Hiring for Customer Empathy When You’re Not the User

Stephanie runs quarterly engagement surveys not to check a box, but to avoid guessing what employees want. She frames them as "I want to give you a forum to tell me how you feel" and emphasizes the five-minute time commitment. By treating her Great Place to Work survey as a standard quarterly check-in, she achieved 97% recommendation rates while gathering actionable data that informs her priorities as a solo operator. The key: anonymous feedback channels that employees trust will drive real change, not just reports.

Because's workforce doesn't use incontinence products, so Stephanie built interview questions around "How can you be passionate about this brand without being the customer?" She looks for candidates who proactively mention the customer, older adults, or personal connections (like grandparents using similar products) during interviews. Candidates who don't discuss customer impact raise red flags—they might just need any job rather than wanting this company specifically. This framework works for any business where employees serve a demographic they're not part of.

Facing the reality of being the sole HR person, Stephanie adopted AI tools strategically: using LinkedIn's AI features to filter 14,000 applications and Notebook LM to learn about AI itself. She launched weekly 30-minute optional "AI Share" sessions where employees do show-and-tell demonstrations of tools they're using, creating organic peer learning. Her philosophy: "I should really be leaning into AI because I don't need to hire another person, but I need help." This created efficiency without adding headcount.

Because holds weekly 30-minute all-hands meetings where cameras must be on, departments present updates, and everyone participates. As a 30-person remote team, this creates connection and alignment. But Stephanie acknowledges this might not scale to 100 employees and is prepared to evolve the format. The lesson: implement cultural practices that work for your current size, monitor engagement as you grow, and be willing to redesign rituals before they become burdensome rather than bonding.

Rather than aggressive hiring targets, Stephanie focuses on "responsible growth"—hiring only when needed to avoid layoffs if plans don't materialize. She tracks resignation patterns (only 2-3 in two years) and engagement scores to understand retention health. The company expanded into retail (Walmart, CVS) but calibrated headcount carefully. This approach prioritizes employee stability over vanity metrics, recognizing that startup culture suffers more from layoffs than from growing slowly.

When asked about early-stage startup HR investment, Stephanie advocates for fractional HR or consulting partnerships rather than rushing to hire full-time people ops. She emphasizes certain foundational elements should be "part of the foundation" even before an HR hire—though she acknowledges founders won't prioritize HR if they don't see its value. For startups planning to hire and grow, thinking through people processes from the beginning prevents costly mistakes that are harder to fix later.

As a team of one reporting to the VP of Finance, Stephanie faces constant risk of drowning in competing priorities—recruitment, compliance, engagement, benefits, and culture work. She can't delegate tactical HR work to her finance-focused boss. Her survival strategy involves being extremely selective about what gets attention, using AI for efficiency, and accepting that some things won't get done. She's transparent about burnout risk in the startup environment where you "don't have a lot of support and people you can lean on."