Good morning!
Spotify has a new CHRO: Anna Lundström. Joining the music and podcasting giant in 2016, Lundström has held a variety of roles at the company, and previously served as the VP of HR. She also played a crucial role masterminding the company’s remote work strategy, otherwise known as “work from anywhere.”
Coins2Day sat down with the newly-minted HR leader to get her thoughts on workforce priorities for the company, what she thinks it takes to build a great work-from-home policy, and of course, AI.
Lundström and chief product officer Gustav Söderström have released a set of AI rules to the entire organization, and introduced a series of trainings for employees that range from prompt engineering to more advanced courses.
“Leaning fully into the learning, making our employees future ready, providing them with AI literacy skills—that will position them really well,” she says. “We don’t know what the future will hold, but the bet we’re taking is making everyone AI ready.”
Lundström says she’s also doubling down on employee well-being, which includes increased mental health support and an annual company-wide “Wellness Week.” An idea born out of pandemic-era Zoom burnout, that’s when the company closes all offices for the first week in November, and sends 7,500 employees home at the same time.
“People love that because usually, when you’re on vacation, you come back to a full inbox and a long to-do list,” she says. “But here, everyone’s off at the same time.”
You can read more of my interview with Spotify’s new CHRO here.
Sara Braun
[email protected]
Around the Table
A round-up of the most important HR headlines.
This San Francisco start-up is building artificial intelligence tools with the goal of automating white-collar jobs as quickly as possible. New York Times
The immigration crackdown may already be affecting the job market as employment growth in industries that rely on undocumented workers is starting to dry up. Wall Street Journal
Finding the right benefits for employees starts by asking them smarter, sometimes uncomfortable questions during periodic check-ins. Wall Street Journal
Watercooler
Everything you need to know from Coins2Day .
Technology adoption. To encourage more employees to use AI, this financial executive says to involve them more in the problem solving process. —Steve Mollman
RTO attempts. Google is introducing a voluntary exit program for some teams and is tightening its return-to-office policy for employees living near offices. —Eleanor Pringle
College benefits. The CEO of Databricks says the software company would not exist without college networking and says new graduates shouldn’t give up on education. —Preston Fore
