USA 
United KingdomMaryjo Charbonnier
Chief HR Officer at Kyndryl
Since spinning off from IBM, Kyndryl's CHRO Maryjo Charbonnier has been on a journey to simplify the company's HR tech ecosystem and people processes...
Maryjo Charbonnier
Chief HR Officer at Kyndryl
Since spinning off from IBM, Kyndryl's CHRO Maryjo Charbonnier has been on a journey to simplify the company's HR tech ecosystem and people processes...
Since spinning off from IBM in November 2021, Kyndryl – the world’s largest provider of IT infrastructure services with over 80,000 people across 60 markets – has been on the immensely convoluted journey of consolidating company platforms and systems.
It’s been an HR transformation like no other, unprecedented in size and scope. In that time, CHRO Maryjo Charbonnier and her team have worked tirelessly to simplify people processes and systems, including:
- Replacing 48 systems with one modern platform and moving from over 1,400 salary structures to 113
- Moving four wholly-owned subsidiaries to Kyndryl in 4 months and migrating 4,000,000 learning records
- Elevating the performance management process, generating brilliant results with 8.8 million training hours completed
And if that wasn’t enough, Kyndryl’s Annual Engagement Survey has yielded a 3.4% year-on-year increase in engagement scores. In this interview with HR Grapevine, Charbonnier reveals how she designed, orchestrated, and then executed this truly remarkable digital simplification journey without compromising on the company’s culture.
Two and a half years ago, we became an independent company after spinning off of IBM. During any spinoff, you don’t get to pack your suitcase; you only get to unpack it. For Kyndryl, this meant that we were born onto a burning platform.
We had two years to get off our previous company’s tools, which included everything from payroll to procurement to benefits and more. As you can imagine, this was a challenge as it required the transformation of several massive systems, all at once. It also required a huge culture transformation, as we transitioned into a services company with a mission to be an employer and partner of choice.
Our business transformation depended on our people, so Kyndryl’s culture was the bedrock of this transformation. We built a differentiated culture called The Kyndryl Way through our behaviors, systems, and symbols. Our culture is comprised of six core values: restless, empathetic, devoted, flat, fast, and focused.
We migrated 63 payroll systems and over 4 million learning records to a new platform, updated roles, and workstreams, and swiftly handled 1,200 job requisitions in 18 hours while assigning 52,287 Kyndryls to 20,410 customer projects. We gave every Kyndryl at the company a new job title
We embedded The Kyndryl Way into each of the systems and processes we transformed. We asked ourselves questions like, “How can we make this process fast and flat?” and “How can we lead with empathy here?”
With a transformation of this size, one challenge was bringing everyone along on the journey. We knew we needed to establish an efficient change management machine to communicate with and enable our leaders, managers, and Kyndryls each step of the way. We created a monthly routine to cascade information from our executives to our Kyndryls. These forums have proven so useful that we’ve kept them in place nearly two and half years later.
In fiscal year 2024, we successfully consolidated 48 separate platforms into one modern, integrated system. This new platform places Kyndryl’s development and skills at the heart of our business. We have also implemented market-based, globally consistent, and transparent programs to ensure all Kyndryls have opportunities to build skills and achieve success. This comprehensive transformation is already enhancing skill development and deployment, ultimately benefiting our customers.
As part of our renovation, we migrated 63 payroll systems and over four million learning records to a new platform, updated roles, and workstreams, and swiftly handled 1,200 job requisitions in 18 hours while assigning 52,287 Kyndryls to 20,410 customer projects. We gave every Kyndryl at the company a new job title. We incorporated four wholly-owned subsidiaries in four months. We consolidated from five data lakes to one and reduced our 1,400+ salary structures to just 113. We also achieved a 90% reduction in recruiter and candidate forms and cut our offer letter templates from 323 to just 24.
The overhaul of our human capital technology and processes has been designed to serve Kyndryls better, fostering their skills and career growth while ensuring we’re able to meet current and future customer needs.
When we became an independent company, our focus was on establishing people processes and systems that align with our business model, reduce costs, and attract, retain, develop, and motivate our people. As we embarked on our transformation journey, we were guided by The Kyndryl Way’s core value of Flat.
I believe that it’s crucial to any transformation to gather diverse perspectives. We involved a wide range of voices in our decision-making, starting by consulting Kyndryls on their people processes. We wanted to know what Kyndryls loved about our culture and processes and what the sticking points were.
Throughout the development and execution phases, our teams conducted 1,800 scrums over two years, ensuring alignment at every step. And this required not just the HR team, but also very deep collaborations with our colleagues in CIO, finance, procurement, communications, and other functions.
Our transformation has laid the foundation for our people to thrive. We define engagement as the level of commitment, passion, and connection to the company – this is essential for the evolution of our business, empowering Kyndryls to continue to provide great service for our customers.
One critical way we measure our progress is through our Annual Engagement Survey. This is an annual review – with the theme “Your feedback fuels our progress” – allowing all Kyndryls to provide feedback on our culture transformation, enabling us to become an even better place to work. Kyndryl’s 2023 Annual Engagement Survey demonstrated the progress we’ve made, with our engagement score coming in at 75.5%, a 3.4% year-over-year increase, and two points above the industry average.
Getting stakeholders on board from the outset is essential. I often say that you need to invite your toughest critics into the room as early as you can, and you need to work with them in lockstep
In everything we do, we look to harness belonging as a fundamental part of our business. We’re proud that 91% of respondents feel they are treated with respect and 87% feel they can be themselves at work. I’m proud that our Empathy & Inclusion Index (an aggregate of workplace trust, respect, and belonging measurements) is at 86%, six points above the industry average, and approaching best in class.
As Kyndryls progress in their careers, we must offer plenty of opportunities throughout the Talent Journey for developing technical, business, and leadership skills. Over the past two years, our commitment to this has resulted in 8.8 million training hours completed, at an average of 98 hours per Kyndryl. They've also been awarded 74,000 digital badges, with 35,000+ hyperscaler certifications now being held by Kyndryls at the end of fiscal year 2023, a 100% year-over-year increase.
Orchestrating these changes required a robust approach to managing various parts of the organization in harmony. Getting stakeholders on board from the outset is essential. I often say that you need to invite your toughest critics into the room as early as you can, and you need to work with them in lockstep.
To successfully lead this major transformation, we developed a thorough change management system to communicate with and enable each part of the organization. When we had a new process to roll out, we began with C-suite leaders, then spoke with their direct reports, then spoke to all our managers, and then cascaded the change down to all Kyndryls.
This enabled us to get feedback along the way and build a routine with our stakeholders so they knew when and how they would receive information on the transformation. As I mentioned earlier, this routine has so worked well, and we're still following it two and a half years later.
