Listen Up … (to your employees) - LeBaron Meyers, NotMe Solutions

Do your employees feel safe speaking up? 

It’s time to stop avoiding the topic of workplace harassment and misconduct in restaurants. Abusive environments will not prosper or attract employees. If you really want to improve your culture and employee retention you need to do two critical things: 

1. Listen to your employees
2. Encourage them to speak up when harassment occurs

LeBaron Meyers, President of NotMe Solutions, is on a mission to improve work cultures and environments for employees. Their anonymous reporting app makes employees feel supported and heard.

Show Highlights:

• Businesses who put employees first will thrive 
• Most workplace harassment issues take 90 days to escalate
• Reporting & addressing issues early de-escalates the problem 
• Many people wait too long to speak up or address an issue
• Employee reports give management an opportunity to step-up
• Acknowledge and respect employees who speak up
• Happy employees create happy customers 
• NotMe is a platform that provides employees with a safe place to report and interact with management anonymously 

Connect with LeBaron on LinkedIn here
Learn more about NotMeSolutions

Related Episodes: 

• Rachael Nemeth on The New Way to Do Employee Training 
• Newton Hoang (7 Leaves Cafe) on The Straight Talk Employees Want
• Lauren Fernandez on Who Comes First: Employees or Guests?
• Donald Burns on Self-Care 

Check out Qu's Annual State of Digital for Enterprise QSR & Fast Casual Brands

Transcript

[00:00:00] LeBaron Meyers: If you are, you know, experiencing something at your workplace that you don't think is cool, and you’re bad-mouthing your workplace or your manager, or your company to your friends, to social media, to anybody else, and you haven't yet gone to your manager, or to your company, and given them the chance to like, course correct, and make that shift, you're actually part of the problem. 

[00:00:22] Jen Kern: Hello, and welcome back to Restaurants Reinvented. This is Jen Kern, your host, and we are continuing our labor series today with a new guest who is LeBaron Meyers. I don't wanna mess up your name, LeBaron Meyers, who I played pickleball with at a conference recently, and that's how we met. She is the President of a really interesting, I think it's a new company. I had never heard of it, called NotMe Solutions.

[00:01:15] So, again, President LeBaron Meyers, company is NotMe Solutions, and it's an app that we're gonna talk about that helps employees feel safer about speaking up in the workplace. And so, LeBaron, welcome to the show.

[00:01:29] LeBaron Meyers: Thanks for having me, Jen. I, I credit pickleball to us meeting. It's my first time ever playing pickleball, and I had a blast, I had a blast, and I met the most fun people. I'm like this, this is great. I gotta play again.

[00:01:41] Jen Kern: It is great, it is great when they do stuff like that at the conferences, it definitely is, is worth, worth it because you get out of the convention centers and you get out in a, in a real life, in a playing field. And yeah, there were some pretty competitive people there. I'll just say that.

[00:01:55] LeBaron Meyers: Yes. Yes, it was, it was very fun.

[00:01:58] Jen Kern: But we had fun,

[00:01:59] and I'm really excited to talk to you today because, as we were talking about before the show, and, and we talked about, at the conference, which was a few months ago now, you really are working at the intersection of the employee culture as well as the labor crisis, I believe. And, you know, a lot of my theory here is that restaurants and the guests, we've talked about this.

[00:02:22] Restaurants really have not been able to prioritize employee care because they really haven't had the tools, and the techniques, and the mentoring that's needed to really show employees that they are not just commodities, but, 'cause they're not, they're assets in a business. They're actually human beings that need to be taken care of.

[00:02:43] So, with that kind of setting the stage, can you tell the, um, the listeners about NotMe Solutions and a little bit about your background as well?

[00:02:51] LeBaron Meyers: Sure. So, thanks for having me.

[00:02:54] Jen Kern: Yeah.

[00:02:55] LeBaron Meyers: Yes. So, the company is NotMe Solutions, and we're really a speak-up and report management system for changing what has been a decades-old issue. And, you know, I think everyone knows that human misconduct is an issue that happens everywhere, because of that we, we talk to every industry. As I was telling you, you know, there's, yes, every industry has its differences and its uniqueness, but this is a human issue that's happening everywhere.

[00:03:25] And there's a lot of similarities, and actually, the industries aren't necessarily talking to each other, um, which might be helpful. However, the reality’s that they've all been doing it the same way forever, and the same way is to basically say, "Hey, if you have an issue come to me, or come to HR, or go to somebody you trust." Right?

[00:03:42] That's one, or use a system that we've created, or that we've hired, that is for us. And we want you to trust it and use it.

[00:03:51] Jen Kern: Mm-hmm.

[00:03:52] LeBaron Meyers: And so, you have this widening trust gap of like, "Does my organization and management actually wanna hear what's bothering me, or are they just saying that because legally they have to?" Right?

[00:04:03] They have to tell me there's some way to speak up. There's a problem. So do they really mean it, that's, the most people do not believe that they really mean it, or it's more of a spectrum, meaning, "I think my company or my restaurant, or my organization wants to know if it's gonna hurt them?" Right? If somebody's, you know, embezzling or committing fraud, or doing something that's gonna hurt them, they wanna know.

[00:04:25] But do they actually wanna know if it's hurting me? Right. And there's a big distinction there. And most people nowadays, they think, "I, I don't wanna be the squeaky wheel, I'm not gonna speak up." And so, you have to start with where we are, and where we are is that's where employees, that's what they believe, and there's a wide spectrum of management. So, even the most well-intended management who are open door, and they care, and they consider it a family and all of these things, they have to know that there is almost like a multitude of examples where even if you think that, and feel that, there would be an example, wherein your employee went through something, and they hesitated to come to you. If you don't believe that, you're completely fooling yourself.

[00:05:09] Right. I mean, I could literally come up with 10 on the spot, right. So, changing that, shifting that for them to believe that you wanna know if there's an issue, is the first thing we need to, to change, right. So, what we did is really focus on removing all barriers to reporting and speaking up. Making it as easy as possible, as safe as possible for people to come as early as possible and surface it.

[00:05:36] So, instead of waiting, most people don't report issues that happen at work. They just, they usually don't, or they wait until they've left, or they do it on social media, which is crushing to brands.

[00:05:46] Jen Kern: Glassdoor, Glassdoor. Yeah, mm-hmm.

[00:05:49] LeBaron Meyers: Yes, glass door. And so, this is the norm and we said, "We've gotta flip the norm. We've gotta make it really easy for people to speak up earlier."

[00:05:57] So, to do it right from their phone, right. They can speak up in less than a minute, anonymously, or using their name, whether they experience something or they witness it. So, the first thing is to really focus on the employee experience until they actually trust you that what matters to them is something you wanna hear about.

[00:06:13] And then, you know, the technology is amazing on the management side, which helps them gather all this information earlier because the reality is that the later any company, restaurant, organization finds out about an issue, the more damage that's been done, right? The more time, the more energy, the more cost that’s going to be.

[00:06:34] So, I feel like we're avoiding the topics of misconduct until we have to deal with them.

[00:06:40] Jen Kern: Mm-hmm.

[00:06:40] LeBaron Meyers: And so, it's like by then, it's this huge, like, fire, and it's like, what if we just could step toward these conversations a little earlier, humanize it, have your employees, like, feel, you know, cared for, and that you

[00:06:54] care, and really prevent all of these escalated things.

[00:06:57] There's not many issues that go 0 to 60 in a day, almost all of them do this slow escalation, and we're missing it, 

[00:07:05] Jen Kern: Interesting. 

[00:07:06] LeBaron Meyers: we're missing the opportunity to course correct. So, that's what we're about. We're about prevention, and not punishment, and course correction and not clean up, just, like, let's step into these conversations and humanize this.

[00:07:16] And to your point, like, you are human, is what makes your business work. Technology is critical, but good luck having any business that's successful if the only thing that's good is your technology.

[00:07:30] Jen Kern: Right, right. Well, and I imagine this is a pretty controversial topic in some ways, like, I can feel the, I, I would probably call it healthy tension in myself as I'm listening to you talk, thinking of, "Well, how would I bring this to my organization?" Are they thinking, "We're trying to get more people to report more stuff, and this is gonna bring out all of the negativity in the company?" 'Cause, you know, I'm thinking back on some of my different work experiences, and my go-to model has always been, "If you have an issue, you go to HR."

[00:08:03] I haven't worked for ginormous companies that would have even some sort of online reporting platform. But if you have an issue, you go, you know, to your manager, if you have an issue with your manager, you go to HR.

[00:08:12] LeBaron Meyers: Mm-hmm.

[00:08:13] Jen Kern: That's sort of been how I've been raised in the corporate world type of thing. And so, everything you're saying is, it's, it’s very interesting because when you think about human misconduct when you say that

[00:08:24] term, even it's sort of like, "Ooh, ouch!"

[00:08:26] But yeah, come on, we're all humans, we're not perfect, we make mistakes, we, you know, our egos get in the way, we get a little bit of power, we take it too far. We crash back down, we learn from it, and hopefully, we do better. Right? Not everyone gets that model, and I, you know, I've heard, and I, I haven't worked in restaurants for many, many years, but I did work in restaurants.

[00:08:45] And I, I hear still to this current day that there's a lot of abusive environments in restaurants. Today, in 2022, managers treating other people in the company terribly. And so, we know it exists, you're, like, start where we are. So, we know it exists, and we know there's this very thinning workforce, and there is a labor, a labor challenge in crisis for every single restaurant that I, that I walk into,

[00:09:15] and I talk to. There is a problem hiring, finding, and retaining labor, and all of the solutions that you see in the news, on the media, whatever, it's all about pay, benefits, and flexibility. And so, what I've been talking about with all guests, brilliant people like you, is what about the people and the culture?

[00:09:36] We are a people-first business, we are a hospitality. How are you taking care of your people? And so, I feel like, like, it's step one awareness, you know, there is human misconduct, we are humans, we're, we're fallible.

[00:09:53] LeBaron Meyers: Let's call it inappropriate behavior 'cause I think words matter. And I agree, I actually think some people hear misconduct, and they stop. Like, I loved you saying, "Look, I could feel it in my body." I think people do, it almost feels like a legal term, and then people get nervous, and, of course, there's a legal side to this at some point, but, but let's take those, you know, technical terms and things off.

[00:10:15] I'm glad you said that because I do think people run from it when it's that, versus just what you said, inappropriate behavior. We are all guilty of that at some point, right. We all, like, lose it, and didn't act our best selves, and to your point about the labor crisis, you know, it's been very interesting to me when I've had

[00:10:36] organizations, including one head of a restaurant organization. The response was, "I don't have time for this right now because our biggest focus is the labor shortage." And I very, like, I took a deep breath, and I very respectfully responded that the reality is across all industries. The number one reason for the great resignation, as it was called, is toxic workplace.

[00:11:05] So, if the number one reason people are leaving jobs is this issue, and you don't think that's part of the conversation for how to fix your labor shortage if I'm leaving this place 'cause of that, what do you think I'm looking for when I go to my next space. And all this effort to recruit, right, without, that is so expensive, to not, once they come in, to not take, like, take care of them as you said, right.

[00:11:33] And have this work for you, turn over an attrition, and so, it's, these are not two different topics, these are like inextricably connected, and the management that gets that, I think, I think you're seeing it, I think you're seeing it in, in loyalty and in referrals, right? People, what's a better way to recruit talent than to have the people who work for you

[00:11:55] go tell their friends, "Hey, this is a great place to work." I mean, these are very human, like, sometimes I wanna say common sense, but I have to check myself because we've become such a tech-forward generation that some of those things that are human common sense actually do get forgotten, and we've gotta bring them back into the conversation.

[00:12:20] Jen Kern: Yeah, yeah. We all need the sacred pause from time to time, right? Some of us need it, like, I need it all the time, but, uh,

[00:12:29] Yeah. 

[00:12:29] LeBaron Meyers: Really? 

[00:12:30] Jen Kern: Yeah, like, but that pause of like, wait a minute, I got a business, I got numbers, I gotta squeeze, my margins are getting squeezed. I gotta run this business, I gotta get this, and I gotta hire people on this.

[00:12:40] Whoa, whoa, wait a minute, hold on, like you just said, take a deep breath, that’s all important, but I've had, you know, Amir Mostafavi, uh, was on, he's the CEO of a juice company here, and he said, "People before profits." Greg Creed also says that you gotta put, and that sounds lovely, but how do you actually do that?

[00:13:00] Well, you actually do it by, you know, ways, like, what you're gonna tell us about with this technology, this app putting things in people's hands that they feel comfortable using, and I'd like you to explain to me. You said there are, most issues can get resolved within 60 days, like, most of them escalate slowly over time that when we talk about these inappropriate behavior type issues, you know, they can get resolved, and they can get work through.

[00:13:27] LeBaron Meyers: Well, actually, I didn't see it that way, but that's a great way, that's actually a good flip of it. That's, I actually, I think that's better. I was saying that most issues don't escalate from 0 to 60 in a day. They usually do this slow rise up. So, we have this opportunity to interrupt the escalation if we capture it earlier.

[00:13:46] But if people aren't speaking up until it's, quote, unquote "so bad," then you're missing that opportunity, and therein lies the whole flip of the conversation, right? Companies, organizations, restaurants, anybody. There is this misconception that a report is a, is a liability, and that's the opposite. 

[00:14:04] Jen Kern: Okay.

[00:14:04] LeBaron Meyers: The report is the opportunity.

[00:14:06] The lack of report is the liability. It doesn't mean it didn't happen, now it's where are they going with that information? Are they just spreading it amongst their colleagues? So, now you have, like, even more discontent, are they going to social media, and then watch out, are they going to a lawyer? Like, this is, again, going back to that very simple moment, like, when something happens, right. You're working, you look over, and you see someone bullying is the number one issue that we see across all industries. It, harassment is also very high, but often there's an element of that. 'Cause it's all power abuse, whether it be discrimination, racism, harassment, anything. It's all some form of power abuse.

[00:14:48] Right. And, and there's a spectrum on that that I wanna come back to for sure too, 'cause we have conscious power abusers, which I think are very limited and absolutely need to be, you know, uprooted and out, but I think that's happening more in today's world. What we also have is this much larger group of people who are below the conscious power of abusers who think they're part of the solution.

[00:15:16] And most of the time, they are, but there are times when they are part of the problem, and they're not even aware of it because, again, it's not bad enough to be illegal, it's not bad enough for me to report it. But what if I believed that you just wanted my input because you really just wanted a better culture.

[00:15:33] So, that every time I came to work, I felt better about it instead of worse.

[00:15:37] Jen Kern: Can you gimme example of that, the unconscious power abuser.

[00:15:40] LeBaron Meyers: Sure, sure. In fact, okay. So, let's, let's talk about, there was a situation that happened up in Canada, and I, I wasn't there, I heard about it. I'm just gonna give this example to, to tell the difference that also takes me into another conversation the way you and I go, go into all these, different limbs of conversation.

[00:15:58] I know, so fun. So, this gentleman stood up at the front of the, for a conference, a major conference. He was supposed to be the MC, he was well-respected CEO of a big hotel, it was right before international women's day. He recog, asks all the women to stand up, recognizes them, and then as they're sitting down, makes a very poor joke, says, "Now all of you still standing something to the effect of go back to making the beds and cleaning the kitchen, right?" Like that, right.

[00:16:30] Jen Kern: Oh, my Gosh.

[00:16:31] LeBaron Meyers: That guy has completely lost his career. Lost his role, lost his everything. When I heard about it, I heard about it from somebody who was horrified, and I understood that it was a really in bad taste, and then you start to hear the things, etcetera. But then I spoke to someone who knew him personally and said, "Gosh, I've known this man for decades,

[00:16:51] and he, what a, like, I don't stand by what a dumb, you know." However, this is not, like, he's lost everything, this is not a bad person, he was, like, learning from it, all these things, but there's no opportunity for redemption anymore, which is something I'm very passionate about 'cause that's what I think the workplace is, is for us to all learn and evolve.

[00:17:09] Jen Kern: Mm-hmm. 

[00:17:09] LeBaron Meyers: And what I said to him, to your point of what's the difference, to me that is an unconscious, pretty ignorant, but unconscious bias of someone who thinks something's funny because he’d likely, for years, as he's risen up to the top to be the CEO, people don't give him feedback. And if you don't recognize that you are the leader of your organization, and you are never going to get like the real from everyone, you're kidding yourself.

[00:17:34] You're kidding yourself, right? Because the higher up you go, the harder it is for people to be totally direct with you for a hundred different reasons, right. That to me is unconscious bias and something that I would like someone to be made aware of, and give them the chance to course-correct that, compared to somebody who might have stood up on stage, said everything correctly, 'cause they knew all of the landmines, and what to avoid, and they had the charisma.

[00:18:00] And then when they walked off the stage when no one's looking, you know, somebody doesn't bring them, you know, a glass of water with a lemon, as they asked, and they scream at the weight staff 'cause nobody's watching, and whatever, that's a conscious power abuser. That's someone who's like, nobody's watching, and I'm in charge, and I have more power than you.

[00:18:19] And these are very different things, and I think we are throwing them all in the same bucket and really missing an opportunity for that larger group, as I said, which are the non-conscious power abusers, to just become more aware, better managers, better people, better, you know, in their interpersonal relationships.

[00:18:38] And again, if we're not having those conversations, and we're not making it easy for people to speak up about it, we're missing all those opportunities

[00:18:45] Jen Kern: So interesting, it's such a telling story now that you've defined that makes total sense to me. Yeah, and this gentleman is probably not a bad person, or just, just had a moment where, you know, like I said, we all do it, right. I need that sacred pause sometimes, especially if I've had a lot of espresso, like, I am not responsible for what comes outta my mouth. But I love espresso, okay. 

[00:19:10] LeBaron Meyers: I thought you were gonna say tequila or something, but okay, espresso.

[00:19:11] Jen Kern: No, no, espresso. Yeah, no, I got rid of the tequila while ago, too, so I have to be careful. So, yeah, but I mean, you're reminding me through telling that story. Well, first of all, it's, it's super educational. I think, hopefully, people are learning from this too, about, and you reminded me about, I think I introduced you to Lauren Fernandez.

[00:19:33] She was on a few episodes ago, and she, yeah, she's fascinating. She's brilliant. And she, she talks about how they coach and train the new operators that are coming into their business and their fund, who for the success and for the growth that they're gonna need to experience. The first thing they start with is self-awareness.

[00:19:52] They do self-awareness, like, training, or they give them the test, you know, there's tons of them out there, you can take personality tests, whatever, and then they work with them on their self-awareness. So, what you were just talking about with that gentleman, it might have just been, you know, this could have been an area of self-awareness that, like you said, if people had been, if it was easier to give him feedback all along throughout his career, he might have known, "Oh, self-aware." Sometimes, Jen, I have too much espresso, watch out.

[00:20:16] Don't do that before I go on stage, or, or, you know, just for him, like

[00:20:21] LeBaron Meyers: And all the other examples of bad jokes are coming out that are compounding into showing, oh no, see, this is who he is. And I'm saying, "Well, wait a minute!" Why at any point in those, has anybody, and they probably didn't, right. Like, they probably didn't.

[00:20:35] Jen Kern: When he speaks, maybe it was, like, one of these things. When he speaks in front of a large crowd, he gets nervous, and he says silly stupid things. You know what I mean? Like, I don't know, I'm making, I'm trying, not trying to make excuses for the guy, but that self-awareness piece, you got at it as you were describing that,

[00:20:49] and that's, like, so huge for anyone that's managing people, responsible for people in the organization, you know, whether it's one or two people or 2000 people, it doesn't matter, right. You still need that self-awareness and, and to your point, making it easier to provide feedback. So, tell me how, how does it work in your, in your app?

[00:21:11] LeBaron Meyers: And I'm glad you brought up training, right. Because right now, here's what everyone's doing. Everyone is updating their training and updating their policies, and that's important.

[00:21:18] Jen Kern: The episode that's gonna come out right before this one streaming, it was Rachael Nemeth from Opus. She's the CEO and President of Opus, which is all-mobile desktop training. Yeah, she was fascinating, too, but yeah, that's what everyone's focused on.

[00:21:30] LeBaron Meyers: They're all focused on the training and the policies, and those are important parts. 

[00:21:35] Jen Kern: Mm-hmm 

[00:21:36] LeBaron Meyers: then, what? What is the teeth? What is the accountability for the moment after the day when you're focusing on? Of course, we hope that when you go into that training that you walk out, and now you never make those mistakes again, but a couple realities to this; One, the majority of what you learn in those trainings, you already knew, some of it's really patronizing,

[00:21:56] it's just, again, to cover the, the organization, right. Now, we're getting better. Some, some are getting better, they're getting more nuanced, and they're continuing to evolve, like, we have to, I mean, we have a different, this generation has, has different sensitivities and we're learning different things.

[00:22:12] Everyone is going to misstep, there's, you, you're not going to not misstep, right? I mean, pronouns are changing daily. People used to have diversity and inclusion. Now, it's diversity and inclusion and equity. Now, it's diversity and inclusion and equity and justice. It was, you know, just lesbian and gay now it's, you know, I mean, it's, it keeps evolving and expanding as do we, we need to keep evolving, and expanding, and learning.

[00:22:34] So, with that, when you leave that training, if you don't have a way to speak up when these missteps happen, where's, again, where's the accountability for all of what that was. So, that's where we come in. What NotMe Solutions does is, it says, "Look, we're going to make this the employees' platform, it's their own personal account."

[00:22:58] Instead of you, you know, first of all, this generation in particular, but people don't like to pick up the phone, and call a hotline, they don't even like to call, like, their family to talk about good things, let alone a stranger to talk about something uncomfortable, right? So, like those don't work. They love to be on their phone.

[00:23:11] That's where they're comfortable, but it, we make it their account, so they can download the app for free on iOS or Android, and make their account when their organization then subscribes, there's a QR code that becomes, you know, their workplace. So, it's, that's what they connect to, and now anytime they make any report, it goes straight to their company's dashboard.

[00:23:32] But again, they can do it anonymously and in a minute. So, that moment when you hear somebody, "Oh man, you know, he keeps bullying her in particular. I don't know what his problem is with her, and she's new. She's probably not gonna speak up. I'm just gonna say something." That minute you took just to make that report and put it in,

[00:23:51] you didn't put yourself at risk, right? You didn't use your name. You're not getting, and you're doing it at the earliest point. This isn't, you know, necessarily launching some massive investigation. You don't know what's happening that way, right? And I will say one of the questions in our app is, "What is your desired outcome?" Over 90% of the answers, like well over 90, I think it's closer to like 95, 96, is behavior to stop. Most people do not want to sue their organization or have someone fired. And in fact, a lot of people don't speak up because of that. They're like, "Oh, it's such a reactive environment. If I say something that person's gonna get fired."

[00:24:29] Well, you don't dictate 'cause you don't know if that person's actually been reported multiple times, and this is an ongoing issue. But just the fact that people are saying that, that's your employees basically saying, "I just wanna come to work every day and not hear him do that to her or have this inappropriate joke in every Friday meeting that just doesn't need to be there."

[00:24:49] Right. Again, I don't want them fired. Typically, I'm learning a lot from that person, I enjoy parts of my time with them, but this piece is not comfortable, and because of various power dynamics, or I'm new and, they've been here forever, or the CEO loves them. I'm just not gonna say anything unless I can do it safely and easily.

[00:25:06] And now the organization, in its very easy way, gets this information on their report management system. That's their dashboard, and they can see, like, trends. "Hey, you know what? The most common reported issue has been inappropriate jokes, or whatever it may be. Next time in our training let's just highlight this, and explain that, 'Hey, our employees are speaking up about this.

[00:25:28] So clearly there's a problem.'" You take that information, you humanize it, you have this feedback back with your constituency, right? Saying, "We are listening, and now we're not just gonna do a training based on, out of this playbook over here." Yes, you have to have a playbook, a tablet of normalcy of, like, what everybody has to have, but you're also saying, "We're listening to you, and what's happening to you."

[00:25:52] And if you are telling me as an organization that the most common issue that is affecting you is this, then we should focus on that more. Or, you know, you look at these places, you know, we have some of our happiest clients are the ones who have these decentralized employees, like, they might have 80 locations.

[00:26:09] We have, you know, one who's 80 locations on the East Coast, and he hands up all of their risk management, and their CEO, like, they're a very strong, well-intentioned management, but you can't know where everything's happening. And so, to find out that in one location, one manager is doing something you would never approve of, but you don't get to that location often, allows you to step in and be like, "Hey, let's make something clear.

[00:26:34] Something's happening here that's not necessarily happening at other locations, so let's revisit this." Right?

[00:26:39] Jen Kern: Yeah. And that's one thing I really like about what you're saying. It does make it less about the company and more about the people. Does that make sense? Like, to me, as I'm listening to you talk, I'm thinking, you know, this is about the people and it, it does take the company in a way, takes a little bit of that heat off of the company needs to be doing everything

[00:27:01] right. The comp, 'cause the companies are composed of people.

[00:27:04] LeBaron Meyers: This, yes, companies. And I tell people when we talk to again, we talk to, you know, every industry. And it's so funny to me when I see some people again, so well-intentioned, carrying the weight of the world on their shoulders. 'Cause again, we're all gonna mess up saying, "Okay, LeBaron, um, as soon as we have all our ducks in a row, then we're gonna roll you out."

[00:27:24] And I'm like, "Why are you gonna go into a room with 12 other people, likely similar resumes, try like crazy to figure out what's happening to the 2000 employees you have outside of that room, to figure out exactly what to do to let them know you care." Instead of going in that room and saying, "Hey, let's all shut up, sit back, roll this out and listen

[00:27:47] and say, 'Hey, tell us what you're experiencing,

[00:27:50] that is bothering you. So, we can then create our playbook in a way to be responsive to what is happening.'" 

[00:27:58] Jen Kern: Listen up. That's, I like that name for your company, instead of NotMe. I struggled with NotMe for a while.

[00:28:04] When I first met you, listen up. How about Listen Up? 

[00:28:08] LeBaron Meyers: I’m actually writing that down. I really like it. 

[00:28:10] Jen Kern: ‘Cause NotMe, it's like, okay, I get it, it's not a, it's, it's not my bad behavior, right. It's 

[00:28:17] LeBaron Meyers: No, it’s actually NotMe's response, is respons, is a response to "MeToo." Meaning instead of saying, and it's not just about harassment, but it's basically saying, "Instead of having more and more people stand in solidarity with me too, we don't want this continued hashtag forever. Like, it was inspirational.

[00:28:33] It was amazing. But we want no, no, no, not me. Not me, you're not going to bully me, harass me, and I'm not gonna say anything. Not me, I'm not going to witness it, and not say something, and not me, I'm not gonna be an organization that sweeps it under the rug. But to the point where you first started, I really wanna point this out

[00:28:48] 'cause I think it's so true, and so critical.

[00:28:51] Jen Kern: 

[00:28:52] LeBaron Meyers: The reality in what we're talking about here is if you put the employee first, like when we talk about this, we always say we are bridging the gap, which means you can't be on either side.

[00:29:03] If you're bridging the gap, you're a solution for all, right, and that's what we do. So, how did we do that? One, we had to have all sides of this conversation, right? I mean, we have the Chief Compliance Officer of Google retired during COVID, and joined our board and said, "This is the future of compliance."

[00:29:19] I mean, this is right, says this is how it needs to be done. At the same time, we have Forbes Top 10, Top 10 DNI trailblazer Lily Zang, who speaks prophetically about things in a way that when, you know, we talked about LinkedIn before, when they speak, everybody listens. You have Rose McGowan, the epitome of someone who spoke up against one of the worst atrocities, regardless of what you think of her politics or anything else, who has stood by us.

[00:29:46] So, we have all of these players, let's call them in their lane, and we're hearing all of them say, "This makes sense for us, and here's why." But what we're doing different, and it is critical, it's a critical difference, is putting the employee first because in putting the employee first, you are, in essence, doing what's best for the company.

[00:30:10] However, the inverse of that is not true.

[00:30:13] Jen Kern: Right, right. A hundred percent, a hundred percent. 'Cause I, I mean, I've been in, we talked about branding before the call. I've been in marketing and branding my whole career. And so, I'm about building brands, and building companies, for the longest time. And yet, one of the lines that I, you know, started using maybe 10 years ago was "The brand is only as good as the employees that understand the brand and become brand ambassadors."

[00:30:38] It's not about the company and the brand that, that's not some amorphous thing over here. It's gotta be connected to what people do and what people actually believe that work in the company. And so, that's why I was, I was listening to, I was like, this is really, takes a little bit of the heat off the company in a way.

[00:30:54] And I'm, you know, that might not be the right words, but because it's about the company, it's like, it neutralizes things the way that you, you were explaining it, I could see it neutralizing things like, "Hey, we've got, you know, some things going on over here." Like you said, like, at your store, at your restaurant, between some people, you know, it, it neutralizes it in that way.

[00:31:12] Like, this is not a good reflection of our brand. Then you build back to that, right?

[00:31:16] LeBaron Meyers: It actually very much protects companies. So, we have this like over 90% renewal rate. And one of the things companies realize is that if we're giving our employees the easiest, safest way to speak up, that already, like, right, let's take that off for a second. In today's world, something happens, and you're at a company that doesn't have NotMe, and somebody, you call a lawyer and somebody, and they say, "When did it start?

[00:31:38] When did it happen?" And they say, "Did you report it?" If you say, "I wasn't comfortable, I had to go to HR, or I had to, like, I have to put myself in, in the way of retaliation." It's pretty defensible, right? But you have this incredibly easy, safe way for people to speak up, right? And when they're responding, when you're talking back and forth on this, we have this two-way encrypted chat.

[00:32:03] So even when people speak up anonymously, you can continue the conversation, which is really, really powerful. If that person stops engaging, it also shows that the company was trying, right? So again, we are about accountability all the way around. It does require everyone. And to your point of taking the pressure off companies, I keep thinking to myself, just look at the sheer ratio of numbers. Management is this big, right?

[00:32:23] However, to anytime I talk to HR departments, or whatever, it's saying like, well, how many locations, you know, I was just talking, there's a prospect of ours that we're talking to right now. They own multiple restaurants.

[00:32:35] Jen Kern: Mm-hmm.

[00:32:35] LeBaron Meyers: Their team of HR is 12 people. The number of employees across all of the various chains that they cover is 12,000 people. To do that effectively without the help of the eyes and ears of your people is impossible.

[00:32:53] To do that with them, with incredibly easy, smart technology that tracks the trends, show you where the issues are, and all of that, is way more feasible and takes a super complex topic, and at least makes the process easier.

[00:33:07] Jen Kern: Yeah, yeah. Wow, it's really cool. I, I does this just sound like hot cakes, by the way? Are you sound like hot cakes? I mean, it's great stuff. It's great.

[00:33:18] LeBaron Meyers: It's, you know what, it's been very, a very interesting ride of where people are incredibly receptive, and who's really resistant, and like in the craft beer space breweries are like jumping at it, and it's moved into the restaurants, which is why we started to, you know, starting to follow it tech, healthcare 'cause we're HIPAA compliant.

[00:33:35] There's all these different opportunities, but you do see some of the ones we thought originally. That the companies that are getting outed, in terms of public, like, they're on the Today Show, or they're in the Wall Street Journal because they have this massive fire on their hands. We were like, "Well, sense of urgency,

[00:33:52] they need it most." The ones who need it most often can be some of the most resistant because of what I was talking about before, that backwards thinking of like, "Oh, Gosh, what are we gonna do?" Or we're gonna roll it out, we're gonna get bombarded. We're not gonna be able to face, you know, that's never happened.

[00:34:07] It's never been that a company's been bombarded. No, because it's a socialized product, people start to use it. They're treated with respect and dignity over the chat. They're, there's all these functions that give them a little transparency. 

[00:34:19] Jen Kern: And it is anonymous. Like you said, like if I went on there I'd be anonymous.

[00:34:22] LeBaron Meyers: You get to choose. And that's one of the benchmarks

[00:34:25] that's interesting. So, the companies who have had it in place for a while, more and more people are coming forward using their name because, in the beginning, they were anonymous, 'cause they didn't trust you, right. Start where you are. We almost didn't allow anonymous reporting to start. Our CEO and founder is employment

[00:34:39] lawyer, knows all the legalities, has built that into the system and was like, "Oh, this can be challenging, whatever." But we were like, "No, it's a necessity to start where you are." So, we built technology that works into that as well, but that's been very interesting. So, some people will report anonymously, and then how they are treated, even after you make the report.

[00:34:58] If you report anonymously, the whoever's on the dashboard at your company can write you back almost like a text, you can have this exchange and continue the conversation. And some people have come forward using their name, because, again, they've been treated with dignity and respect where they went in afraid of retaliation, right?

[00:35:13] Jen Kern: Yeah.

[00:35:14] LeBaron Meyers: So, it's socialized, and it comes up. But to your original, it should be selling like hot cakes everywhere, and it is in elements, and in places where people are proactive, and they get it. But old school, there is definitely still some industries and some leaders, and I use that word only because of their titles, who think,

[00:35:33] "We're gonna do it the way we've always done it." To which I say, "Then you're gonna get the same result that we've been seeing for years."

[00:35:41] Jen Kern: Right, right. Well, it's great stuff. Like, I love what you're doing. I love talking about this. This is, I mean, it's, it's great progress, truly, for all industries. I mean, I've been in tech most of my career, and I never really had stuff like this. I've gotten in pretty tough spots with, I, I did have to report a manager actually early in my career, have to, well I did, because, you know, she was sending me abusive emails, and I went to the CEO and, you know, and, and so, everyone can relate to this,

[00:36:11] right? We've all had pretty much bad, most of us, I mean, you're pretty lucky if you haven't had a, had a bad loss, or manager along the way of your career. And I just think making it more approachable, the way that you're talking about it, and I love this, like, talking about, like, dignity and honor, if we can think of employee care as treating people with dignity and honor, respect, right.

[00:36:32] LeBaron Meyers: Yeah.

[00:36:32] Jen Kern: Those are great goals and values to embrace. And that's gonna resonate with people looking to come work for your company. If they see that you're embracing these things because not only is attracting labor really, really difficult for restaurants, retaining that labor is really, really difficult. And that does get to the scheduling, the flexibility, and the benefits that we talked about the pay.

[00:36:52] But being able to actually retain people, make them comfortable, is all based on how you treat them,

[00:36:58] You know.

[00:36:58] LeBaron Meyers: Well, and all those elements that you talked about that people keep listing that are really critical, practical things, the scheduling, the all, again, I would argue that a lot of that comes back to this element of listening because quite often when someone leaves, and then the manager finds out, like, I wish I had known that it just didn't want this scheduler, just didn't want, it still goes back to that element of did that person actually think that you wanted to hear that?

[00:37:25] Or did they just think you wanted them to just get in line, do what needs to be done? So, this whole, this whole thought process and mindset of creating a speak-up culture, right, is really critical for having your employees trust that you wanna hear from them. And I know some people get scared of like, oh, it can be whiny and complaining.

[00:37:45] And that's all true, too. And like, I'm not about that. I'm not about using this as some excuse to like, whine about every time something doesn't go your way, and that's, but even, but again, I still rather, you bring it to me than to social media, than to anywhere else. It's

[00:38:00] Jen Kern: Who's generally monitoring the chat and stuff in the companies. Is it the HR team, or is it because, you know, something that keeps, you keep reminding me is, with Rachael Nemeth, that at Opus is this, got this really cool mobile app training for restaurants. She did say that HR has gotten stuck in legal work and that the training is now in restaurants, and she was talking only about restaurants.

[00:38:22] In operations, it's falling on the operations team. So, all the training now, they're selling into operations teams. They're not, HR is on dirt, water, litigious stuff, like legal, like doing all this stuff because they didn't have your app, by the way. And so it's more, it's more hitting the ops team.

[00:38:41] LeBaron Meyers: Oh, that's yeah, that's interesting in terms of who's on ours, it's typically like human resources, or someplace, some companies, and some small businesses don't have HR. It might just be management, and we have different levels of access, including, like, one level where if you're an associate level, you can only see what's assigned to you.

[00:38:57] So, maybe it falls into a specific realm, and you have a diversity inclusion specialist, or, you know. So, there's various access in terms of who's on it, but yes HR will be involved on, on some level, in most cases.

[00:39:10] Jen Kern: Okay, so you are selling to SMBs that might not even have an HR team.

[00:39:15] There are some companies that don't, okay.

[00:39:16] LeBaron Meyers: Yeah, we are, we actually have a large contingency of small businesses as well, who wanna just set the groundwork for, like, this is who we are, we want you to understand that for no matter how, whether we stay at this level, or we grow. Um, so yes.

[00:39:29] Jen Kern: And is there a chance that, like, if I'm someone's manager, and they're not happy with, you know, like say, I'm bullying them or whatnot, could I see it directly? Like, would I see that feedback, or are, do you usually recommend there's like a protocol where it goes to some HR, or someone else first?

[00:39:45] LeBaron Meyers: It depends who's on the dashboard and at what level, typically, just because you're a manager of a group, you wouldn't have access to this. This is pretty, you know, it's usually HR, E, you know, ER, legal, and compliance, but again, they may say, "Okay, but if anything falls into your group, and we want you to have some insight." But it's, it's, it's a pretty small group of people who have access to that,

[00:40:08] um.

[00:40:09] Jen Kern: So, they’re going in first, and vetting in, then figuring out how to address it as they see trends and things like that.

[00:40:14] LeBaron Meyers: Yes. And the other thing that is, you know, one of the, a few things about why, where we have really taken off, what people love that I think is important is; One, of course, the technology's super easy. Um, two, we are crazy quick to implement, doesn't require any tech resources, you can literally roll out with it.

[00:40:32] We've had some rollout within 24 hours if necessary. Let's typically make it like a week, so we're not all, you know, jumping through hoops, but possible. But thirdly is the customization, and that's, see this is what matters to me. Like, we were talking before, when you were talking about your, what matters to you when you're creating a brand, and when you're working as a CMO, like, I don't, I, you know, it's weird for me to say this, but I don't, like, care deeply, or love technology deeply. I very much care about the intersection of humanity and technology. And when we're talking about, particularly this, which is uncomfortable moments where you feel like your integrity, your dignity, your identity is being disrespected, betrayed, something, or that of the companies, right. You have to be able to feel that human side. So, we work with some ambassador in each industry, you know, and within the company, they get to customize it even so that it speaks to your constituency the way that you want to. But I'm having this conversation, I'm thinking, I'm like, "Oh, I, we need to work with you for our demo app for the restaurant side because

[00:41:34] you are so familiar with the restaurant industry, obviously." But you also, which I love about you, and I told you, I was loving even the way you described yourself on your LinkedIn profile, is at the heart of what you do is heart, right? And you put that first, and it needs to be there. So, when somebody goes through something uncomfortable, the last thing they want is to feel like they have a bot that's talking to them, right.

[00:41:55] It really needs to be a human on the other side, but also the questions need to be incredibly relevant to where they work and what they're facing, so.

[00:42:02] Jen Kern: Yeah. Well, yeah, and the other thing, I, well, thank you first of all, but, you know, it's a lot of life experience there, but, you know, I was thinking all the different, like having different forums and channels, how important that is. Like, we, we keep going back to like, yeah, tech is great.

[00:42:16] Yeah, blah, blah, blah. But it's people, it's humans and, and humanizing the technology if you can do that is sort of like, getting to that Nirvana state almost. But there are so many ways that we miss, and we can miss because, you know, and, and communications is one of my passions areas like you need to, you can't just be on one channel.

[00:42:34] You can't just be doing all-hands meetings. In the example of our company, we do all-hands meetings, quarterly, everyone's invited, everyone comes, most people are on Zoom. And we always ask questions, we try to, I've done a million one different things. We try to solicit them beforehand for people that don't wanna speak up.

[00:42:50] We try to, you know. 'Cause at the end of the day, the CEO, and our CEO is incredibly approachable down-to-earth. He can say all day long, "Come talk to me, come talk to me, come talk to me." And the reality is, 90%, I don't know what the number is, I'm just picking that outta my head, but 90% of the people are not gonna come talk to him about a lot of things, you know, they're intimidated, or whatnot.

[00:43:11] LeBaron Meyers: Or they don't wanna take his time. 

[00:43:13] Jen Kern: yeah, 

[00:43:14] LeBaron Meyers: don't wanna, it's "Not important enough." They don't wanna take his time. 

[00:43:17] Jen Kern: right. Right, right. 

[00:43:18] LeBaron Meyers: And to your point, what they all, finish, finish. Go ahead with the 

[00:43:21] Jen Kern: yeah, No, no, it's good. But having different avenues, whether it's an app, you have to do other things, too, but having a lot of ways that people can speak up when they need to, they might not have a leap.

[00:43:33] LeBaron Meyers: When they, when they need to and when they're safe, all those things you just said, all-hands surveys, those are all on the timeline of the company. Hey, I'm here and present, now, now's your time to voice, or say something, "Hey, we're gonna send out a, a, a quarterly survey." Those are great, but what about all of the other days in between, in the moment something happens?

[00:43:54] Do I have to sit and wait until that moment, and I question it, and then it's my time, and now I'm not going to, and I'm not sure? No, like this is the, I've joked about it being the antis survey. This is the "Hey, you have this in your hands, you have this in your pocket." And the second something goes off in your moral compass that says this isn't okay,

[00:44:09] speak up about it, so we can make sure that we elevate that.

[00:44:11] Jen Kern: You know, it's a big one for me, and it continues to be one for me. Is, I know this isn't about Jen, but just to give people examples, right. A lot of times, so, you know, I, I've been, I've been in the C level for a good decade or so, now, right. And a lot of times, I'd be the only female in the room, and I, I have no issue with that,

[00:44:30] right. And I'm very self-aware about like, do I actually have an issue? I'm just saying I don't, like, sometimes I do, sometimes it's, but when I'm constantly asked to take notes in a meeting, or be the one to present, like, I start feeling like, "Oh, wait a minute, like, I'm not the secretary." Like, I, I'll do anything.

[00:44:49] I'm an all-hands-on-deck kind of gout. I'll do anything, you want me to do that? I'll do that. But not time after time, after time, after time, right. And so, maybe that's an example for people of, like, you know, this isn't okay with me when it's a repeat, you know, I wanna, I gonna jump in my app, and I'm gonna say like every time, I dunno if that's a good example.

[00:45:08] LeBaron Meyers: No, it is a good example. And I, you know, I, you had asked earlier, and I never went there, and it's kinda laid in it, but I'll quickly give you my background. I mean, I, I started in investment management, right. I was an investment management for seven or eight years. I was one of the youngest and only females in my position.

[00:45:21] Jen Kern: Which is brilliant.

[00:45:22] LeBaron Meyers: Um, and it, thank you. But no, I was lucky, and offered a great opportunity, and I will tell you, 

[00:45:29] Jen Kern: She's awesome.

[00:45:30] LeBaron Meyers: I, I saw so many things, of course, but I actually had a ton of male allies and everything that way, too, right. I mean, I, of all of that is at the same time, right? Again, this is not an either/or discussion, which I think is one of the biggest problems we have in all of this.

[00:45:45] Jen Kern: Amen. 

[00:45:45] LeBaron Meyers: This is not an either/or. So, great male allies and a lot of crap that should not be normalized, that was. Okay, I even went into, I was a morning show host on the radio, I was the only female in the morning show, okay. Then I became, I went into digital media and tech and became the only female in the C-suite.

[00:46:02] And I'm not saying all this, like pat myself on the back, or anything that way. And I say that to say, I actually, I think sometimes people talk about being the only one, and they don't like it or whatever., And I wanna see more in there, but I also get excited when like, one's in there, but you definitely, definitely experience some of these things, that where it just similar.

[00:46:21] Like, I called myself, like, I was like, look, "I'm not the demo girl, I'm not gonna always be the demo girl." Right? And yet, sometimes that happens, right. Um, no, but you give a really good demo. I'm like, yeah, yeah, yeah. Um,

[00:46:32] Yeah, 

[00:46:33] Jen Kern: Mm-hmm.

[00:46:34] LeBaron Meyers: But I think it's really important, also in this conversation, because when we are having the conversation that we're having about inappropriate behavior, you have a lot of the room

[00:46:43] who's like, "Yes, we need this. This is great." And then, you have a lot of the room, often a lot of the decision-makers, often males, a lot of them white, who are going, "Oh, good God, here we go, again, land mine."

[00:46:54] Jen Kern: Open the floodgates, yeah.

[00:46:55] LeBaron Meyers: I will say nothing, not gonna touch this one. And I am huge on incorporating all of our male allies, white male allies.

[00:47:07] And I can't stand how normal it's become for people to call out all white males is.

[00:47:13] Jen Kern: I know, it’s like annoying, right?

[00:47:15] LeBaron Meyers: It's not okay. Two wrongs don't make a right, and it's not to say that people don't have, but we have to be inclusive in this conversation, and we have to make this topic more approachable. So, I just come back to the best way to make these hard topics approachable,

[00:47:30] is to have these conversations earlier, have them earlier. Don't wait until they're so uncomfortable that you have to say something, say it in the beginning. And when you are the only woman in a meeting or the only woman in this, you are the only woman. I'm also big on not public shaming and calling people out in the moment.

[00:47:54] If it's a conscious power abuser, again, that's different, but if it's someone's unconscious bias, and your goal is to make progress, not to just make them feel bad or, I am big on, like, taking that person aside. If you have that role where that person will listen to you, and that's a rarity if you have the person at the top, and say to them, "Hey, can I give it to you straight of how this came across?"

[00:48:16] Right. And give them the chance behind the curtain to be like, reassess, think about that. Maybe say it different next time, maybe step in that meeting next week, and actually begin by saying, "You know, last week I said this, and I probably could have, and should have said it differently." 

[00:48:29] So, I think that's a big part of this too, is not like, like taking a deep breath before any of it, like, and not jumping at the person who you think is across the table and on the other side but might just be completely missing your view of it, and start the conversation, speak up.

[00:48:50] Jen Kern: Yeah. And I, I'd love to know, like, what are some of your customers telling you? You mentioned you have custom, one, one little tidbit you, you put out was you have one customer that's been on the platform a little while, I don't know, like a year, or so. I'm guessing. And they started out with all the employees being anonymous, and then they started using their names.

[00:49:09] What are some other things you've seen? Like, because, of course, what we're trying to get to in restaurants, is better employer retention.

[00:49:15] LeBaron Meyers: Yeah.

[00:49:16] Jen Kern: That's one thing, I'm curious if you've seen that outcome or not yet? And not to be too focused on results, but what are some of the other things you're hearing from your customers about how this is working for them, how this is helping them or not?

[00:49:28] LeBaron Meyers: No, I'm glad you asked. And in fact, earlier, you said something about new company, and we've actually been around since 2018, so yeah. And we’re,

[00:49:35] Jen Kern: That's new in my, it's new in my, okay.

[00:49:36] LeBaron Meyers: yeah, and we're five different languages, and in various, we're in Europe, and in Australia, and Canada, and so there's lots happening. But in terms of some real-life examples and some of the feedback that we get.

[00:49:46] So, one of our clients who's in food and beverage, they came to us because of an issue that came up where the CEO was like, "How did we not know about this?" And they were like, "Okay, now we know this is an issue, let's put this in place, let's put not many solutions in place to make sure that that issue we take care of."

[00:50:02] And about six months later, they came, you know, we were checking in as we do on a quarterly basis. And they said, "Hey, thank God we did this. We put this in place because of this issue, and what surfaced was that issue as well." And we didn't know about it, right? So, often you’d think you know what's going on until you listen and you find out about another.

[00:50:22] The other thing is, some people, again, are starting to feel that they wanna be heard. And so, some people have used, you know, there's an, there is some prepopulated answers to help you guide you as you go. But there's also an other box where you can fill in whatever you want. Some people have used it to give just kind of other feedback that they didn't feel comfortable giving it an all-hands meeting, you know, that, or asked like various questions that for some reason they didn't want to, and then other stuff is, has really been like, I'll just give some, like, concrete examples from the restaurant industry, right?

[00:50:51] Like, one employee watched because the manager was friends with one of the other employees and was watching the manager clock the person in and out, but they weren't showing up, and it was causing like resentment. And like,

[00:51:04] Jen Kern: Yeah, sure

[00:51:05] LeBaron Meyers: and these are things that they hadn't even necessarily thought was gonna come to surface. So, what he was telling us, is that so many of these things that he never learned about until they like, hit his desk, and it was already this like, oh boy, so dramatic. People coming earlier, and he's able to, again, like, that's our goal, like let's deescalate things, instead of catching them late stage where they're already escalated.

[00:51:25] Jen Kern: Awesome stuff. So, I'm thinking employee satisfaction has gotta be on the rise for some of your customers, yeah, that’s gotta be on their…

[00:51:32] LeBaron Meyers: Well, you know who loves this, talent acquisition teams love it. 'Cause they're like, "We know you left another place ‘cause of this. Here, we make it, you know, as easy as possible for you to let us know." So just coming in, people are like, “Oh,” and it's a massive deterrent of bad behavior and a massive deterrent of conscious power abusers.

[00:51:48] You do not. If you know you're a harasser, or you like to go to work and be inappropriate, this is not a place you're gonna wanna work because it's too easy for people to speak up about the behavior that you have.

[00:51:58] Jen Kern: Right, right. And a massive way to sell your company, by the way, if you can talk about employee retention and lack of turnover. We were talk, I was talking about this with our board, a few weeks ago, where they were saying, "Look at your employee retention versus your competitors. Ours is much higher, much, much higher."

[00:52:19] And, and companies wanna be able to tout that today. I mean, that is gonna look good to, to candidates. "Oh, wow. They've got a 90% retention rate, you know?" I mean, we know in the restaurant industry, there's a hundred percent turnover, like year over year at some restaurants. 

[00:52:35] Do you remember the book? I, I didn't, I didn't read it, but there was something, I think it was, there was some book on airline where Southwest became uniquely known because while everyone else said, "We put the clients first." Southwest was like, "We put our employees first." And this satisfaction rate, and the everything boomed because it's a trickle-down.

[00:52:56] LeBaron Meyers: Right. It's a trickle-down. So, you take care of your employees, they take care of their, of your clients, versus like, what you said, you can tell when someone's unhappy, and in a, it's so funny while you were saying that story before, like you can tell, I have this vision. I used to live in the marina in San Francisco, and there was a restaurant there, and I loved the food, and I finally couldn't go anymore because the owner was so nice to the patrons and so mean to the workers that it was

[00:53:25] uncomfortable. And, and I'm like, "Oh, oh-oh." I just kept like, feeling that and seeing that, but again, it's, it's again, you would think it's common sense, but it's trickle-down effect, right? Like the

[00:53:37] Jen Kern: Yeah. Yeah. And just to, just to fill folks in, 'cause we were talking that about that before we hit record is, is we were talking about, like, culture, restaurant culture. And I was talking about my passion and how, you know, and I ask a lot of the guests, this like, "Of all the restaurants you go to, what percentage can you see that the employees are really happy there?"

[00:53:55] And the answer always comes back. It's a very low percent, you know, it's much more often the case that you're treated by employee, an employee that you can tell is not happy. Then, by an employee that's incredibly happy, welcoming, "So glad you chose to come in, and eat our food." To like, how often do you hear that?

[00:54:14] Very rarely. Uh, maybe at Chick-fil-A like, that's the one place everyone always can point to. It's our pleasure to serve you. Thank you for coming into, it's the one, it's the one example, place, places. Now, there are small mom-and-pop places where people do it very well. But most people respond, and so we were talking about that beforehand and, and how as, myself as a very frequent diner outer, I just can see, I look at people, I can see, even if I'm at a quick servicer, fast-casual, you can, everyone can see, you can see if you're paying attention to people in human behavior.

[00:54:44] You just need to look behind the counter, and you can see body language, faces, and you can tell how happy these people are or not.

[00:54:52] LeBaron Meyers: You're right. I'm even having a hard time thinking of like, what would be my restaurant that I most love because people seem so, and it is, there was a small mom-and-pop, there was like a little Italian place. It was a mom-and-pop. And in terms of like chain, and like multiple, I, I'm not thinking of a restaurant is the one that comes to me, which is not a restaurant is Trader Joe's.

[00:55:11] Jen Kern: There you go.

[00:55:12] LeBaron Meyers: Trader Joe's employees are like, over the top helpful.

[00:55:15] Jen Kern: You're right.

[00:55:16] LeBaron Meyers: They're laughing with each other. They're having fun.

[00:55:18] Jen Kern: They're lovely.  

[00:55:19] LeBaron Meyers: They are, they are lovely. They go over and above in terms of their customer service. And I'm like, whatever they're doing here is, needs to be replicated.

[00:55:27] Jen Kern: Well, it goes back to what you said, training. It's, your product is to follow into the training, but it's, it starts with training. It has to start with training.

[00:55:34] LeBaron Meyers: Starts with listening. I would argue it starts with listening.

[00:55:37] Jen Kern: Okay. Okay. Yeah. You're right. Listen up. That's right.

[00:55:40] That's the name of your new company. You're right. You're right. Listening. Okay. Thank you. Listening. 

[00:55:49] LeBaron Meyers: You just saved us a bundle on a creative agency.

[00:55:55] Jen Kern: Oh my God. We're gonna be too much fun.

[00:55:58] Oh, do you have any crickets?

[00:56:00] So, okay. So, people, better employee satisfaction, blah, blah, blah. We talked about that. I guess what I do, we do need to eventually wrap, and obviously, we could talk all day, but your vision, so Restaurants Reinvented. I know you work in all the industries,

[00:56:15] we talked, again, before we hit record, about like restaurants, learning from other industries. What is your vision, your hope, your dream for culture, for employee care, for, you know, all these things we've been talking about, for listening better? What, where do you see us headed and, and what is your hope?

[00:56:38] LeBaron Meyers: Know, when you say that, I'll tell you why your industry, the restaurant industry, sticks out for me, in a big way. I would, I would also include breweries in this, 'cause we're in all these craft beer places as well. Craft breweries, restaurants. This is one of the unique industries that sits at this cultural intersection of touching so many different types of people, right?

[00:57:07] So many different types of people, of course, in your patrons and stuff. And like you said, that trickle effect, they'll feel it, and they'll go. But let's talk for a minute about this epidemic of what's happening, where the worst power abuse is often happening to people, and typically women, but not just in their earliest points of their career where they're most vulnerable.

[00:57:31] Right?

[00:57:32] Jen Kern: Mm-hmm.

[00:57:33] LeBaron Meyers: There's a lot of people who work in tech who have only worked in tech. There's a lot of people, or, I mean, who you didn't necessarily start in tech and go to something else or, but the restaurant industry is the starting point for so many people who either stay in this industry or go somewhere else.

[00:57:54] And so, this is their first introduction to what is normal, to how to be treated, and how to feel in their workplace. And that to me is a massive opportunity and responsibility because I'll tell you, from speaking to all these different industries, and speaking to various people, I have wondered what the world would look like if every person coming outta school, and I'll save, and further every female coming outta school who loved whatever their industry, what they wanted to do and was their dream and their passion.

[00:58:27] If they could have gone into that, not faced severe harassment, bullying, and whatever, and therefore just departed and gone another way. How different our world would look? In terms of where people would actually be in their dream industries, be, doing what they love. So many people in their earliest moments are being hit time and time again, with inappropriate things that they are taught, you are just supposed to learn to maneuver around,

[00:58:49] and this is just how it is. And the restaurant industry, in particular, has an amazing opportunity. I'll say it again, to be like,

[00:59:00] wait a minute.

[00:59:00] Jen Kern: Respons, you said responsibility and opportunity.

[00:59:01] LeBaron Meyers: It is a responsibility to say, "You know what? We're gonna show you. We're gonna, we're gonna show you that you are valued no matter what."

[00:59:09] Jen Kern: You are psyching me up. 

[00:59:11] LeBaron Meyers: You know what I mean, though?

[00:59:12] Jen Kern: You are psyching me up. 

[00:59:14] LeBaron Meyers: Like, and we're gonna, and this is gonna be about mutual respect no matter what level you are in, no matter when you, this is gonna be about respect, and dignity at every level, and we're gonna teach you that that's, no matter where you go, whether you stay with our restaurant forever, or go run your own restaurant one day, or go to a completely other field, you're gonna be like, but this is what I start.

[00:59:32] This was my training in the workplace. This is what I learned. And this is what's okay, and this is what is not okay.

[00:59:39] Jen Kern: Oh, that's beautiful. It's great. It's great. 'Cause, 'cause you hit on something so important, and you're right. People early in their, the example I gave you, whatever, 20, 30 minutes ago, I was early in my career, younger, vulnerable, more, less likely to speak up probably. And I thought of myself, like, you know, I've always been a pretty, you know what I would call badass female, you know, even when I was in my early twenties and that was my, one of my first

[01:00:05] real jobs, right. And it was another woman who was harass, who was sending me things that, "Oh, you shouldn't, for what we're paying you, you should be doing better than this, blah, blah, blah." And I thought like, yeah, what if I wasn't trained? 'Cause my mom was a big feminist, to be a badass woman from the day I was born.

[01:00:24] Right. Um, and I didn't speak up. I, I might have flipped outta my career, and gone somewhere else and did something else. And, and we know, we all know people who did do that. Like you said, how many people flip outta restaurants and never go back? In fact, the, the guy I mentioned earlier, Amir Mostafavi, who started the, the South Block juice company here, his first job in college was at, I think a subway, and his manager was so awful.

[01:00:48] He was like, it inspired him to, to create this juice company, you know, but it was because his experience was so bad, and he only worked for him for two weeks and he quit, you know.

[01:00:59] LeBaron Meyers: Good for him.

[01:01:00] Jen Kern: Yeah, and later he ended, I mean, it wasn't like he quit, and then he started, and he's been a massive success, of course, he had a journey,

[01:01:05] right. But it, it inspired him to be like, people shouldn't be treat, treating people like this, right? And I can do it better and differently, right. And he was young. He was in college, right. And so,

[01:01:19] LeBaron Meyers: So, to your question, I'll tell you very simply, and it's not some pipe dream. It's so darn easy, right? Again. Yes, I'm plugging what we're doing, but I'm plugging what we're doing 'cause it makes so much sense. So, what we have is free to download on iOS or Android, right? Any, and anyone can make a report. And if everyone just was like, you know what?

[01:01:40] Starting from today, if anything happens, that’s inappropriate. I'm gonna say something, safely, right? Safely, say.

[01:01:46] Jen Kern: Well, no, wait, sorry. So, I can download it 'cause I download it at the conference with you, I think I have it on my phone here. I can download it, but if my company isn't on there, they're not gonna see it.

[01:01:56] LeBaron Meyers: No, but you can make a report, and we have a trained team that it would go to if it's not with your company, and they will reach out, and see what is it you need. And sometimes people just need to be heard, sometimes people need to be put in touch with other, and that's opportunity, too. But to me, just, like, I remember being a kid, and never seeing any like theat and three stars, five stars and whatever.

[01:02:15] And then one day I saw it at every restaurant. So, I'm like, why is there not a, not me certified culture on every single workplace. And when I walk in that workplace of any kind restaurant, um, schools, schools, we're talking to tech healthcare, anything, what I know is that you, management, are telling me that you value the way I should be treated, and if that's not happening, you care to know.

[01:02:40] And so that's what I think. And it's so doable, right? So, everyone is empowered to speak up safely, and management starts listening.

[01:02:51] Jen Kern: So encouraging. Yeah. 

[01:02:53] LeBaron Meyers: At the earlier.

[01:02:53] Jen Kern: It's wonderful. It's wonderful. Well, thank you for everything you're doing to reinvent restaurants and the world

[01:03:01] LeBaron Meyers: Thank you.

[01:03:01] Jen Kern: for the better, for the better. And thank you for encouraging, motivating me today and, and listening up, and lots, lots of other ways, and

[01:03:11] LeBaron Meyers: Jennifer, I wanna take a minute to props you. You're...

[01:03:14] Jen Kern: No, no, no.

[01:03:15] LeBaron Meyers: No.

[01:03:15] Jen Kern: First, your name is LeBaron Meyers

[01:03:16] LeBaron Meyers: No, no, no, no, no, no. Don't even, don't even go off because I'm an, I, it’s, it's required, especially because you told the story about, you know, a female who did the opposite to you, young in your career. When I met Jennifer at the, uh, restaurant leadership conference, it was my first restaurant conference I had been to.

[01:03:33] I did meet her at pickleball, and I will tell you, of everyone I met there, you were the most welcoming, you were the most supportive, and even sponsoring in terms of, like, being like, have you heard about what she's doing? Here's who you need to talk to, have put me in touch with people, because, again, this doesn't, you know, help you, specifically, in your company specifically, right?

[01:03:55] You're not doing that. I'm not like working with your company, but you get what we're doing, you care deeply about the industry, you care about the people and your heart is so big. And I, I'm a huge I'm, I'm very grateful that I met you. Thank God for pickleball.

[01:04:08] Jen Kern: Same, yeah. And the conferences that I kind of poop on sometimes I'm like, "Oh, we go to these conferences, it's so old school, it's all, you know." I really don't like the way it, well, well, first of all, thank you for the, the lovely compliment, shout out, the way it's like, "Oh, there are vendors over there, and we're the restaurants over here."

[01:04:25] And there's, like, these two sides, and it drives me nuts. It's like, geez, come on people. We're all humans.

[01:04:30] LeBaron Meyers: Bridge the gap, bridge the gap.

[01:04:32] Jen Kern: Yeah. And it was so fun meeting you and, and yeah, I, I, I mean, I just love, and that's the spirit of hospitality, by the way, that is the spirit. And that's why I love this industry so much.

[01:04:42] And I don't wanna be considered on the other side. 'Cause I love this industry, and I love people, and I believe in, in everything this industry and hospitality stands for, and putting people first, and then you add food on top, and it's like, what's better than that? You know, I'll drink those damn espressos all day long.

[01:04:59] 'Cause I love them, and yes, I pay $7 for 'em 'cause they're delicious, yeah. And I stand there and I, you know, customize my order for 10 minutes, and whatever, but such amazing stuff you're doing. Thank you, folks, it's, it's NotMe, it's, it's LeBaron Meyers. Check her out, follow her on LinkedIn, look up the company.

[01:05:19] And most importantly, gets your company to find this company, and use this app and, and embrace your people, and give them that early, and often encouragement to speak up. So important. So important. Thank you so much. 

[01:05:33] LeBaron Meyers: Thank you. 

[01:05:34] Jen Kern: All right. Have an awesome day.

[01:05:37] LeBaron Meyers: You too.

[01:05:37] Jen Kern: Thanks, LeBaron.