Your Employees Are Worried About AI Replacing Jobs. Here's What to Tell Them.

Margaret Keane:

I think there's a lot of noise around, you know, AI is gonna take all the jobs away. And I do think there's gonna be a big transformation with AI, but that doesn't mean everyone's job's going away.

I think jobs will change. How do we make jobs better? What does that mean for the person who maybe had some role in that? How can we make their job better? And then how do we take some of this productivity that we're going to gain out of AI and put it towards growth?

Sarah O'Melia:

Welcome to Don't Get Played, a podcast from Cisive.

This show is for talent acquisition leaders and people managers who care about trust at work. How it's built. How it's measured. And how leaders design systems that hold up when speed, risk, and accountability collide.

I'm Sarah O'Melia, VP of Learning and Employee Communications at Cisive.

Every leader talks about culture. But very few treat it as something that can be damaged by a single hire. The people you bring in either reinforce your culture or erode it. And the organizations that understand that tend to hire very differently.

My guest today is Margaret Keane, CEO of Cisive. Margaret is a seasoned executive with decades of experience leading large organizations, building high-performing teams, and navigating complex regulatory environments. That background gives her a grounded perspective on the relationship between trust, governance, and culture, and what it actually takes to protect all three as a company grows.

In this conversation, we cover where culture really starts inside an organization. We talk about why rushing a hire costs more than taking the time to get it right. We get into transparency and listening as the foundations of real leadership. And we talk about what leaders need to say out loud right now about AI, jobs, and uncertainty.

Culture is not a values statement. It shows up in who you hire, how you lead, and whether you're willing to have the hard conversations.

Let's get started.

Margaret, welcome to the podcast. So today I wanted to open it up with company culture because people talk about company culture all the time, but leaders know it's something much more tangible than value statements. So from your perspective, where does culture actually begin inside an organization?

Margaret Keane:

You know, I think culture — first of all, I think culture is extraordinarily important because it really is the environment in which people work. And I think it starts really with each employee and how they interact with each other, how they think about the mission and the values of the company. But really it's more about how you live it every day.

And I think in particular for leaders, it's how you lead your team and your organization. So I'm a big believer that culture is tangible. It's very real, and it really makes a difference about how people wanna come to work every day. Do they feel good? Because I think at the end of the day, everyone comes to work for a paycheck, but the reality is they also come for greater fulfillment, and the culture plays into that.

Sarah O'Melia:

And when we think about culture, a lot of times the conversation is how do we keep the people, right? The environment that we create. But how much culture is ultimately shaped by the people you choose to hire and enter into the organization?

Margaret Keane:

No, I think that's extremely important. And it was interesting, I've been reading some things around the new world of AI and the importance of keeping culture. So I think, you know, in any given hire, right, we look for skill sets — that's most important, right? Can they do the job? But then you really have to look at the person and say, is this the type of person that's going to work well inside the culture that we have formed?

And I think you have to really, particularly when you're hiring leadership jobs, you wanna make sure that person's gonna fit with the team. They're going to act a certain way, they're going to lead a certain way, and develop their teams in a certain way.

So you really have to pay attention to what I would say are those softer skills. More of the EQ of someone in terms of how they're gonna fit in.

Sarah O'Melia:

So have you seen situations where attention wasn't given properly to that step, where skipping steps in the screening process could create real cultural damage down the line?

Margaret Keane:

Yeah. You know, it's interesting. I go back to maybe my prior company a little bit, where we had to hire 3,000 people in one year, which was an enormous number when you think about it. And, you know, we talked a lot about how do we make sure we're hiring the right talent. So I think where people fall astray in this hiring process is maybe you get too hung up on the skill sets for the job and are not spending enough time on the culture side.

And yes, I've definitely seen this where, you know, literally week one you could see that the person we hired — whoa, I'm not so sure they're gonna really be the type of leader we really need for this company. And almost every single time, that was probably true when we saw it show up so quickly, but you can see it.

And I think this is important because I think people sometimes rush to do the hire. Like they have an open role, they rush, they find someone with a skill set, maybe they're willing to say, oh, okay, maybe I can give on this or that. The reality is that ends up costing you because now you hire the person in, they're really not fitting in, and you have to start all over.

And so it's really worth spending that extra time to get the right person that has the skill set and the culture and leadership style that you really wanna bring into the company.

Sarah O'Melia:

Absolutely. And I love that you mention feeling like you have to rush because companies constantly today feel pressure to hire quickly. So for hiring managers, how should they balance speed with diligence? And then kind of a combination question — what risks emerge if we hire too quickly through that hiring process?

Margaret Keane:

Yeah, so, you know, look, I always say this. I think sometimes people feel like they have to rush because they have this open slot and they're maybe missing out on things that need to get done. But if you don't spend the right time hiring the right person, you end up back at square one, which costs you more time and money, by the way.

And it also is upsetting to the organization when you hire someone in and they're not a fit. The organization knows right away that they're not a fit, and it is a bit of a reflection on you as a leader that you went ahead and hired this person. So I think it's really important that you spend the time looking at the full equation of that person — can they do the job, and can they fit in our culture?

I would also suggest that maybe if you have a question mark on somebody and you're unsure, have someone else in the organization interview that person so that they can either, you know, calibrate what you're thinking or say to you, you know what, I don't think this person's gonna fit. So I think going that extra step is definitely better than trying to rush into a situation where you end up with a hire that doesn't work.

Sarah O'Melia:

I agree with it, and it's one of those things where you have to take the time, you have to invest the time in order for you to see the value come back later, right? That's the whole investment property.

Margaret Keane:

Absolutely.

Sarah O'Melia:

So when we think about the perception of the current employees and the new employees coming in, what does it signal to both of those parties when a company takes screening seriously?

Margaret Keane:

Well, I think it's an affirmation to the people who are in the company that we value talent and we're bringing in the right type of leaders for the company who are gonna lead the organization. So I think if you are in the company, you wanna make sure we're bringing in talent that's gonna lift the organization up.

And I think teams know that and look at that. I think for the person coming in, spending the right amount of time, bringing them into an organization, making sure they're clear on the culture, and understanding the expectation upfront — if we do both of those things right, we end up in a much better place as a company. Because now we have a new employee who's coming in, understands the expectations, and employees who are receiving that new employee validating that, yep, this person fits, and this is the type of person we want inside our company.

Sarah O'Melia:

Making sure that it's sort of like the do no harm, right, to our existing employee base. So we have a culture, we wanna protect it, right? So thinking about protection for that company culture, for our employees, for the work that we do — how do leaders think about protecting culture as companies grow?

Margaret Keane:

Yeah, I think there's two parts to this. Because I think there's protecting the culture, but I also think the world we're in right now, we might have to move the culture faster. So I think one of the things we have to make sure as leaders is that we're moving the company forward and we're looking at leaders who are gonna help move that company forward and do it in such a way that is not harmful to the culture, but helps accelerate the culture.

Maybe on a new path or in a new way. I think, for instance, as technology becomes a bigger part of our day, people are gonna be using agents in their jobs. We have to really pay attention to how that's gonna shift the culture, 'cause it will. So the culture we have today may not a hundred percent be the culture we have tomorrow, but we wanna make sure we're holding onto those values that are really important to us and we don't lose them in this transformation that we're making.

So I think it's really a balance of how you think about the culture, what you're willing to press on a little bit, and what you really wanna keep. I think that's an important element as we move forward in, you know, innovating and changing the dynamics of the company.

Sarah O'Melia:

I love that. And I want to sort of double click on the area where we're talking about the people who are already inside your organization in the context of background screening, right? And so how do you think about the tension between giving people a second chance while protecting the people already inside your organization from that culture perspective?

Margaret Keane:

We're required by our contracts and our customers to — like, our background screening is pretty restrictive, right? We have to make sure we're following the rules of the client base that we're serving, and each client has their, you know, things that are a no go, right? So we have a responsibility to make sure that we're screening in such a way that we're identifying where those gaps might be.

You know, we give that report to the hiring company. It's up to them to decide whether they're gonna hire the person or not. But I think for us, given the way background screening works, we have to be very diligent in reporting and understanding what that client's expectations are and what they're willing to give on.

Because I do think it depends on industry. So if, like, you're in transportation, there's probably a little looser view on certain things, then maybe if you're in the healthcare space. So I think it's really driven by the vertical that we support. Or in financial services, which is a highly regulated industry on the other side and has very strict rules on who you can and can't hire.

So I think the importance for us as a company is making sure we understand all those needs for those different verticals, and then delivering on the specifics for that vertical on how we report the hiring or the screening of a particular candidate.

Sarah O'Melia:

That makes a lot of sense. So when we think about — you mentioned healthcare, that's a specific industry that is growing very well in this current economy. And so I'm thinking about organizations and industries that are growing, that are, you know, going past the small companies where you have a hundred or 200 people and that trust is very easy to maintain, right? Because you have sort of a smaller circle. But when it comes to larger organizations, how do leaders maintain that trust and culture, and what does that look like in practice?

Margaret Keane:

Yeah, so I think, you know, if you think about that space, I think first of all, the most important thing for us when we deliver in a vertical like healthcare is having the expertise on our side. People who know how the industry works, who know the requirements specifically for each of the big hospital networks, let's say for instance, that we're hiring for — that we have, you know, an account executive who's really managing that relationship day to day.

And understanding, I think, the challenges — this is really important — understanding the challenges these institutions face as they're trying to grow and add talent into their organization. I think the more we can bring best practices to them, bring them ways to simplify their process, bring them good candidates, think about how we can create a pool of candidates — like, for instance, nursing. There's a big shortage in nursing. What can we as Cisive do to help bring more talent to these organizations so that they have a pool of people to look at?

So I think as we think about healthcare in particular, with all the challenges that it's facing, a lot of it has to do with talent. The ability to hire quickly and getting the right candidates in front of them as quickly as possible. So to do that, we have to have expertise in the space, and I think that's where we start really building trust — when we can talk the same language as our customer base and understand the challenges they face every single day.

Sarah O'Melia:

That makes a lot of sense and I love that advice. And speaking of advice for folks who are listening in, what advice would you give them when they are responsible for shaping culture and leading those hiring decisions?

Margaret Keane:

You know, I think as leaders it's really important that you understand the framework in which you want the culture to be for your particular function. So, you know, I'll throw something out. If I'm in the operations group, for instance, my job is to get through these screens pretty fast and get the answers to our clients pretty fast. How do we do that? How do we do that with expertise? How do we do that with a smile on our face? To really kind of drive the importance of our customer base.

So I think each leader has to look at their team, take the culture that we've established inside the company, and kind of manage it in a way that makes sense for that particular function. You know, if you're in customer service, you wanna have that, we're here to help you, we're gonna get you your answers, we're gonna respond quickly — again, doing it with a smile so that there is this connection to the customer base that goes a little bit above and beyond just the transaction itself and really delivers for that customer in a really good way.

So I think all of us have a piece in that, and as leaders, we need to look at that. So if we have someone on our team who maybe is really good at doing a background screening or a verification or something like that, and they're fast and this and that, but the client really finds them abrasive, or teammates find them abrasive — you know, that's a red flag. So we gotta look at all those types of things when we're thinking about culture.

Sarah O'Melia:

And you mentioned trust and connection in terms of leadership, so I want to expand on that. What role does trust play when you're trying to be an efficient and effective leader?

Margaret Keane:

Look, I think I'm a big believer in this concept of trust. So I think, to be an effective leader, probably the number one thing you need to be is transparent to your employees. Transparent around where we're going, what we're trying to deliver, transparent in giving feedback very clearly when someone's not delivering.

I think this is one area that we're really trying to drive even more. In order for people to grow and develop in their career, they need good feedback on how they're doing and maybe areas that they can improve. So I think the number one way to build trust is transparency.

The second I would say as a leader is listening. So what are the employees saying that's not working? How can we do this better? Or, you know, we've been dealing with this problem for whatever — we need to listen to the employees, and then we need to take action.

And this is really important. I think you gain trust when, let's say there's a problem we've had for a long time — we haven't fixed it, we haven't addressed it. We need to be clear and transparent on why. So sometimes there's a why. Like, instead of just not answering or just continuing to go down that path, do a round table and say, look, I know you guys are frustrated by X, Y, Z. We hear you. This is on our list to fix, but it's probably not gonna get fixed for six months. And then in six months you gotta follow up, and either it's fixed or delayed. But that clarity of listening and action are really important to build trust.

Sarah O'Melia:

That is so true, because I feel like a lot of employees, they feel like I'm speaking, I'm giving feedback, and it's sort of going into a vacuum. And when it comes to transparency, to listening to feedback, to actioning against that feedback, those are so, so important. Are there any other key lessons that you have learned about building strong teams over your career?

Margaret Keane:

I think the more you can action, as a team, the vision of where the company's trying to go, so that you're constantly thinking through with your team, how do we all roll in the same direction on where we're trying to go and pushing hard and taking the hill when it means taking the hill — I think that's how you build real comradery and teamwork and the ability to win in the marketplace.

And I think this is harder in the world we work in today, because we're virtual. So I think you have to really work at this. You have to really have conversations around every staff meeting — you know, guys, this is our goals, this is where we're really trying to head. And wherever you can, try to link the bigger goals to the person's job. So, the role that that person plays inside your organization — how does that link to the bigger goals? Why is their role important in our company? I think the more, as a leader, you can do that and make those connections for employees, they're gonna be feeling better about their job.

Sarah O'Melia:

And then on the flip side, right, so we talked about what you should do, what you should be looking for — what are some mistakes that organizations make when they think about culture and trust where you're saying, you know, stop sign, stop light, avoid this at any cost?

Margaret Keane:

Yeah. I think the biggest mistake people make is — this usually is around tough decisions, or maybe bad news, or a tough discussion — people don't have it and they just let it linger out there. I think it's really important to face things directly.

So, right now, let's take our space. Our space is struggling a bit. You know, hiring — you can't read a newspaper and not hear about the slowness in hiring. That's what we do, right? That's our organic space. So we're struggling a little bit organically. We need to be clear with our employees: this is a struggle, and in order to overcome that, there are things we have to do to increase sales and grow revenue.

Things like doubling down on the healthcare space, which is really growing. Adding additional resources to transportation so we can grow our transportation business. Looking at cross sell of our products as a real opportunity — so maybe a particular client isn't hiring as much, but we can sell them additional products to increase revenue.

So I think being transparent with the organization on what the world is and what we need to do in it, and understanding the problems and the tough discussion that has to happen, I think is really important.

You know, I think there's a lot of noise around AI is gonna take all the jobs away, and, you know, we're all gonna have robots in our house or whatever. I do think there's gonna be a big transformation with AI, but that doesn't mean everyone's job's going away.

I think jobs will change. And my hope — and I wanna talk more about this as we continue down our own path with AI — is how do we make jobs better? Like, our goal shouldn't be, you know, let's get all this cost out, and we have, you know, energetic AI handle a particular problem or something with a customer. If we do that, that's great, but then what does that mean for the person who maybe had some role in that? How can we make their job better? And then how do we take some of this productivity that we're going to gain out of AI and put it towards growth?

So I do think that we have to think all of that through. I'm not saying I have the answers, but I do think we should be a little more clear on this thought that everyone's gonna lose their job. I just don't think it's true. I think jobs will change dramatically, and there probably are some jobs that will go away, but then new jobs are gonna be created and new opportunities are gonna be created. And how do we continue to talk about that?

Sarah O'Melia:

Absolutely. Completely agree. Alright, I want to wrap us up with sort of tuning into the folks who are, again, sort of listening in, understanding the insights and the information that we're providing for them. So if you are a leader responsible for culture, what is the first thing you should focus on in hiring today?

Margaret Keane:

So let me start by saying, I think every leader is responsible for culture. So the way you worded that question, I would say everyone's responsible for culture. Everyone's responsible for how culture is delivered inside the company.

So, for leadership, I think it's important — and probably more important in this environment we're in where there's so much uncertainty, a lot of fear out there, people not sure where things are going — being a leader who really is a positive motivator and uses the culture to really glue the organization together in these, like, what I would call more challenging times. And doing it, particularly in the environment we're working in where we're all, in many cases, virtual — being very cognizant of culture and thinking through, as a leader yourself, how are you delivering yourself within the culture, and how do you get the rest of the organization to come along?

I think these are conversations you have to have about these types of things. What skills, what values are really important to the company right now? How do you portray those values? How do you, as a leader, recognize and maybe highlight someone who's gone above and beyond on a particular value of a company? You gotta recognize these things.

So I think it's really important that every leader play a role in culture. It's not just one organization that's responsible for culture. We're all responsible for culture inside a company.

Sarah O'Melia:

100%. So for anyone listening, if you're looking for ways to impact your culture, anyone can do it. Everyone can be a part of it in so many different ways. You hear it from Margaret Keane herself. So Margaret, thank you so much for being here and sharing your insights on hiring, trust, and culture. It has been so informative and so, so insightful, and we appreciate you being here.

Margaret Keane:

Thanks so much, Sarah. It was a pleasure. Have a great day.

Sarah O'Melia:

Culture is a leadership responsibility. Every person on every team has a role in it. That was the through line of this entire conversation.

Hiring for skills without weighing cultural fit is a shortcut that costs you twice. The organization knows immediately when someone doesn't belong, and that reflects on the leader who made the call. Screening is part of that equation, but it only works if you know what you're willing to accept and what you're not, and you're honest about where those lines are before you're sitting across from a candidate you want to say yes to.

When it comes to trust inside your organization, transparency is the work. Telling people where things stand, even when the answer is that something won't be fixed for six months, builds more credibility than silence ever will.

And in a moment where there's a lot of noise about AI and what it means for jobs, Margaret makes a great point: the goal should be making work better, not just cheaper. That conversation is one every leader needs to be having with their teams right now.

If this episode was useful, subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube. And if you know a leader who's thinking hard about hiring and culture right now, send it their way.

We'll see you next time. And remember, in the meantime... don't get played.