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Inspire Club EP #22 - Kaitlin Howes
7 Plays2 years ago
In this episode we talk with Kaitlin Howes, HR Business Partner at Reward Gateway.
Kaitlin Howes is an HR Business Partner at Reward Gateway. Kaitlin loves the dynamic nature of her job and that she gets to wear many hats, but is especially happy when creating a welcoming, fun and supportive experience for RGers. When she isn’t wearing her RG hat, you can find her repelling her sticky-fingered toddler from grabbing her laptop or chasing sunshine that provides the perfect setting for a picnic.
We hope you enjoy it.
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Transcript
Introduction and Podcast Mission
00:00:00
Speaker
Hello, hello, hello, hello. It's me, Ruth Dance, your host of the Inspire Club Podcast. Welcome, welcome back to the Inspire Club. As you know, I share the duties of my colleague, Matt, who also is one of the hosts of Inspire Club.
00:00:22
Speaker
And it's always, I always say this, but it always is my favorite part of the week, interviewing, inspiring people from all over the world, getting to learn about them, their lives, and also what they think about the world of work as well. And just like in the 1990s classic fight club, we do have one rule and our one rule is that each guest must share a story of one person that has inspired them along the way. Putting some positivity out there into the world, thanking someone, maybe someone that even had no idea.
00:00:52
Speaker
It could be a past colleague, it could be anyone, even from the outside of work.
Meet Caitlin Howes
00:00:57
Speaker
So today's guest, I'm really excited. I've just been chatting to Caitlin before we came on air. Caitlin Howes, who is the Experience Manager and Executive Assistant, she holds a dual role at Reward Gateway, one of our partners. Caitlin's based in the Boston office, has a beautiful accent. We've just been chatting backstage about
00:01:19
Speaker
we're both going through the highs and challenges of having two-year-olds. Caitlin has a two-year-old little girl, I have two nearly two-year-old twins, so she's a little bit ahead of me there in telling me all that I've got to look forward to over the next few months. Caitlin's been with Reward Gateway for about four years now and has quite an extensive experience working in different areas within HR
00:01:43
Speaker
but always geographically based in Boston. Caitlin, how are you?
00:01:51
Speaker
I'm good. Thank you so much for having me. Thank you for that nice introduction. It's an absolute delight. Any mother that also is having a two-year-old and finding the time to record podcasts and also take on a dual role of an executive assistant and experience manager, I am a fan of. Talk to me and talk to our listeners a little bit about reward gateway and what you do for reward gateway as well.
00:02:16
Speaker
Yeah, I would love to. So, Reward Gateway is an employee engagement company, and we want you to use our platform to engage your people and power your business through reward recognition, communications, and surveys.
00:02:33
Speaker
So definitely feel free to check our website out to find out more. And then my role at Reward Gateway is as an experience manager to really set the tone for our offices and also while we're working virtually. So really just connecting our people and making sure that they have the best experience they can while at work.
Employee Engagement Challenges
00:02:53
Speaker
And then in terms of the executive assistant side, I help support three members of our leadership team. And it's just absolutely wonderful to see how hard they work, what they contribute to the business, and learning from them. So yeah, I feel really lucky to be able to have those two sides of my role. Wow, I bet that's been really interesting over the last two years now.
00:03:19
Speaker
And not only have you been raising a child from birth to the age now that she is, but also doing that during a pandemic, but more so like helping people have these positive and inspiring and fulfilling experiences at work when you have not really been able to see them, I'm guessing.
00:03:36
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. And I know that there's a lot of Zoom burnout. So it's like, it's really important to be conscious of, you know, bringing people together, but not making them sit on video all day. So my team of experienced managers at Reward Gateway have had, you know, and a lot of experienced managers across the globe have had the hard task of keeping our people connected while we're all physically apart.
00:03:59
Speaker
So yeah, it's been an interesting past year and a half. And something I'm noticing, we say that we can, well, particularly where I'm based in the UK at the moment.
Adapting to Flexible Work Modes
00:04:12
Speaker
most of us are now vaccinated but even though we're vaccinated and legally we can see each other and places that open up again mindset has just shifted and not just shifted temporarily like it takes 21 days is it to change a habit I mean this has been more than 21 days
00:04:33
Speaker
It's been more like 21 months, so habits have changed forever, it feels like. Yeah, it's really cool. So at Reward Gateway, we've always had a flexible working environment, and we've always had different work modes for us to be able to do the best work wherever we are.
00:04:49
Speaker
or for the type of work we need to be doing. So what we ended up doing is just going all in and making RG a flexible working company and then tailoring our work modes to suit people, whether they're in the office or at home. So yeah, you're absolutely right. We're changing how we work and it's quite cool. As long as people are happy, I think that that's the best thing. Absolutely. Making sure that people are all happy.
00:05:16
Speaker
And sometimes you're cool and happy and don't always go together for people. I must, I must, must, must get onto the first rule of Inspire Club.
Inspiration from Colleague Kat Lewis
00:05:27
Speaker
Otherwise I'm going to slap my own wrists. So it's the first rule and the only rule we have of Inspire Club is please share a story with us of someone that has inspired you in the world of work, ideally, but someone that has inspired you and why.
00:05:44
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. So I came back from maternity leave a little bit over a year ago. And when I came back from maternity leave, I was, I was eager to learn more and really get stuck in and somebody that I turned to, to be able to kind of grow and learn more and get all of the things that I had been missing while I was home with my daughter for a year, which was wonderful. But I, but I wanted to get,
00:06:12
Speaker
back into work mode. And I was able to talk to one of my colleagues, Kat Lewis, and she's our head of comms and engagement. And I've been meeting with her weekly since returning from maternity leave. And she has continued to inspire me to push my boundaries, think outside the box, explain my why, think from a more strategic perspective. And I feel like being able to work closely with her, I've just
00:06:41
Speaker
learned so much and been able to explore different areas of HR that I'm very passionate about. And yeah, I just feel really, really lucky to be able to have her as a sounding board to bounce ideas off of. It is always much, much appreciated.
Supporting Returning Parents
00:06:59
Speaker
Oh, that's amazing, Caitlin. I know I came back from a tent to leave after my first son five years ago, and then again a year ago after I had my twin boys.
00:07:11
Speaker
You take a bit of a confidence knock when you have a baby when it comes to the world of work that no one really talks about. It's definitely something me and my friends talk about over wine, but not something you talk about publicly. I've literally been changing nappies and hiding for a year now and I'm really scared.
00:07:31
Speaker
I've like, you know, world has changed, my body has changed, my life has changed, my sleeping habits, my drinking habits have changed. And you go back into that world of work and you almost have to hide that and just be like,
00:07:49
Speaker
Hi, I'm back like you just took a vacation, right? I know just just an extended vacation and yeah, you're as a, you know, as a parent off on leave, you're using a completely different part of your brain. Like, you know, when you want to talk to me about, you know, colors and shapes, I'm all about it. But yeah, coming back from the journey, it's like, all right, you have to get back into, you know, the typical
00:08:17
Speaker
style of nine to five and yeah, it just looks a little bit different. So it's really nice to have a support system to help you transition back into work. Yeah, I would question if there's many organizations that are doing that and actually recognizing the difference that it makes to women in particular who have gone through the kind of the physical and mental change of having a child, whether that's the first time or the second time or twins or whatever it is.
00:08:44
Speaker
or you know whatever you go through or even sadly in pregnancy loss as well like your body goes your body your mind everything goes through a change that can also be a positive for an employer right like you've got fresh perspectives you look at the world in a different way now like you can really challenge things quite differently as well your ego and
00:09:08
Speaker
Definitely more resilient. Your needs are completely different and they drive different things at your business and specifically reward gateway notice for returning moms or
00:09:19
Speaker
parents of loss, like there were needs for different types of benefits. And we actually just recently put in a new policy for people who have lost a baby, unfortunately, so providing them some leave time. And we've been constantly trying to improve on how we read
00:09:38
Speaker
introduce new parents into the business and providing them as many supports. And we're just listening to our people and trying to find the best way to do that. And yeah, I feel really lucky that Reward Gateway creates space for those types of benefits. Yeah, that is really good. And I'm really happy to see lots of organisations starting, just starting, but starting to follow suit in that across the globe.
Creating a Great Work Experience
00:10:02
Speaker
It's really good to start to recognise that as
00:10:05
Speaker
not the archaic way of thinking which is people are having children therefore it's going to hurt my business but actually it's presenting opportunities untapped talent and people in different ways which is so good you talked about how you have been encouraged to talk about your my why and share your my why so what is your my why like what is it that drives you every day
00:10:31
Speaker
Yeah, so I always am driven by the people that I'm around. Reward Gateway just has wonderful people that I feel so lucky to work with. And so I'm inspired by them and driven to create a really great
00:10:44
Speaker
experience for them every single day. So yeah, so I love getting up and planning events and different activities and creating an office space that just feels like home. And yeah, seeing our people happy is definitely what motivates me on a daily basis. I mean, what a purpose, right? Seeing other people happy, making other people's days.
00:11:15
Speaker
That's the kind of thing I hear in hospitals and in a positive way, you know, when you can make a difference in people's lives and you can see that you're making a difference in people's lives, whether that's their working life, their home life, their health life. I mean, that is, that is such an amazing, such an amazing purpose.
00:11:35
Speaker
Let's talk a bit more about you. What is the best experience you have ever had? You talk a lot about how you're creating experiences with other people, but what's the best experience you've ever had at work?
Organizing Major Celebration Events
00:11:47
Speaker
Yeah. So something that I've recently done was planned our, so we just transitioned out of our season three into season four at reward gateway. And we have new investors and it's a really exciting time. And to be able to commemorate that, that transition in our journey,
00:12:05
Speaker
We threw a season three celebration and it was the first time that I was able to plan an event in person and I was really able to use my creativity for this event. It wasn't vendor management or workspace planning.
00:12:22
Speaker
It was getting to create a beautiful space and work with vendors that had been struggling over the past year and a half and helped bring them and advertise their services. So it felt really, really wonderful to coordinate a wonderful party, which obviously I brought this up, which was for our people. But I felt really lucky to be able to be creative and work with different inspiring
00:12:51
Speaker
Like a lot of the businesses I use were run by women and yeah, it was just, it was so fun. The event was wonderful. People had so much fun and I just really thoroughly enjoyed planning all of it. And then also reaping the benefits of, of having a really fun party as well. Cause that was fun for me too. Okay, Lynn, I need to get myself to Boston.
00:13:15
Speaker
Yeah. So sort out my vaccine passport and get myself over it. It sounds like you had a great time. I'm insanely envious of any party at the moment. You know, we like got it at the perfect time in July when things were really like settled down. Unfortunately, things have changed a bit now, but it was like the perfect time to get everybody together where it was safe. And that was really lovely.
00:13:41
Speaker
That's great, it's
Onboarding and Employee Well-being
00:13:42
Speaker
great. We've obviously referenced quite a lot already around what's been going on over the last couple of years, but what do you think is a major priority for workplaces at the moment? Yeah, I mean, I think the biggest thing obviously is making sure that your people are feeling safe. There's so many unknowns right now, so making people feel comfortable and helping them
00:14:07
Speaker
I hate to say this, this new normal is really, really important. So yeah, I'm just constantly talking to our people and seeing where their heads are at, whether you want to come into the office or you're not quite ready yet. We just want to make sure that we're creating an environment at home or in the office that caters to everybody's needs. And then specifically at Reward Gateway, we're growing our teams quite a lot.
00:14:37
Speaker
And the onboarding part of that is really, really important as well. So really figuring out how we can best support people as they start with the reward gateway, which is exciting. Yeah, really, really good. So creating these safe environments for people, whether that's psychologically safe, mentally safe, physically safe. But that's down to individuals needs, not just what you think as an organization.
00:15:05
Speaker
but also onboarding as well. Getting onboarding right makes a huge difference. We talk about first impressions and how much they count and they do count so much to getting that right at the start of someone's career with you.
00:15:19
Speaker
Totally. Imposter syndrome is real. You want to feel comfortable. Make people feel as comfortable as possible. What's the best advice you've ever been given? So simple in theory, harder in practice, and it's from my wonderful mother. But obviously, there's that whole element of controlling the controllables. But when there's
00:15:43
Speaker
When there's things that you cannot control, they're going to happen whether you worry about them for hours or days, or you can just sit back and let things happen. And so yeah, so it's just that reminder that whether you worry or not, things are going to happen. So you might as well just not spend as much time worrying. So it's simple, like I said, but a lot harder in practice. So it's something that I constantly remind myself.
00:16:13
Speaker
Yeah. Oh, I'm with you on that. I've run a few sessions through our Academy on the circles of control, which is really similar. Like we spend a lot of time worrying and focusing on energy and efforts and talking, whinging, bitching, moaning about things that we cannot do anything about. They're happening anyway, and we cannot do anything about them. Like I can't influence what the Kardashians are wearing. You know, there's so many things that we just,
00:16:42
Speaker
I mean, that's obviously a bit more of a joke, but there are so many things that we can't influence in life. I certainly couldn't influence the fact that I had twins on my second child. And it's going to happen anyway, and there's someone somewhere believed that that was going to happen for me. So let's get on with it. Exactly. Might as well just chill out.
00:17:02
Speaker
Yeah, not really what my husband said that day. You know, you can only do so much. Yeah, it's the same in work as well, right?
00:17:15
Speaker
things are going to happen if we spend so much time worrying about something rather than actually taking actions and doing something that's not creating positive hormones and positive experiences for ourselves or for other people either.
Leadership Values
00:17:28
Speaker
Such good advice. Thank you, Caitlin's mum. What do you think is a really important quality in a leader?
00:17:41
Speaker
I think that being honest and transparent is something I really admire about a lot of the leaders at Reward Gateway.
00:17:50
Speaker
Um, it lets people kind of know where they stand and takes that guessing game out of it, which is really lovely. I think something that I also really, really value in a leader is their ability to develop their people and their teams. I think people are always, you know, if you have a good team that wants to learn and grow and you, um, help nurture that, you know, you, you can be unstoppable. And I think that that's a really great, great quality.
00:18:16
Speaker
Yeah, someone that's really nurturing, really wants to develop and also someone that's really honest and open and truly honest and open. I'm telling you the truth. I really want to be open with you all, but you can tell that they're really not being open. It's hard. It's a lot harder than it seems. Yeah. And it is really hard for leaders as well. It can make them feel vulnerable and
00:18:41
Speaker
open to criticism and open to stumbling but actually when you're truly authentic it is such a difference in how people communicate with you and what you get out of them and everything. I completely completely agree with you on that. Is there anyone that you'd like to swap jobs with even if it was just for a day?
Dream Job Switch
00:19:00
Speaker
Yeah, I think okay, so I think it would be really fun. Like, this is completely out of the HR world. But I think it'd be really fun to swap positions with a florist for a day. I love like, I love having flowers around my house and and and, you know, playing around with the colors and and it just adds like a nice little bright
00:19:21
Speaker
part to a room. And I think it would be so fun to get to play around with flowers for the day and like decorate people's weddings and things like that. So that could be fun. Wow, playing around with flowers for a day. Yeah, right. Why not? That does sound fun. And I'm always alarmed at how much money and how much people spend on flowers. And I've said this, I mean, I've been with my husband now for like, I don't know, like maybe
00:19:51
Speaker
17 years or something but um he's probably bought me flowers in that time twice that i mean i mean that would be a maximum so but whenever i question him on why don't you buy me flowers like other people buy flowers for their partners um he's like he's like
00:20:09
Speaker
He's like, but they just die. Like you just look at them and they die. He's not wrong. He's not wrong, but they bring so much joy as well, don't they? Just take a fun little thing. Yeah.
Productivity Tips
00:20:24
Speaker
How do you stay so productive? I mean, you're a mother to a two year old, you've got two jobs on the go, you're dealing with lots of moving parts, you're setting up events. How do you, what's your productivity trick?
00:20:37
Speaker
I wish I had this super exciting thing that no one's ever heard of before, but of course,
00:20:45
Speaker
your standard list. Love crossing off tasks on a list. But I think when I'm organizing my lists or organizing my days, I try to tackle the things that I am least excited about. I tend to have more energy in the morning. So I'll tackle those first. And then when you have a little bit more of a lull in energy, you can get into the things that you find more enjoyable.
00:21:10
Speaker
And I think that makes for an easier day. But yeah, I love crossing off tasks on a list. Like, it's always so satisfying. I don't know why I've got visions of like,
00:21:22
Speaker
your list instead of bullet points, they're like pretty little flowers now. If I had the time to decorate a nice checklist, I would, but no, they're just your standard lines. But yeah, doing the thing that scares you the most or doing the thing that is the most
00:21:44
Speaker
The thing that you're going to procrastinate the most, getting that done first thing in the morning, that is that theory, that book, that video, eat your frog. Because otherwise, it's just going to grab it at you all day. And it so does. I even find that in my home life as well. You will probably find this quite alarming. But I think it was maybe 6.30 AM today. I was cleaning the windows. Who likes cleaning their windows?
00:22:14
Speaker
But they were covered in fingerprints from the three kids. I needed to do it before I got them all out to school and nursery and I started my work day. And they've been bothering me. They've been riveting at me like a load of frogs. So they get the thing that scares you or bothers you the most, whether that's difficult conversation.
00:22:31
Speaker
with someone in your team. It's a really boring report that you've got to produce. Maybe even questioning why you've got to do that report in the first place and actually challenging someone on something. Getting those things done first in the morning is a really good productivity trick. So lists and eating frogs for you, Caitlin. Yeah, exactly.
Communicating Project Vision
00:22:52
Speaker
Are you learning anything at the moment?
00:22:55
Speaker
Um, so we're really like, so I brought this up earlier in the conversation, but we're really focusing on as a team, like our why and our strategy. And that's just been really, really wonderful. I think that so often you'll put a ton of work into a project.
00:23:12
Speaker
especially within HR, like our customers are our people and so if we're investing a ton of work into a project and then we're putting it out to our people, if we didn't do a good enough job of sharing our why or sharing our strategy, then all of that work could just be completely missed because people don't understand why we are doing it.
00:23:33
Speaker
So I've been, I, we, as a team and myself, like learning a ton from my team members just to really focus on like the strategic reasons and the why behind all of our work is just going to make us better and better, I think, or I hope. Yeah. And I do find lots of us, we don't spend enough time regularly going back to our why. Like we might go to a workshop or have a coaching session or
00:24:02
Speaker
have some kind of like deep reflective time in our life or in our career where we really work on what is our why and we'll feel motivated and energized and we'll start to do things against that or towards that, sorry, towards our way, but then we don't go back to it. We don't like revisit it and say, what is my why? Am I doing things that are aligned to that? So it's great that you're doing that.
00:24:27
Speaker
And when you're so close to a project, like you know the why because it's your project, it's in your brain. But unless you put it out and constantly check yourself, like you said, go back to it, by the end of your project, it might be all jumbled up and the people that you're presenting it to may completely miss the mark because you didn't do a good enough job explaining your why. So yeah, it's a good thing to remember. This conversation around what you're learning at the moment, it leads me into my
00:24:57
Speaker
next question, which is part of our quick fire round, which is, instead of you learning, if you were a teacher, what would you teach?
Interest in Teaching Anthropology
00:25:06
Speaker
I think anthropology would be really fun. Wow, nice. So you'd be an anthropology teacher by day, for a spot evening. Yeah, exactly. And a mum at some point in that too. Yeah.
00:25:24
Speaker
Um, are you an early bird, a night owl, or have you got no choice anymore? I know. I feel like it's like no choice. I, I'm up early. Um, but sometimes I do that. Like I stay up too late because it's like my only quiet time. So now it's a little bit different, but usually early bird. Yeah. It sounds like you're more productive in the mornings as well. So what song? So we asked everyone who comes to Inspire Club, um,
00:25:53
Speaker
what song really fires them up and gets them going. And then we put that into our Inspire Club Spotify playlist.
Inspirational Song Choice
00:26:01
Speaker
So Caitlin, which song really energizes you? Oh, oh my goodness. Okay, so I have to think about this. So I have like, I have my like go to like,
00:26:13
Speaker
always listen to, like, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band by the Beatles. Like, that's like just a good background, like, love to listen to. I need to think about this specific song. Can we come back to that one? Yeah, well, yeah, okay. Or I'm gonna choose one off that album for you. Yeah, right, right. Well, you could do, like, Little Help off that album. That would be good. Okay, Little Help.
00:26:43
Speaker
from the Beatles, yeah. Okay, got it, got it, right, that's going to be added into our Inspire Club Spotify playlist.
Humorous Parenting Moments
00:26:55
Speaker
What about, is there anything that you can share with us that's funny, that's happened to you recently, that's made for Inspire Club?
00:27:07
Speaker
Yeah, I have a toddler, so like every day, and she's too, so she's learning to talk a ton and like stringing sentences together. So like everything is funny that she says. The other day, and she's starting to create sentences. The other day I was doing a big like clean out of my closet and she walks into my room and she goes, what's going on in here? And it was just like, what? Like she's just, I don't know, she just has those, the common, like just how she comments on everything is just always cracks me up.
00:27:37
Speaker
Oh, that is so funny. I mean, this probably isn't clean, but I'm going to share it anyway. One of my twins walked in on me when I was in the bathroom the other day, and he just stood there and went, Mummy, where's your Willy gone? Yes. Oh my gosh. All the autonomy, yeah, all the anatomy conversation is interesting.
00:28:04
Speaker
There we go. I should probably put inspire club with some sort of ratings. Okay. Um, have you got a favorite film? Um, yeah, little women probably has to be at the top, the 1994 version. The newer one is good, but you got to go with that one. Oh, the originals of everything are always better, right? Like, yeah, I'm a big fan of Charlie and the chocolate factory.
00:28:30
Speaker
But the new ones are just not as good. The originals are always the best. Yes, I totally agree. Is this something you've done that you would never do again? High school? I mean, that's a long period, Kaitlyn.
00:28:52
Speaker
maybe more like you ate something and you didn't like it but I mean this is the big chunk of your life. Which was wonderful but I would never want to go back to it. True, true, true. I'm guessing you've not been very many places over the last couple of years but where's the best place you've ever visited?
00:29:12
Speaker
Um, so I always, my husband's from the UK. So we end up going back to back there quite frequently. And obviously it's really lovely to be able to just hop over to other countries. That's something that we don't experience in the U S being so big. Um, but a place that I always want to go back to is the Netherlands. Like I love Amsterdam. Um, it just is such a good, like, I just get really great vibes from there and it's definitely a place that I could live if ever given the opportunity.
00:29:43
Speaker
Yeah I've been out there for work a few times over the years and I was also super surprised by Amsterdam. It's so beautiful. Yeah I think I'd only ever thought of it as like bachelor parties and like hash and everything like you hadn't really ever in the red light district but never really realized the people the food the
00:30:07
Speaker
The architecture, everything is just such an amazing place. Yeah, I agree with you. Okay, last question. Probably the most important question for us, because this is the only way we keep Inspire Club going, is who, and this could be anyone, you don't even have to have met them, it could be anyone at all, who would you like to nominate to be a guest on Inspire Club?
00:30:33
Speaker
I mean, if it was somebody I haven't met like Beyonce. No, but I mean, I have to shout out my colleagues, Will and Evo. They're the experience managers in London and Bulgaria, and they are just inspiring and wonderful to work with. So I've got to call them out. Will and Evo. Yeah. OK, Will and Evo, we're coming for you.
00:30:58
Speaker
Yes. Yeah. Oh my gosh. They would be great interviews. Okay. And I've really enjoyed chatting to you. Like everything from the things two-year-olds shouldn't say through to floristry, through to the world of work. I've really, really, really enjoyed it. Thank you for being an amazing guest today on the Inspire Club. Yeah. Thank you for having me. I really, this was awesome. Yeah. Well, good luck for the rest of your day.
00:31:24
Speaker
I'm clocking off on the school run now, whereas Caitlin's just getting started on her day. I'm hoping this wasn't your worst task of the day and starting off with eating your frogs. If you haven't done it yet, go and eat your frogs. Yeah, it's really just about timing. Caitlin, thank you so much. Thank you to the team at Ward Gateway. Thank you to you, Caitlin, and stay tuned for another episode. Thank you.