedule weekly/bi-weekly meetings with your boss and ensure you have an agenda prepared to drive your discussion.
4. If travel is necessitated for the role to be present, offer to travel more frequently to be at key meetings.
5. Be available. Get involved. Volunteer for extra work. Make yourself known and remembered.
6. Show up to the office for in-person meetings, and events.

Advancement/promotions are based on performance — outstanding merits, contributions, results achieved, leadership, accomplishments — that are continually happening. Regardless of where you work, commit to being the best you can be. Communicate and manage upwards so those in decision-making authorities know your value and your worth and can speak to it. Being a strong performer regardless of where you work, will be the best consideration for a promotion or other advancement opportunities. Consider the mission, vision, core values and live those every day in your workplace. Ensure your goals are aligned with the mission and the vision and that they are being carried out. Bottom line — do not be out of sight, out of mind!”

We are very blessed to have some of the biggest names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world whom you would love to have a private lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this.

I am a person who speaks my mind. I was blessed with a strong, confident, beautiful mother who taught me to advocate for myself, to be true to myself, to be genuine. I miss her dearly and am grateful for the voice and the mind for which she gifted me. Of all people, I would be most blessed, and I wish she were here to read this.

That said, I am most interested in having someone with whom I share the same or similar values. I care deeply about people, and about inherent values on display at work and in our country. Every day one person comes to mind who speaks his mind. He goes out on a limb — some points I agree with — and some I don’t. He is working hard to share all news stories in an unbiased way, unlike our news networks that conceal facts and stories, twist tall tales, and are biased. He is not afraid to break down walls, and barriers, and innovates more than anyone. He works hard for our country and gives back in ways that I could not. Nothing holds him back. He is someone with whom I would appreciate the opportunity to meet. I find Elon Musk fascinating.

How can our readers further follow your work?
I have been with Flex HR, a leading HR outsourcing firm, for almost three years. This has been one of the best opportunities for me both personally and professionally. I have had the pleasure and honor of working with a variety of clients — a Georgia-based Law Firm, an Illinois-based Men’s Store, a Texas-based Commercial Real Estate firm, a non-profit organization focused on farming, and a social work practice. I pride myself on being able to nimbly and effectively partner with leaders and employees across all functional areas and industries. I am a business-focused Human Resources professional who advocates for people and the top leaders with whom I have the great fortune of partnering. I have been quoted in many an article and these are all linked on my LinkedIn Page: (27) Jennifer (Baker) Preston | LinkedIn. My profile, along with the many other talented consultants with whom I work can be found on our Flex HR site.

Thank you so much for sharing these important insights. We wish you continued success and good health!