Human Resource Executive

HR Technology® Conference UPDATE

How can social technologies be implemented in a way to encourage employee engagement and strengthen corporate values? HR Technology® Conference Co-Chair Steve Boese sought to find this out recently by speaking with Laurie Zaucha, vice president of human resources and organizational development, and Joe Schaeffer, social-media-program manager of Rochester, N. Y.-based Paychex, a 13,000-plus-employee provider of workplace-technology solutions for payroll, benefits administration and more.

His Q&A with them offers insights into the ways HR leaders can help their organizations adapt, embrace and leverage these technologies and platforms, while encouraging employee ambassadors to maintain morale, increase employer brand awareness, and continue to build and strengthen the organization’s unique culture.

Zaucha and Schaeffer will be sharing their Paychex story—namely the company’s social strategies, programs and results—at the upcoming HR Technology® Conference, scheduled for Oct. 18 through 21 in Las Vegas. Their insights about Paychex’s social and engagement initiatives shed important light on the ways HR leaders can bring together cross-functional teams with representatives from PR, marketing, legal and operations, and more for the purpose of strengthening organizational culture, improving engagement and building employer-brand equity.

The Paychex story serves as a telling reminder that these kinds of employee-driven, open, transparent and fundamentally social programs can be executed at even traditionally conservative organizations. Building internal champions, creating an environment that is “safe” for employees to engage in and demonstrating successes are all important lessons to be gleaned from Paychex’s experience—all applicable and capable of being replicated at just about every type and size of organization.

The conference, itself, will showcase HR and business executives from some of the world’s leading organizations sharing how they are driving superior results, improving engagement, and finding and retaining the best talent supported by modern and innovative technologies. Additionally, the latest and most exciting breakthroughs in HR technology will be on display, both on the conference’s main stage and in its Expo Hall, which will feature 300-plus HR solution providers.

Below are highlights from Boese’s Q&A.

Laurie, at the upcoming conference, you and
Joe will share insights from Paychex’s ongoing
employee-engagement campaign, which you
call “Paychex Proud.” Can you talk about how
Paychex Proud got started and what the impetus
was for launching this campaign? What were the
desired outcomes from your perspective?

Zaucha: The original “Paychex Proud” phrase was coined to promote a business meeting in 2010, but the concept has been around for years. Engagement and culture surveys of our employees indicate a very strong sense of pride in working for Paychex.

Looking at our culture and
values from the employee
perspective, Paychex Proud is a way to make the
intangible tangible—to put a name to the best parts of

Experts discuss ways large organizations can use social technologies and an engaged workforce to support their cultures as well as their employer branding and recruiting efforts.

Making Social Work

what it’s like to work at Paychex. When it came time to find a way to apply the concept to social media, “#PaychexProud” was a natural fit.

Schaef fer: The #PaychexProud campaign is really an outlet for employees to share what they love about working at Paychex. We wanted it to feel organic—something we could weave into more formal campaigns such as company-sponsored events or employee-facing meetings—