Lionel Riley
Chief Human Resources Officer
Riceland Foods
Episode 164
Forget the Perks: Unlock Employee Loyalty with Active Listening & Purpose.
Current chapter: Built by People podcast features insights from world's top HR leaders
Built By PeopleJune 3, 2025 · 12:05
Thesis
“Effective employee experience, engagement, and retention stem from actively listening to employees, visibly acting on their feedback, and fostering a strong sense of purpose, culture, and community, rather than solely relying on monetary perks, especially in competitive or challenging environments.”
Show notes
Navigating Dual Careers: Military Leadership and HR Strategies with Lionel Riley
In this episode of the Built by People Podcast, the host welcomes Lionel, the Chief Human Resource Officer at Riceland Foods who shares his unique career journey spanning over 20 years of HR and military service.
Lionel discusses his leadership roles and experiences in both fields, emphasizing the influence of his military background on his corporate approach. He recounts implementing an employee engagement initiative at a remote facility to improve retention through a focus on belonging and career mobility.
Lionel also elaborates on competing for talent in less attractive locations by fostering a culture of purpose, community, and employee listening.
He concludes by stressing the importance of swift action on feedback and selling the mission over mere job perks.
00:00 Welcome and Introduction
00:52 Lionel's Unorthodox Career Journey
01:17 Military Career Highlights
02:18 Corporate Career Insights
02:40 Employee Engagement Initiatives
05:26 Military Leadership Influence
06:56 Competing for Talent in Challenging Locations
09:15 Post-COVID Employee Engagement
11:07 Parting Advice and Conclusion
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What you'll take away
- 1Implement 'Voice of the Floor' or similar active listening programs to gather real-time employee feedback and demonstrably act on it quickly to build trust.
- 2Prioritize purpose, culture, and community engagement over shiny perks to attract and retain talent in rural or highly competitive locations.
- 3Develop clear internal mobility and career pathing programs, spotlighting success stories, to encourage long-term retention and growth for all employees, including frontline staff.
- 4Adopt a 'people are the mission' mindset, ensuring that all leadership initiatives and organizational objectives are underpinned by valuing and taking care of employees.
- 5Expand talent acquisition strategies to include partnerships with regional educational institutions for internships and apprenticeships, and consider family inclusion support to reduce relocation hesitation.
What most organizations get wrong
- •Rather than trying to outspend competitors for talent, focus on building belonging and showcasing career mobility.
- •You can't always compete on shiny perks, but you can always compete on purpose, culture, and community.
- •Building trust doesn't require huge, month-long milestones; even small, quick wins count and are vital for continuous trust-building.
In Lionel's words
“if you're gonna ask, one, you better listen, and then two, you need to follow up on what they said, not just write it down, put it in the email and file it away because they're going to say, hey, we took the time to provide this feedback, now what are you going to do with it?”
Highlights the critical importance of actively listening to employee feedback and demonstrably acting on it to build trust.
“people are the mission, right? I don't care how critical a mission or objective is, you can't accomplish it without the people. You know, if you don't take care of your people, the mission fails.”
A foundational belief from military experience, emphasizing the centrality of valuing and supporting employees for organizational success.
“you can't always compete on the shiny perks, but you can always compete on purpose, culture, and community.”
Challenges conventional talent acquisition wisdom, advocating for non-monetary value propositions in competitive markets.
“We feed the world sustainably, right? Who doesn't wanna be a part of that? Helping to feed the world sustainably. Not feed the state of Arkansas, not feed the United States, but feed the world. And so once you tie in that connection and the employee has purpose, they tend to understand that what they're doing... they have a purpose that they're connected to.”
Illustrates how connecting employees to a grander, mission-driven narrative fosters deeper purpose and belonging.
“Everything does not have to be this huge, humongous milestone that it took 8 months to accomplish. Small wins count. And the second thing is just sell the mission, not just the job.”
Emphasizes the power of incremental progress in building employee trust and the importance of mission-driven recruitment.
The problems this episode addresses
- •High turnover rates in remote or geographically isolated facilities due to lack of local amenities and fierce talent competition.
- •Employee disengagement and perceptions of top-down communication, leading to a feeling of not being heard or having clear development paths.
- •Inability to compete effectively for specialized talent against companies with larger budgets and more 'shiny perks' in rural locations.
- •Reluctance of potential hires to relocate due to concerns about family inclusion, childcare, and community integration.
- •Failure to adequately capture and act on feedback from all shifts (e.g., overnight production), leading to a disconnect with a significant portion of the workforce.
In this episode
Built by People podcast features insights from world's top HR leaders
Built by People
You've been in the military as well as your corporate career
Career Journey: Working in the Military and Corporate Life
A remote manufacturing facility implemented an employee engagement initiative that improved retention
Employee Engagement Initiatives
How does your military leadership experience influence the way you approach employee experience and engagement
How does your military leadership experience influence the way you approach employee experience
When was a time you had to compete with major competitors or players for talent
How To Compete With Major Companies for Talent
Lano uses employee listening and engagement surveys to drive meaningful change in organizations
Using Employee Engagement Surveys to Drive Significant Change
Topics covered
Organizations and entities mentioned
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