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?Like many people who started new jobs mid-pandemic, Monique Jefferson was onboarded remotely when she became the CHRO for New York Public Radio (NYPR) in February 2021. She used that experience to identify ways the nonprofit media organization could improve remote and hybrid work for everyone.<\/p>\n
Under Jefferson\u2019s leadership, for instance, the HR team arranged for NYPR\u2019s health insurance provider to offer free online mental health counseling. HR also provided opportunities for employees to gather at parks and participate in ice skating events. <\/p>\n
\u201cLittle things like that go a long way in terms of engagement,\u201d says Jefferson, who oversees a nine-member HR team serving NYPR\u2019s 350 employees and contingent workers.<\/p>\n
The actions Jefferson took relate to two themes\u2014change and equity\u2014that have dominated an HR career spanning more than two decades. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe only constant is change,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
When managing through change, such as the shift to remote and hybrid work, Jefferson says she leads with resilience and agility to address the three ways employees tend to respond: with acceptance, resistance or ambivalence.<\/p>\n
She has also experienced lots of change in her own career. As an HR professional, she has worked in a variety of industries, including pharmaceuticals, wealth management, life insurance, legal services and now broadcast media.<\/p>\n
The second central theme of Jefferson\u2019s career is her advocacy for employees at all levels, not just those at the top. <\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m focused on not creating an organization of haves and have-nots,\u201d Jefferson says, and that involves aligning a company\u2019s values with its actions. \u201cI always try to leave the organization better than when I arrived.\u201d<\/p>\n
Closing Gaps<\/p>\n
Identify ways to improve the organization during her first 90 days at NYPR, Jefferson conducted a listening tour and studied employee engagement data and survey results.<\/p>\n
One thing quickly became clear to her: The organization needed to focus more on career development generally and management development specifically. So, Jefferson implemented a mandatory four-session, 12-hour management training course focused on communication, coaching, inclusive leadership and productive performance feedback. <\/p>\n
\u201cIf we start with our leaders and managers and get that right, they\u2019ll be able to lead and develop healthy, vibrant teams,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
Another gap Jefferson identified led her to put in place what she calls a career-leveling framework across the company. As a result, HR provides greater clarity and visibility on what employees need to do, and the skills and competencies they need to have, to advance in their careers within the organization. <\/p>\n
Importantly, this framework dispels the idea that the only way to get ahead or earn a pay bump is by managing others. <\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s not always the best path for everybody,\u201d Jefferson says. \u201cSome employees don\u2019t want to manage people. That might not be their strong suit.\u201d With this structure, which Jefferson has implemented twice before (at New York Life Insurance Company and law firm Hogan Lovells), \u201cyou let employees know they can be individual contributors and still advance their careers.\u201d<\/p>\n
Plus, Jefferson has worked to ensure fair, market-rate pay for NYPR\u2019s employees\u2014which aligns the organization with the goals of New York City\u2019s wage-transparency law, effective November 2022, requiring that all employers with at least four workers provide the minimum and maximum pay in all job listings.<\/p>\n
Notably, in February, NYPR and labor union SAG-AFTRA settled a long-running dispute alleging unfair labor practices. The settlement included wage increases for certain employees and the resolution of claims pertaining to individual NYPR staff members. Both parties said in a statement that they \u201clook forward to working together to continue to resolve workplace matters cooperatively.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jefferson\u2019s commitment to seeing her organization through all employees\u2019 eyes\u2014in short, her empathy\u2014also means she continually considers the support staff who enable client-facing and revenue-generating employees to do their jobs. <\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s why I focus on equity, making sure we\u2019re fair across the board,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
For Jefferson, fairness also involves an intense focus on diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I). NYPR had created a Race Equity Action Plan<\/a> prior to her joining the organization. Since then, Jefferson, in close collaboration with Brenda Williams-Butts, NYPR\u2019s senior vice president of DE&I, has helped implement many of the plan\u2019s 19 commitments, such as securing a diverse slate of qualified candidates for every open position and reporting annually on hiring and retention rates. The organization is working on a new action plan for 2022.<\/p>\n Jefferson also displayed her dedication to equity at her previous employer, Hogan Lovells, which she joined in 2016. At law firms, typically only the attorneys are eligible for incentive compensation such as bonuses. But within her first six months as the head of HR for business services in the Americas, Jefferson helped develop and implement a program that extended the potential for incentive compensation to everyone, including business services staff such as paralegals and HR team members. Jefferson freed up $2 million to fund the new incentive program.<\/p>\n \u201cThis was a big win for the firm,\u201d she says. \u201cIt positioned the firm to become more competitive in the market, attract more high-performing talent and increase employee engagement.\u201d<\/p>\n Alaiki Harris, director of benefits and well-being at Hogan Lovells in Washington, D.C., recalls how Jefferson built a business case for broadening the incentive program and made the case to senior leadership. She attributes Jefferson\u2019s success with that initiative not only to her leadership skills but also to her deep knowledge of both standard and best practices.<\/p>\n \u201cShe\u2019s extremely knowledgeable about her field, she\u2019s extremely persistent, and she\u2019s very bold in her approach,\u201d Harris says. \u201cShe also knows how to convey concepts in a professional, diplomatic way.\u201d<\/p>\n While at the law firm, Jefferson noticed another disparity: The DE&I initiatives and the employee resource groups tended to serve the lawyers only. \u201cI was quite vocal that there needed to be the same opportunities afforded to the business services staff,\u201d she says. Right before she left for NYPR, the firm created a DE&I committee targeting those staffers\u2019 needs. <\/p>\n Also under Jefferson\u2019s leadership, the firm began offering onsite mental health counseling services to all employees a few days a week. \u201cBeing aware of and sensitive to employee health and wellness has a direct correlation to productivity,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n Showing Leadership<\/p>\n Julissa Rodrigues has witnessed Jefferson\u2019s leadership and learned from it. From 2011 to 2015, Rodrigues was supervised by Jefferson at New York Life, where Jefferson served as a senior HR business partner and reported to the CHRO. Rodrigues recalls how Jefferson adroitly collaborated with members of the executive committee during a company reorganization.<\/p>\n \u201cMonique has great business acumen, and she\u2019s a fearless leader who challenges the status quo,\u201d says Rodrigues, now an HR business partner for Apple in New York City. \u201cShe taught me what it takes to be fearless and always show up with facts and solutions.\u201d <\/p>\n Jefferson\u2019s intense interest in equity extends to her nonwork life. She volunteers for The Links, Incorporated<\/a>, an international nonprofit that promotes service and friendship among women of African descent. Jefferson serves on the group\u2019s youth committee, helping with a STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics) program at a Brooklyn middle school and tutoring students as they prepare for their high school entrance exams. Jefferson also serves on the board of CALIBR<\/a>, a nonprofit group that helps advance Black business leaders into senior positions. <\/p>\n \u201cBoth these organizations speak to my passion for helping BIPOC [Black, Indigenous and people of color] youth and Black professionals develop and advance their careers,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n Jefferson sees a direct link between how she leads and how she was raised. \u201cI got my work ethic and competitive spirit from my parents,\u201d she says. \u201cThey instilled confidence in me and told me I was as good as anyone else. I learned at an early age to advocate for myself and speak up, especially when I see something that\u2019s not fair or right.\u201d<\/p>\n As she grew up on Long Island, her parents emphasized the importance of education\u2014and of making sacrifices to obtain it. Her father worked two jobs: public school teacher and administrator and, after school, recreation center director. Her mother held various positions in the U.S. Postal Service and went back to school to get her bachelor\u2019s degree while Jefferson was in elementary school. Later in life, Jefferson\u2019s mother also earned a master\u2019s degree.<\/p>\n \u201cThey worked so hard to provide for me but also to make sure I had things they didn\u2019t have as children, like travel and extracurricular activities,\u201d Jefferson says. \u201cWhile I may not have spent as much time with my parents as my peers did, I never held that against them.\u201d<\/p>\n After getting her undergraduate degree in accounting at Bentley University, Jefferson began working as an auditor at global accounting and consulting firm EY in the mid-1990s. She quickly realized it wasn\u2019t a good fit. In 1998, she joined global business services and consulting company PwC as a junior HR generalist and knew she had found the right career path.<\/p>\n \u201cI realized I loved HR and wanted to stay in it,\u201d says Jefferson, who earned a master\u2019s degree in human resource management from the New School in 2003. \u201cI loved being able to work with leaders and employees to help solve their problems. At the end of the day, I see my job as not only minimizing risk [for the employer] but always doing what is right, whether that\u2019s for the employee or the organization.\u201d<\/p>\n Her love of HR informs the advice Jefferson now offers younger professionals. \u201cI always tell them to find careers that align with the three P\u2019s: purpose, passion and profession,\u201d she says. \u201cBeing an HR leader has allowed me to do that.\u201d <\/p>\n Novid Parsi is a freelance writer based in St. Louis.<\/em><\/p>\n Photography by Adam Lerner<\/em><\/p>\n![\"adam-lerner-1060309.png\"](\"http:\/\/squarehr.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/career-lessons-from-monique-jefferson.png\")
Equal Opportunity<\/span><\/p>\n