Our Frontline Spotlight Series highlights members of our Frontline Advisory Council. Council members partner with us to better understand the frontline experience and disrupt workplace power dynamics.
Name: Raneigh Aguilera
Place: San Diego, CA
Age: 38
Current Job: Mom
1. Please share a time when one or more of your identities played a role in your career.
I think the main one has always been being a single mom and a student. It’s not easy to do double work to be the provider and also care for the children.
2. Can you share an experience where you felt respected and valued? How did that affect your relationship to the job and the employer?
I use to work in a rheumatology office a works specifically with one doctor. He was very strict on how he liked things but I was very determined. Everyone thought he was mean but he just liked things to be done a certain way. Anyway, he would invite me to work at the talks he had which were super interesting and I learned a lot. He also understood that I was single mom let me one day when I had an emergency to bring my kids to work. I felt so empowered and grateful and valuable.
3. What builds Trust for you as an employee? What needs to be true in a workplace for you to feel comfortable giving input?
I feel that trust comes from not being judged or punished for speaking your mind and expressing concerns in a respectful way.
4. What have you taken away by the partnership/work you’ve done with Talent Rewire to date?
I honestly have had quite a few bad experiences from employers in the last couple years and was burned, but seeing that Talent Rewire is bringing together so many wonderful employers that actually care about being better for there employees gives me hope for the future.
5. What are the biggest misconceptions you think employers have about frontline employees?
That we don’t know what best for the company. If you don’t treat people good from the inside out and they are unhappy, they also won’t make the customer happy.
6. What are ways in which employers show you that they value you as a human and as an employee?
Checking in regularly to see how we are functioning. Empathy goes a long way and sometimes employees don’t necessarily do bad things on purpose, they also have a lot going on.
7. What’s one thing you would encourage the employers in this room to do with their frontline talent?
Care for them. They are good people; make them feel secure, valued and heard. It’s about time we change the mind set that everyone is replaceable and begin to value what each employee can bring to the table.
