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Hershey’s Rothman on Re-Skilling the Workforce · Choppin’ It Up by Bloomberg Intelligence

• 0:13
  Speaker 1: Welcome to Chopping it Up, Mike Hanlon, the senior restaurant
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: and food Service analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence. You can find
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: our research and that of bi's five hundred analysts around
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: the globe on the Bloomberg terminal. If you enjoy the pod,
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: do me a favor and give us a five star
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: review on Apple or Spotify. Today we're joined by Natalie Rothman,
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: chief human resources officer at the Hershey Company. Welcome Natalie,
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: Thank you, Mike.
• 0:38
  Speaker 2: Great to be here.
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I've been looking forward to this. I see you
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: received your masters from American University. How'd you like DC?
• 0:46
  Speaker 2: Oh? I love DC. It was so fun. Yeah, it
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: was a great experience. It's a great place to.
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: Go to school. Yeah, it's a great town. I did
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: my undergrad at Georgetown, so I try to get back
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: to DC at least once a year.
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: Good.
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: All right, So we have a lot to talk about.
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: I had no problem coming up with questions for you
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: for this interview, So let's hop right in. CEOs increasingly
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: are talking about their talent as a competitive advantage. What
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: does that actually mean to you and the team at Hershey? Oh?
• 1:18
  Speaker 2: Great question. You know, the Hershey Company was built by
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: Milton Hershey one hundred and thirty two years ago. And
• 1:25
  Speaker 2: he was really a visionary. We'll talk more about him,
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: but he did everything for his people. So he built
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: a town for people to work, he built an amusement
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: park for people to play, and he knew how important
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: it was to keep his talent happy so that they
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: could create amazing products for people to enjoy. So I think,
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: you know, when I think about this one hundred and
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: thirty two years later, like how do we keep his
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: legacy alive? And as you know, a head of HR
• 1:51
  Speaker 2: for you know, this iconic company, for me, you know,
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: the people that work at the company keep the mission
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: and the vision of the company alive. When you have
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: the right talent, I think you delight your customers, You
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: delight your consumers, and you win in the marketplace. And
• 2:09
  Speaker 2: employee engagement is so important. I think team members have
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: been through just a lot over the last few years,
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: starting with COVID, and we've really had to pivot how
• 2:20
  Speaker 2: we think about how do you manage talent, how do
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: you engage your talent, how do you develop people? And
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: it keeps evolving now with AI, now the big conversation
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: is really about rescaling your talent. But I think that
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: you can have a great product and a great brand,
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: and we have so many wonderful brands at Hershey. But
• 2:38
  Speaker 2: I think to make it a great place to work
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: and to touch that end consumer, you need great people.
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: And you're going to lead us in nicely to some
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: of the other questions I have. Let's start with employee engagement.
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: What have you learned on that front? Maybe that surprised
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: you over the last few years.
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: So I think it means different things for different people, right,
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: I think the most common things that I see. I
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: mean I've been a CRW now for ten years with
• 3:03
  Speaker 2: three different companies. People want to know that they can
• 3:06
  Speaker 2: have a career at a company, and that they can
• 3:08
  Speaker 2: grow and develop and that there's a career path. I
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: think people want to know that their voice is being heard.
• 3:15
  Speaker 2: So when you do an engagement survey, I think following
• 3:19
  Speaker 2: up listening to the feedback and then doing something about
• 3:21
  Speaker 2: it is really really important. But engagement tends to be
• 3:25
  Speaker 2: like the leading indicator for performance. So if you have
• 3:30
  Speaker 2: people that aren't feeling as engaged and putting in that
• 3:33
  Speaker 2: discretionary effort, I think you do end up seeing that
• 3:35
  Speaker 2: in your business results. So I take engagement really really seriously.
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: We take that feedback, we look at it, we figure
• 3:42
  Speaker 2: out what are some of the things that we can
• 3:45
  Speaker 2: work on, what are things that maybe you can't work on.
• 3:47
  Speaker 2: I'm communicating that to people too, but it's something that
• 3:50
  Speaker 2: we pulse our team on a few times a year.
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: Oh that's great. What skills are becoming more valuable at
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: hershey today that maybe weren't five years ago.
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: AI and digital are huge for us and like any company,
• 4:05
  Speaker 2: I mean, I think it impacts our sales workforce. We
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: actually have a new AI tool that they're going to
• 4:14
  Speaker 2: be able to use to help them figure out what
• 4:16
  Speaker 2: customers to see and when insights when they're in store.
• 4:19
  Speaker 2: I mean, we have seventy five thousand doors that we
• 4:22
  Speaker 2: you know, we sell our products at, So how do
• 4:25
  Speaker 2: they make sure that they're giving customers what they need?
• 4:27
  Speaker 2: And then there's a prediction element to that too, you know,
• 4:30
  Speaker 2: in our manufacturing plans, I mean, we have twenty thousand
• 4:33
  Speaker 2: employees and we have about fourteen thousand people in manufacturing
• 4:37
  Speaker 2: using those tools so people can understand, you know, productivity
• 4:41
  Speaker 2: in the plant's skills training. And then for our corporate employees.
• 4:45
  Speaker 2: You know, we have adopted a digital mindset initiative and
• 4:51
  Speaker 2: we're really trying to train people on fluency. So how
• 4:54
  Speaker 2: do they understand we have Microsoft Copilot, how do they
• 4:57
  Speaker 2: understand how to use copilots to make their job easier
• 5:01
  Speaker 2: and then so that they can spend more time with humans.
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  Speaker 2: We're also using it really across the business to make
• 5:07
  Speaker 2: more informed business decisions. Everybody is talking about building agents,
• 5:12
  Speaker 2: so we've done a little bit of that in HR
• 5:14
  Speaker 2: and some other places, which really has helped to simplify
• 5:18
  Speaker 2: our work a ton. So I think analytics is always
• 5:21
  Speaker 2: going to be important at the Hershey Company, but I
• 5:24
  Speaker 2: would say we've really had a push over the last
• 5:27
  Speaker 2: year to developing this digital fluency and people are excited
• 5:30
  Speaker 2: about it.
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: Cool. Yeah, I read on LinkedIn that you were like
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: a co sponsor for this global initiative to leverage any
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: in automation, right, So that's cool. How are you using
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: AI maybe to change the way HR operates and how
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: have you adopted the interview process and the age of AI.
• 5:50
  Speaker 2: That's such a good question. So we actually are using
• 5:53
  Speaker 2: a tool called eightfold. We've actually taken twenty one days
• 5:56
  Speaker 2: out of the hiring process through eightfold. We sometimes get
• 5:59
  Speaker 2: thousands of resumes for every one job that's posted. So
• 6:04
  Speaker 2: through this tool and through AI, it's helped us really
• 6:07
  Speaker 2: figure out which candidates have the best match to the
• 6:11
  Speaker 2: job descriptions that we have. And again we've taken twenty
• 6:14
  Speaker 2: one days out of the process, which is really awesome.
• 6:17
  Speaker 2: We're starting to pilot AI Interviewer, so interviewing with it.
• 6:23
  Speaker 2: Candidates can opt out if they want a real person,
• 6:26
  Speaker 2: but that is sort of part of the process, but
• 6:29
  Speaker 2: it's helped with scheduling, it's helped with really this resume review.
• 6:35
  Speaker 2: So it's been a really valuable tool. I think the
• 6:38
  Speaker 2: other place where we're using it is coaching. So we
• 6:41
  Speaker 2: just rolled out a new job architecture and we actually
• 6:44
  Speaker 2: have an avatar tool that managers could use to practice
• 6:48
  Speaker 2: having the conversation before they sat down with their employees.
• 6:52
  Speaker 2: People had a really positive experience with it. It wasn't
• 6:56
  Speaker 2: the only tool that we offered, but we said, hey,
• 6:58
  Speaker 2: you can use this tool anytime you want. It had
• 7:01
  Speaker 2: a knowledge base to answer a lot of different questions,
• 7:03
  Speaker 2: and now we're figuring out how do we expand that
• 7:06
  Speaker 2: and maybe use it for some other use cases. So
• 7:09
  Speaker 2: those are two places in HR that we're really excited about,
• 7:13
  Speaker 2: but the whole onboarding experience we're continuing to simplify with it.
• 7:17
  Speaker 2: We do have a call center that has a huge
• 7:20
  Speaker 2: knowledge base with AI, so if you're in manufacturing, you'll
• 7:24
  Speaker 2: get your questions answered because obviously the policies are a
• 7:27
  Speaker 2: little bit different depending on where you are in the
• 7:29
  Speaker 2: country versus in corporate. So we're trying to use it
• 7:32
  Speaker 2: a lot, and I think it's always important of humans
• 7:36
  Speaker 2: in the loop. I say human resources in the loop
• 7:39
  Speaker 2: because I do think you still need that human judgment.
• 7:42
  Speaker 2: But I think in terms of the manual recurring work,
• 7:46
  Speaker 2: it definitely has been sped up and we've been a
• 7:48
  Speaker 2: lot more efficient with use of AI.
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: That's cool, and it sounds like you're further ahead than
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: a lot of the companies I cover in terms of
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: using it for HR. That's very cool. Beyond HR, where
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: do you see AI having the biggest impact to cross
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: Hershey's workforce, because obviously you have employees and a lot
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: of different functions we do.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, So I'm leading this initiative with our head of technology,
• 8:12
  Speaker 2: and there's three things that we're focused on. One is
• 8:14
  Speaker 2: just baseline digital fluency for all of our professional employees,
• 8:18
  Speaker 2: so that's getting people skilled up on copilot how do
• 8:22
  Speaker 2: they use it. We have enterprise priorities, so there's things
• 8:25
  Speaker 2: that we're looking at from a forecasting standpoint in supply chain.
• 8:29
  Speaker 2: We're using it in our marketing mix model to make
• 8:32
  Speaker 2: better decisions in marketing. So there are larger enterprise initiatives.
• 8:36
  Speaker 2: And then there's this sales tool that I just referred
• 8:39
  Speaker 2: to before that our territory sales leads are using in
• 8:43
  Speaker 2: store with customers. And then we also have functional priority,
• 8:48
  Speaker 2: so every single function has a person, a digital lead
• 8:52
  Speaker 2: that is helping that function figure out how do they
• 8:55
  Speaker 2: prioritize the best use cases for the function. So legal
• 9:00
  Speaker 2: actually right now is a fun example is using a
• 9:02
  Speaker 2: tool called Harvai and that's helping them with contract review.
• 9:06
  Speaker 2: I'm really speeding up that process to supply chain has
• 9:10
  Speaker 2: different priorities finances using it for forecasting. I know that
• 9:14
  Speaker 2: you're using some AI tools for invoices and bill payments.
• 9:19
  Speaker 2: So the way that we are really thinking about this
• 9:21
  Speaker 2: is there are bigger enterprise priorities that we're focused on,
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  Speaker 2: but each function really needs to decide what comes first.
• 9:29
  Speaker 2: What tools do they need to use, and then how
• 9:32
  Speaker 2: does it change their workflow? I would say this is
• 9:35
  Speaker 2: probably one of the more exciting times in HR. I mean,
• 9:38
  Speaker 2: the last big revolution was like the Internet. I remember,
• 9:41
  Speaker 2: you know, being in grad school and being in law
• 9:43
  Speaker 2: school with the internet coming out and you know, you
• 9:45
  Speaker 2: don't have to go to the library, you can look
• 9:47
  Speaker 2: online for stuff. So this is a really exciting time
• 9:51
  Speaker 2: for us to figure out how do we reskill people?
• 9:54
  Speaker 2: Right It's huge change management initiatives, and you know, I
• 9:59
  Speaker 2: think with role modeling and leaders using these tools, we
• 10:04
  Speaker 2: are bringing everybody along and they're getting excited about it.
• 10:08
  Speaker 2: And then I think the other piece of this is,
• 10:10
  Speaker 2: you know, how does this change our workflow in the future.
• 10:13
  Speaker 2: There are jobs that we don't have today that we're
• 10:15
  Speaker 2: going to need in the future. So really thinking we're
• 10:18
  Speaker 2: working through that now, but thinking about how do we
• 10:22
  Speaker 2: reskill people so that they are able to use these
• 10:26
  Speaker 2: new tools and they can fit into these new jobs,
• 10:29
  Speaker 2: you know, just to make their roles more efficient.
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: And you mentioned the excitement around AI, but I'd imagine
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: some of your employees are concerned as well. So what
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: advice are you giving leaders who are trying to balance
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: that excitement about AI with employee concerns.
• 10:48
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think you have to be transparent with your employees.
• 10:50
  Speaker 2: I mean, I think you have to be committed to
• 10:52
  Speaker 2: people's development because I do think over time, the way
• 10:56
  Speaker 2: that we're looking at this is, you know, probably through
• 10:58
  Speaker 2: a natural attrition. We may not have to backfill certain
• 11:02
  Speaker 2: roles with AI. We can build agents, or we can
• 11:07
  Speaker 2: prove our workflows, but I think the employees that are
• 11:11
  Speaker 2: not using AI are going to be left behind. I
• 11:13
  Speaker 2: think it is one of the enterprise skills sets that
• 11:17
  Speaker 2: we've said is necessary from a leadership standpoint. And then
• 11:21
  Speaker 2: I think it's walking the talk. I mean, there are
• 11:23
  Speaker 2: a lot of companies out there that are saying that
• 11:25
  Speaker 2: they're going to eliminate, you know, thousands of jobs because
• 11:28
  Speaker 2: of AI, and with all the heads of HR that
• 11:31
  Speaker 2: I talked to, it really is more about how are
• 11:33
  Speaker 2: we rescaling people, how are we thinking differently about what
• 11:36
  Speaker 2: the operating model looks like. So that's sort of how
• 11:40
  Speaker 2: we're bringing people along. But I also think it's the
• 11:43
  Speaker 2: role modeling, and it's the investment and development. We just
• 11:46
  Speaker 2: had our top three hundred people go through a digital
• 11:51
  Speaker 2: workshop with a really great Harvard professor that brought in
• 11:55
  Speaker 2: and you know, we had there was pre work. There
• 11:57
  Speaker 2: are case studies to learn more about. You know, how
• 12:00
  Speaker 2: do you think about using these digital tools every day?
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: Very cool? So how would you describe Hershey's culture and
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: what does a team do to reinforce it daily?
• 12:09
  Speaker 2: It's fun, you know, I think that's the first thing
• 12:11
  Speaker 2: that comes to mind. You know, when you tell people
• 12:14
  Speaker 2: you work at Hershey, people smile, They ask about, okay,
• 12:17
  Speaker 2: do you you know, do you get free candy? There
• 12:20
  Speaker 2: are candy bawls in certain places. I think the reason
• 12:23
  Speaker 2: why I was attracted to the company was really about
• 12:26
  Speaker 2: the culture and the mission. Going back to Milton Hershey.
• 12:30
  Speaker 2: You know, so he built this unbelievable company and built
• 12:33
  Speaker 2: this town and actually built this school for disadvantaged kids,
• 12:38
  Speaker 2: which still exists today. They're about twenty two hundred kids there.
• 12:41
  Speaker 2: And I think a lot of companies think about, you know,
• 12:45
  Speaker 2: how will they tie their business to a purpose. But
• 12:48
  Speaker 2: we were built on this purpose of sort of giving
• 12:51
  Speaker 2: back and doing good. So it's a it's a fun culture,
• 12:55
  Speaker 2: it's a caring culture, and I think you do have
• 12:58
  Speaker 2: to have a passion for having a greater mission and
• 13:02
  Speaker 2: a greater purpose. We get very involved with the school.
• 13:05
  Speaker 2: We actually in speaking about AI. I was just there
• 13:08
  Speaker 2: last week and we're talking to the school about how
• 13:09
  Speaker 2: do we help them in terms of expanding their curriculum
• 13:12
  Speaker 2: with AI. We have high school interns that come to
• 13:17
  Speaker 2: the company to give them exposure to, you know, different
• 13:21
  Speaker 2: disciplines that we have. But I would say this is
• 13:24
  Speaker 2: probably the most fun role I've had in my career.
• 13:27
  Speaker 2: I've been working now for close to thirty years, and
• 13:31
  Speaker 2: I think there is so much pride in this culture
• 13:34
  Speaker 2: and pride with what the founder built and the fact
• 13:38
  Speaker 2: that we are still delivering on that is exciting.
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: Yeah, that's some good stuff and I'd imagine it makes
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: it easier to recruit.
• 13:46
  Speaker 2: It helps a lot. I mean, I think a lot
• 13:49
  Speaker 2: of people want to go to a company where they
• 13:51
  Speaker 2: know that it is built on a mission and it's
• 13:55
  Speaker 2: not manufactured. A lot of times that's greenwashed or companies
• 13:58
  Speaker 2: try to find something to connect to. So it helps
• 14:02
  Speaker 2: a lot.
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: All Right, What distinguishes the best leaders at the company.
• 14:07
  Speaker 2: I always say empathy is like the first thing that
• 14:09
  Speaker 2: always comes to mind. I think that you have to
• 14:11
  Speaker 2: show that you care about your employees, you care about
• 14:14
  Speaker 2: their development, you care about their career progression. I think
• 14:18
  Speaker 2: giving and receiving feedback. I mean it's a very simple thing,
• 14:21
  Speaker 2: but it takes courage, I think, to sit down and
• 14:24
  Speaker 2: have conversations with people. You know, sometimes those conversations are,
• 14:29
  Speaker 2: you know, easier than not. I think having a digital
• 14:32
  Speaker 2: mindset is something that we have been reinforcing, is really
• 14:36
  Speaker 2: really important. And then I think, you know, forward thinking
• 14:40
  Speaker 2: and being strategic. I mean, we are always looking a
• 14:43
  Speaker 2: few years out on you know, what are the latest trends,
• 14:46
  Speaker 2: How do we delight consumers? What do our customers need
• 14:49
  Speaker 2: from us? So I think having a balance of financial acumen,
• 14:55
  Speaker 2: but also this sort of forward thinking strategy is really important.
• 14:58
  Speaker 2: And even you know, we've used the term. You know,
• 15:01
  Speaker 2: you want dreamers that are innovating, you know, the next
• 15:04
  Speaker 2: products that are going to delight you know that our
• 15:06
  Speaker 2: consumers and stanking.
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: So turnover is something I pay very close attention to
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: for the companies that I cover. What other workforce metrics
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: do you think deserve more attention from investors?
• 15:18
  Speaker 2: Well, that's a great question. Turnover is definitely a big one.
• 15:21
  Speaker 2: I think engagement, you know you just mentioned that before.
• 15:24
  Speaker 2: I think that usually talks, you know, about the heart
• 15:27
  Speaker 2: of what's going on, you know in a company. We
• 15:31
  Speaker 2: still do look at, you know, diversity that I think
• 15:34
  Speaker 2: that's important to make sure that you have people from
• 15:36
  Speaker 2: diverse backgrounds, you know, coming and contributing to a company.
• 15:42
  Speaker 2: Those would you know, those are probably the big ones.
• 15:44
  Speaker 2: But I guess the other thing too would be mobility,
• 15:47
  Speaker 2: And we talked to each other a lot about that,
• 15:50
  Speaker 2: like how much are we promoting from within? Are we
• 15:53
  Speaker 2: giving people opportunities for larger roles in the company? Those
• 15:59
  Speaker 2: would I think the big talent metrics that I would
• 16:02
  Speaker 2: look at.
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: You know, I'm a fan finance guy, so I can't
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: help but ask this. If an investor asked you to
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: explain how Hershey's people strategy creates shareholder value, what would
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: you tell them?
• 16:13
  Speaker 2: Good question? Yeah, I mean I think that having lower turnover,
• 16:18
  Speaker 2: so having an employer value proposition where people feel like
• 16:22
  Speaker 2: you know their voices her they can come to work,
• 16:24
  Speaker 2: they can have a great career that provides stability in
• 16:28
  Speaker 2: the business. You have less turn over, you have higher engagement,
• 16:31
  Speaker 2: and then I think, you know, you have this culture
• 16:34
  Speaker 2: where you're able to create innovative products, you're able to
• 16:38
  Speaker 2: have you know, more shelf space, which is something really
• 16:41
  Speaker 2: really important as you know, so you have more products
• 16:45
  Speaker 2: to sell. So I think having a people's strategy definitely
• 16:50
  Speaker 2: contributes to the bottom line. I mean, ours have three
• 16:53
  Speaker 2: planks to them, care, agility, and commitment. So care is
• 16:56
  Speaker 2: really about, you know, our total rewards. We want to
• 16:59
  Speaker 2: build financial health and wellness for all of our employees.
• 17:03
  Speaker 2: We want to make sure that we're recruiting great talent
• 17:06
  Speaker 2: from campus, mid career and then later on in their careers.
• 17:09
  Speaker 2: The agility pieces how do we use technology to make
• 17:13
  Speaker 2: us more efficient and to have more productivity for the company.
• 17:17
  Speaker 2: And then commitment is really about how do we develop
• 17:20
  Speaker 2: you know, future leaders. How do we give back to
• 17:23
  Speaker 2: the school. How do we have that next generation of
• 17:25
  Speaker 2: talent that wants to come work for her she.
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: Great, what's a people investment that's expensive in the short term,
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: but we'll pay off for you in the long term.
• 17:34
  Speaker 2: Oh that's a good question. I mean, some of these
• 17:37
  Speaker 2: AI tools are turning out to be expensive, you know,
• 17:40
  Speaker 2: and I think we've had to, like many companies, put
• 17:43
  Speaker 2: a cap on tokens. But I do think that it
• 17:46
  Speaker 2: will allow people to spend time on what's most important
• 17:50
  Speaker 2: and have humans in the loop. So taking out that
• 17:53
  Speaker 2: administrative work I think is really really important. So it's
• 17:57
  Speaker 2: not necessarily a human capital tool, but I think it's
• 18:00
  Speaker 2: a tool that everybody needs. I think any kind of
• 18:03
  Speaker 2: assessment is really important for people's developments. So people understanding,
• 18:08
  Speaker 2: you know, the feedback that they're getting, but also like
• 18:11
  Speaker 2: how are they stacking up against other people more broadly
• 18:15
  Speaker 2: speaking in CpG or in the marketplace that have that role,
• 18:18
  Speaker 2: and what do they need to do for their development?
• 18:22
  Speaker 2: And then I think like making sure that you're giving
• 18:24
  Speaker 2: people roles and that it's an investment global roles or
• 18:29
  Speaker 2: roles across functions. Sometimes that you know costs money from
• 18:33
  Speaker 2: a relocation standpoint, but I think that making sure that
• 18:36
  Speaker 2: you're building well rounded leaders so they really understand all
• 18:40
  Speaker 2: aspects of the business is really important.
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: Yeah, And to that point, I've seen some concerns. You know,
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: there's been a lot of talk obviously about AI taking job,
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: and then there's been I've seen online, you know, LinkedIn
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: wherever else. It might be people concerned that, you know,
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: if we're not hiring young people who are going to
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: run these companies down the road, right and so I
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: don't know if you have any thoughts about that situation.
• 19:09
  Speaker 2: I'm passionate about it. I mean, we were just at
• 19:11
  Speaker 2: the school last week talking to them about it. I
• 19:13
  Speaker 2: think the kids that understand how to use these tools
• 19:17
  Speaker 2: and have some work experience will distinguish themselves from other
• 19:20
  Speaker 2: people that don't. And that's why we're leaning in with
• 19:23
  Speaker 2: the Milton Hershey School on not only internships, but also
• 19:27
  Speaker 2: helping them with their curriculum around AI. You know, what's
• 19:30
  Speaker 2: effective prompting how do you build agents? So I don't
• 19:34
  Speaker 2: think it's going to be this mass. There are no
• 19:36
  Speaker 2: more entry level jobs, but there could be less of them,
• 19:40
  Speaker 2: and I think it's really important to have a digital
• 19:42
  Speaker 2: skill set and have some work experience so that you
• 19:46
  Speaker 2: set yourself apart. I mean, there are a bunch of
• 19:49
  Speaker 2: colleges out there that have co op programs. I think
• 19:52
  Speaker 2: we'll probably see more of that. I've also seen, you know,
• 19:56
  Speaker 2: there seems to be a shift for people doing more
• 19:59
  Speaker 2: work in trade or taking time off and having a
• 20:02
  Speaker 2: gap year and getting work experience. So I think all
• 20:04
  Speaker 2: of those things are going to be really important for
• 20:07
  Speaker 2: kids to distinguish themselves. My son's a rising seniors. So
• 20:12
  Speaker 2: we talk about this a lot at home that you know,
• 20:15
  Speaker 2: you need to be curious, you need to you know,
• 20:18
  Speaker 2: be open to learning different things. The college degree, I
• 20:22
  Speaker 2: think is a great experience, but I don't think it's
• 20:25
  Speaker 2: the only experience employers you're going to look at in
• 20:28
  Speaker 2: the future. So I do think having these kids be
• 20:31
  Speaker 2: well rounded it is going to be really, really important.
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: Yeah, you took the words out of my mouth. You know,
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: my son is going to college next year, and you know,
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: I think it really behoove him to get jobs in
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: different areas, try out different areas of a business, whether
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: it be sales or finance, hr, whatever it might be,
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: to really figure out kind of what he likes, what
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: he's passionate about moving forward.
• 21:00
  Speaker 2: Yeah, you should go work in a restaurant. That's where
• 21:03
  Speaker 2: I started my career. It is such a great way
• 21:05
  Speaker 2: to learn customer service multitasking. It could be stressful at times,
• 21:10
  Speaker 2: but I think every kid should work in a restaurant
• 21:15
  Speaker 2: or in a you know, a food service establishment at
• 21:18
  Speaker 2: some point in their life. It teaches you a lot
• 21:20
  Speaker 2: of great life lessons. Did you work at a big
• 21:22
  Speaker 2: chain or was it a local mom and pop shop?
• 21:25
  Speaker 2: So my first job was actually at a camp I
• 21:29
  Speaker 2: wasn't old enough to be a counselor, so I worked
• 21:31
  Speaker 2: in the back, in the kitchen, So that was sort
• 21:34
  Speaker 2: of the first job. And then I was a hostess,
• 21:37
  Speaker 2: and then I waited tables, but it was more regional
• 21:41
  Speaker 2: type chains. So I actually worked in DC. You probably
• 21:45
  Speaker 2: know Tony and Joe's in the American Cafe. I worked
• 21:49
  Speaker 2: at both of those restaurants. And then when I was
• 21:52
  Speaker 2: up at Ataca College, you know, worked at a smaller
• 21:55
  Speaker 2: Italian restaurant. But it just a great experience.
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: Yeah, dealing with customers is absolutely fantastic experience. Yes, all right.
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: If somebody joins Hershey today and looks back five years
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: from now, what do you hope they'll say about working there?
• 22:09
  Speaker 2: I mean, it's the same thing I said. I think
• 22:11
  Speaker 2: that I hope that they feel fulfilled and that they
• 22:14
  Speaker 2: had fun. It is such a fun company to work for.
• 22:17
  Speaker 2: I think having these iconic brands that delight customers and
• 22:22
  Speaker 2: consumers is amazing. And then having this purpose and feeling
• 22:26
  Speaker 2: like you're giving back and you're doing something good for humanity.
• 22:30
  Speaker 2: Those would be the two things I'd want them to,
• 22:32
  Speaker 2: you know, to say, awesome.
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: And what's your favorite Hershey's candy bar.
• 22:36
  Speaker 2: I have a lot of them. You know, when I
• 22:38
  Speaker 2: started it was it was the York Peppermint patty, and
• 22:43
  Speaker 2: now I really like Lily's. I love the Recis products.
• 22:48
  Speaker 2: They're fantastic. And then from a salty standpoint, it used
• 22:52
  Speaker 2: to be Skinny Pop. And I've really started enjoying Lesser Evil,
• 22:57
  Speaker 2: which is a new brand we just thought very good.
• 23:00
  Speaker 2: And they have this great product called space balls, and
• 23:02
  Speaker 2: it's sort of like these cheeseballs, which are really great.
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: All right, good stuff. Yeah, Reese's are phenomenal, and I'm
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: doing my part. You know, Bloomberg has like a candy
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: tray in the cafeteria. I'm always digging in there for
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: the Hershey's Dark Chocolate.
• 23:17
  Speaker 2: Minis Dark Chocolate is good too.
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: Yep, good stuff. Thanks for doing this, Natalie, Thanks Mike.
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: I also want to thank the audience for tuning in.
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: If you liked our discussion, please share it with your
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: friends and colleagues. Check back soon for another interview on
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: chopping it Up.