May 22, 2026 · 36 min · 10 segments
Donovan shares how he deliberately hires business leaders into HR, why TA and retention must operate as a single strategy, and how he's making the case to Millennial and Gen Z employees that staying…
A friend of mine who, she's a software engineer at a household name, uh, tech company, and they'd been trying to hire this role on her team forever, and it was months, they never got the hire.
And he starts, and, you know, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, he's on onboarding, right? And the team-
... is, like, rejoicing, as like there's all this work that they're gonna be able to have this person do.
At the very end of his onboarding experience on Wednesday afternoon, he's like, "By the way, my wife is eight and a half months pregnant, and I will be taking the beginning of my paternity leave starting Monday."
And my friend was furious [laughs] 'cause she's like, "We have all this stuff that we have to get done, and now we're still stuck doing it for another two months while he's out on leave." And I kind of see both sides.
... you know, that's, that, that perk is there to be taken advantage of, but at the same time, you really do leave your, your new teammates in the lurch.
A friend of mine who, she's a software engineer at a household name, uh, tech company, and they'd been trying to hire this role on her team forever, and it was months, they never got the hire.
And he starts, and, you know, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, he's on onboarding, right? And the team-
... is, like, rejoicing, as like there's all this work that they're gonna be able to have this person do.
At the very end of his onboarding experience on Wednesday afternoon, he's like, "By the way, my wife is eight and a half months pregnant, and I will be taking the beginning of my paternity leave starting Monday."
And my friend was furious [laughs] 'cause she's like, "We have all this stuff that we have to get done, and now we're still stuck doing it for another two months while he's out on leave." And I kind of see both sides.
... you know, that's, that, that perk is there to be taken advantage of, but at the same time, you really do leave your, your new teammates in the lurch.
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