Welcome to a brand new episode of Voice Activated: Tuning Employee Insights At Work. Our host Sean Fitzpatrick, CEO of TalentMap, is joined by Greg Waechter, Managing Partner at Super Simple HR, to unpack how to build scalable, human-centered HR practices that actually work, reduce administrative burden by 60%, and boost employee engagement by 40%.

What You’ll Learn:

How to implement a continuous feedback system that replaces outdated annual reviews
The three core pillars of employee satisfaction
Why simplicity beats complexity when scaling HR systems and culture
How to support middle managers through tools, training, and practical frameworks
Why treating HR as a product strategy can lead to better employee outcomes
How to align HR systems with company values while maintaining authenticity

Greg Waechter is the Managing Partner at Super Simple HR, where he specializes in helping high-growth startups build lean, human-centered people operations. With over 20 years of HR experience, including leading organizations through three IPOs and four exits, Greg has demonstrated expertise in scaling companies from 50 to 500+ employees while reducing administrative burden by 60% and increasing employee engagement by 40%. His approach focuses on three core pillars: fair compensation, growth opportunities, and meaningful recognition.

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Highlights and YouTube Chapters:

[00:00] Introduction
[02:14] From IPOs to Independency
[04:23] Seeing Around Corners
[07:44] The 3 Pillars of Employee Satisfaction
[10:09] Job Architecture and Clarity
[14:28] The Danger of Inaction
[18:56] Culture Isn’t a Poster
[22:08] Rethinking Performance Management
[27:45] Coaching the Uncoached
[30:42] The Middle Manager Crunch
[37:12] Gen Z, Screens, and Soft Skills
[38:38] Building Trust as an HR Consultant
[46:00] Mindset Shift for HR

Quotes:

“From an HR perspective, what are the programs, processes, philosophies of tenants? So, it's typically going to be some sort of performance management system. And I don't mean annual reviews. I'm really talking about feedback mechanisms.”
“Think about HR in people stuff as a product role, a product strategy, where your product is your people.”
“If you truly wanna make an impact on the business, you gotta focus on your employees and make sure you're giving them what they want.”
“I tell founders when they're trying to keep their culture strong through growth, you have to talk about something about culture every single meeting, every single communication point, to the point that you're gonna be so sick of talking that you're gonna wanna beat your head against the wall.”

Episode Resources:

Greg Waechter on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregwaechter/
Super Simple HR on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/super-simple-hr/
Sean Fitzpatrick on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sean-j-fitzpatrick/?originalSubdomain=ca
TalentMap Website: https://talentmap.com/

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