Nicole salem Portfolio

I’m Nicole Salem, a people-first leader with more than 10 years of experience in Human Resources, onboarding, training, and coaching. My work is grounded in the belief that when people feel supported, valued, and clearly guided, they thrive. This portfolio highlights my practical experience building programs that improve employee well-being, strengthen hiring practices, and support long-term growth for both individuals and organizations.

I’m currently earning my Master’s in Industrial-Organizational Psychology, which means I study what really helps people stay motivated and engaged at work, and I apply that learning to everything I build.

Here’s what you’ll find in this portfolio:

• Global Wellness and Onboarding Program Proposal: A comprehensive strategy I created to improve employee wellness and onboarding for a growing hybrid company. It includes a realistic rollout plan and retention-focused recommendations. This was built for a real organization navigating remote work, global teams, and fast-paced change.

• Workplace Wellness Survey: A custom-built employee survey designed to identify where people feel supported, and where they feel burned out. It uses clear, inclusive language and multiple-choice formats to gather honest, actionable feedback. I built this to help leaders focus on the parts of work that affect mental health and performance.

• Structured Interview Research Brief: This paper explains how structured interviews improve fairness and consistency in hiring. It includes my analysis of ethical, legal, and bias-related concerns in traditional hiring practices, and it supports evidence-based decision-making in talent selection.

• Tradeflock Feature: I was honored to be named one of Tradeflock’s Most Inspiring Leaders of 2025. This article highlights my cross-functional experience and my approach to values-driven leadership in both finance and HR roles.

Each of these samples reflects a different part of how I work, balancing people care with operational clarity, and always building systems that are practical, inclusive, and ready to scale.

ABC Company Global Employee Wellness Program Proposal

1. Program Design

ABC Company is a global SaaS company serving quick-service and fast-casual restaurant operators through point-of-sale, analytics, and workforce technology. The organization employs approximately 50 people in the United States, the European Union, and the Philippines. Non–Customer Success teams follow a hybrid model near the Salt Lake City headquarters, while international teams work fully remotely. Because ABC Company’s workflow depends on rapid coordination, dense digital communication, and multi-time-zone collaboration, employees experience sustained cognitive demands. These demands underscore the need for a structured wellness framework that supports recovery, predictability, and equity across regions.

The Global Employee Wellness Program integrates three dimensions of well-being: flexible scheduling, cognitive load reduction, and physical wellness support. This design reflects the Job Demands–Resources (JD–R) model, which shows that high cognitive demands require replenishing resources to prevent exhaustion and sustain engagement (Schaufeli, 2017). ABC Company’s demands for frequent task switching, real-time support escalations, and communication load make resource protection essential. The program, therefore, includes a 36-hour, four-day workweek (Monday–Thursday) for all salaried non–Customer Success teams; predictable collaboration hours (7:30 a.m.–3:00 p.m. MST); meeting-density safeguards; and access to uninterrupted focus time. These structures help employees regain cognitive capacity and stabilize attentional bandwidth across the week.

Because role demands vary, the program also defines scheduling differences clearly. Engineering, product, operations, and administrative teams may design their own schedule within a general 9:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m. window, provided they remain available during the shared collaboration hours. Utah-based employees work a hybrid office schedule, while remote teams maintain similar structures in their local time zones. Customer Success operates under a fixed coverage model, maintaining availability for clients from 6:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. MST. To preserve flexibility in this context, representatives may trade or cover shifts independently without managerial approval as long as coverage remains uninterrupted. This balance preserves fairness across functions while supporting autonomy, a SCARF domain associated with sustained engagement (Krzyżak & Walas-Trębacz, 2023).

Physical wellness resources are integrated into the program to ensure global equity. Employees covered by SelectHealth receive up to $240 annually in gym reimbursement, submitted directly to the insurer. Employees outside SelectHealth’s region, including those in the EU and the Philippines, receive an ABC Company-funded $240 annual wellness stipend to guarantee parity. Utah hybrid employees may participate in voluntary group workouts during lunch and have access to a stocked office kitchen with healthy meal options. Remote employees receive a $50 monthly healthy-meal stipend so they can participate in wellness routines regardless of location. These parallel structures address the need for fairness and consistency, elements of organizational climate associated with psychological safety and belonging (Szydło et al., 2023).

Meeting-hour limits, Quiet Hours (6:00 p.m.–7:00 a.m. local time), and a four-day workweek contribute to a predictable rhythm that reduces ambiguity in hybrid work. Removing Friday meetings entirely allows employees to recover cognitive resources and manage deep-work tasks earlier in the week. Combined, the program is designed to reduce avoidable strain and strengthen the resource pathways that support engagement, stability, and well-being across ABC Company’s global workforce.

2. Implementation Plan

ABC Company will introduce the Global Employee Wellness Program through a structured, three-phase rollout to ensure clarity, fairness, and consistency across U.S., EU, and Philippine teams. The implementation approach emphasizes predictable communication and strong managerial alignment, both of which contribute to a supportive organizational climate (Szydło et al., 2023).

Phase 1: Foundation and Preparation (Month 1)

HR will finalize program materials, including a global benefits equivalency chart. SelectHealth reimbursement processes will be verified for Utah employees, and a parallel $240 stipend will be established for employees outside SelectHealth’s coverage region. Managers will receive training on implementing the scheduling structure, particularly the four-day work week, collaboration windows, and the enforcement of Quiet Hours. They will also learn how to recognize early signs of cognitive load, guide employees in organizing their weekly schedules, and support staff requesting ADA accommodations. This phase ensures that infrastructure, leadership expectations, and communication norms are aligned before employees adopt new scheduling patterns.

Phase 2: Pilot Testing and Adjustment (Months 2–3)

ABC Company will run a 60-day pilot with one engineering team and one Customer Success cohort. This initial phase allows the organization to observe how the new scheduling rules, meeting-hour limits, and wellness resources function under real workload conditions. HR will gather feedback on meeting density, Slack communication patterns, use of focus time, wellness stipend utilization, and global equity perceptions. Pilot results will be used to refine pacing guidelines, adjust resource timing, and ensure the program remains feasible for both technical and customer-facing operations.

Phase 3: Global Rollout (Month 4)

After incorporating pilot feedback, ABC Company will launch the program across all departments and regions. Rollout communication will include a virtual all-hands meeting with Q&A, a formal policy guide distributed via HRIS, and manager-led team sessions. Because wellness benefits differ across insurance regions, the communication strategy will explicitly clarify how global stipends parallel SelectHealth reimbursements, ensuring no employee perceives reduced access. A 30-day transition period will allow employees to adjust schedules, request accommodations, and clarify expectations without penalty.

2.1 Implementation of Scheduling, Meetings, and Wellness Supports

Scheduling changes, including the four-day work week, collaboration hours, and Customer Success shift-trade rules, will be monitored by supervisors to ensure continuity of operations. Meeting-hour norms will be reinforced through calendar settings and leadership modeling, which is critical for ensuring consistent adoption. Physical wellness supports will be introduced simultaneously, with HR providing instructions for SelectHealth reimbursement and stipend use. These combined steps support a coherent transition and help employees integrate new routines into their weekly workflow.

3. Evaluation Plan

ABC Company will evaluate the Global Employee Wellness Program using a multi-method strategy designed to capture psychological, behavioral, and operational outcomes. This approach reflects engagement theory, which emphasizes that well-being is shaped by the interaction between job demands and available resources (Schaufeli, 2017; Adamska-Chudzińska & Pawlak, 2025).

To assess engagement, ABC Company will administer the UWES-9 quarterly. Tracking trends in vigor, dedication, and absorption allows the organization to evaluate whether employees experience greater energy and connection to their work as the program matures. Quarterly surveys will also measure perceptions of fairness, predictability, and psychological safety, key indicators of whether the organizational climate is improving as intended.

Cognitive and emotional well-being will be monitored through quarterly exhaustion scales and monthly pulse interviews. These interviews, conducted with a rotating sample, provide a more detailed view of employees’ cognitive, emotional, relational, and organizational resources. Because workflow design affects cognitive load directly, the evaluation will include meeting-load indicators such as weekly meeting hours, frequency of back-to-back meetings, adherence to collaboration windows, and access to uninterrupted focus time. These measures help determine whether the scheduling and boundary systems are reducing the strain they were designed to address.

Operational metrics will serve as additional indicators of program effectiveness. HR will monitor absenteeism trends, PTO usage, turnover intention markers, and Customer Success escalation volume. Increases or decreases in these indicators often signal whether well-being is improving or declining. Wellness resource utilization, including the $240 reimbursement or stipend and the $50 monthly healthy-meal stipend, will be monitored to determine whether employees perceive the program as valuable and accessible.

Data collection will occur through validated surveys, HRIS reporting, digital communication analytics, and structured interviews. Monthly reviews will focus on immediate workload and cognitive-load patterns. Quarterly evaluations will integrate psychological measures and program use. Bi-annual summaries will identify broader trends, and an annual report will inform executive planning. This cadence ensures early detection of issues while allowing leadership to make timely adjustments.

Monthly reviews will address short-term indicators such as meeting load and pulse interview themes. Quarterly reviews will integrate engagement, exhaustion, and wellness usage. Biannual reviews will identify structural adjustments, and annual summaries will inform executive planning and resource allocation.

A cross-functional Wellness and Workload Governance Committee, including HR, People Operations, Customer Success, and Engineering, will meet quarterly to review data, recommend adjustments, and ensure long-term program sustainability.

4. Legal and Ethical Compliance

The Global Employee Wellness Program complies fully with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA), and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) nondiscrimination standards. These protections are integrated directly into program design to ensure psychological safety and equitable access.

4.1 ADA Compliance

Employees may request modifications to support disabilities or chronic conditions, including expanded focus time, reduced meeting expectations, sensory accommodations, or flexible workload pacing. Requests are processed confidentially through HR and do not require disclosure of medical information to managers (U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission [EEOC], 2020).

4.2 HIPAA Compliance

ABC Company does not collect, store, or access employee health or biometric data. SelectHealth gym reimbursement requires employees to submit documentation directly to the insurer, not to ABC Company. Employees outside Utah or outside SelectHealth coverage receive an equivalent $240 wellness stipend, ensuring consistent access without requiring any health disclosures (U.S. Department of Health & Human Services [HHS], 2023).

4.3 GINA Compliance

ABC Company does not request, store, or infer genetic information, medical histories, or family health patterns. No wellness activities involve biometric screening, DNA information, or any health data protected under GINA (EEOC, n.d.).

4.4 EEOC Nondiscrimination Standards

All aspects of the program apply uniformly regardless of disability, race, gender identity, age, pregnancy status, religion, or geographic location. Participation is voluntary, and employees are neither advantaged nor disadvantaged based on participation.

4.5 Ethical Principles

The program is grounded in autonomy, fairness, equity, and psychological safety. Employees can select which wellness components work best for them without pressure or expectation. No element of the program is tied to compensation, performance evaluation, or eligibility for advancement.

ABC Company’s Global Employee Wellness Program provides a comprehensive, legally compliant, and evidence-based approach to supporting employee well-being across the United States, Europe, and the Philippines. The program responds directly to the demands of hybrid SaaS work by integrating cognitive load management, physical wellness resources, predictable work structures, and global equity safeguards. It is grounded in established research on job demands, organizational climate, and engagement, and it incorporates strong ethical and legal protections that ensure voluntary participation and privacy.

ABC Company Workplace Wellness Needs Assessment Survey

This survey is designed to gain a deeper understanding of the wellness needs and experiences of ABC Company employees. Your feedback will help us assess how recent changes, including our wellness policies and workforce growth, are impacting employees and how we can better support their overall well-being. The results will inform the development of future programs and resources that promote health, engagement, and job satisfaction. All responses are voluntary and anonymous. The survey is open to all ABC Company employees.

Section 1: Overall Well-Being & Engagement 

1. ABC Company supports a healthy balance between my work and personal life. ☐ Strongly Disagree ☐ Disagree ☐ Neutral ☐ Agree ☐ Strongly Agree

2. I feel a sense of belonging and connection with my colleagues at ABC Company. ☐ Strongly Disagree ☐ Disagree ☐ Neutral ☐ Agree ☐ Strongly Agree

3. Employee input is considered before job-related decisions are made. ☐ Strongly Disagree ☐ Disagree ☐ Neutral ☐ Agree ☐ Strongly Agree

4. I have enough control over how I organize and complete my work tasks. ☐ Strongly Disagree ☐ Disagree ☐ Neutral ☐ Agree ☐ Strongly Agree

5. Employees in my work group treat one another with respect. ☐ Strongly Disagree ☐ Disagree ☐ Neutral ☐ Agree ☐ Strongly Agree

Section 2: Current Wellness Resources 

6. How often do you currently use ABC Company’s in-house wellness resources (gym &  kitchen)?  ☐ Daily ☐ Weekly ☐ Monthly ☐ Rarely ☐ Never

7. What prevents you from using available wellness resources most often?  ☐ Lack of time due to workload 

☐ Not relevant to my needs 

☐ Not accessible during my schedule 

☐ I wasn’t aware of all the offerings 

☐ Other (please specify)

8. Which area of well-being do you feel needs the most attention right now?  ☐ Mental/emotional health 

☐ Physical health 

☐ Work-life balance 

☐ Financial wellness 

☐ Social connection/team belonging

9. If ABC Company could add one new type of wellness support, which would you prefer?

☐ Mental health counseling/coaching 

☐ Childcare or family support services 

☐ Flexible scheduling/remote options 

☐ Financial wellness workshops 

☐ Additional physical fitness classes

Section 3: Broader Experience & Feedback 

10. What types of wellness programs or activities would you participate in if they were offered?

11. Are there specific stressors at ABC Company that affect your well-being the most? Please explain.

12. Do you have any additional feedback or suggestions on how ABC Company could better support employee wellness?

ABC Company Structured Interview Research and Analysis 

1. Study purpose and setting

1.1 Context and problem  ABC Company recently launched a structured interview rubric to strengthen fairness, reduce variability, and ensure job-related rating practices. The current analysis focuses on rating sheets from panel interviews conducted for Support Technician I and similar entry-level operational roles. The organization has not yet examined whether hiring managers consistently apply rating anchors across departments and shifts, as the tool is still new. Inconsistent use of structured interviews weakens reliability and undermines defensibility in selection decisions (Spector, 2021).

1.2 Question: At ABC Company, are interviews that use a structured rubric associated with higher inter-rater reliability (ICC) among hiring managers than interviews that do not use a rubric? This matters because consistent application of structured methods reduces subjective bias and improves the accuracy and stability of hiring decisions (Spector, 2021), directly influencing workforce quality and organizational risk.

1.3 Top findings:

• Managers using the structured rubric produced highly consistent scores; 95.83 percent met the ≥4 threshold. 

• Department averages were nearly identical, indicating shared interpretation of behavioral anchors. 

• Qualitative themes, training needs, workflow inefficiencies, and scheduling strain describe system-level factors that may affect interviewer readiness.

1.4 Limit and risk note: The rater sample is small; findings should be treated as preliminary evidence rather than systemwide confirmation of reliability.

1.5 Next steps for leaders:

• Conduct quarterly calibration sessions so hiring managers stay aligned on how to use the rating anchors.

• Reduce everyday operational pressures, such as unstable schedules or outdated technology, that make it harder for managers to remain focused during interviews. 

• Conduct a full reliability study using ICC(2,k) with a target threshold of ICC ≥ .70 for overall competency-level ratings.

1.6 Design & Methods

Six hiring managers rated the same eight standardized, pre-recorded interview responses during a single rating cycle. The independent variable was interview format (structured vs. unstructured), and the outcome variable was rating score (1–5), with ≥4 as the target threshold. Sampling included day and weekend managers, and the process can be replicated using the same recordings, rubrics, and scoring sheets.

A) Table 1. Descriptive Statistics

Table 1 Interpretation. Structured ratings were tightly clustered and uniformly high, whereas unstructured ratings showed greater variability and lower scores. These patterns reflect research demonstrating that behavioral anchors create shared mental models that constrain subjective drift (Spector, 2021). Although a full ICC analysis is not included in this pilot, the descriptive pattern is consistent with higher interrater reliability under structured conditions.

B)POWER BI Dashboard 

Figure 1. Average Overall Interview Ratings by Condition (Structured vs. Unstructured)

Figure 1 Caption: The structured condition shows markedly higher and more consistent average ratings than the unstructured condition, demonstrating how anchors guide managers toward shared interpretations of candidate performance.

C) Qualitative Mini-Summary

Table 2

Quotes Qualitative Themes From Manager Feedback

•  “I still need hands-on practice, not just visual materials.” -Billing, SLC, Utah 

• “The ticketing system is slow; I have to wait between screens.” -Customer support, SLC, Utah 

• “More predictable shifts would help me to get more sleep and focus better.” -Engineering, SLC, Utah

Table 2: Interpretation Themes reflect system-level conditions that influence cognitive bandwidth and preparation. As Venkatesh et al. (2023) note, qualitative data helps detect contextual pressures shaping human decision-making. Workflow strain, training gaps, and scheduling instability may indirectly influence how reliably managers use structured tools.

2. Ethics, Bias, and Legal Notes 

2.1  Consent: Participants will receive a clear, plain-language explanation of the study and retain the option to skip any question or stop at any time without consequence.

2.2 Privacy: All data is de-identified before analysis, and only aggregated results are reported to ensure that no individual can be identified.

2.3 Sampling: The study includes both day-shift and weekend hiring managers, although the small sample size limits the ability to interpret subgroup differences.

2.4 Measurement: The behaviorally anchored rating scale supports fairness and job relevance by linking observable behaviors to structured scoring criteria.

2.5 Analysis: All findings are interpreted as exploratory, and no causal claims are made, given the pilot design and limited sample.

2.6 Bias control: The study identifies calibration drift and rater fatigue as potential risks and recommends future monitoring of interrater reliability using ICC(2,k) to maintain scoring consistency.            

2.7 Reporting: Results suppress any groups too small to protect confidentiality, and qualitative quotes are paraphrased to avoid indirect identification of participants.

Professional Summary for Leaders

ABC Company’s structured interview rubric appears to be functioning as intended, with managers applying rating anchors consistently across departments. This pattern supports the established relationship between structured interviewing and improved reliability in selection decisions. To maintain momentum, leaders should implement quarterly calibration sessions, strengthen training refresher cycles, and reduce workflow barriers that interfere with interviewer readiness.

As a next step, ABC Company should conduct a full reliability study using ICC(2,k), applying a target threshold of ICC ≥ .70 for both overall ratings and each competency dimension, to validate interviewer agreement at scale and refine behavioral anchors as needed

Appendix A Codebook

Featured tradeflock article

References

Adamska-Chudzińska, M., & Pawlak, J. (Eds.). (2025). Work engagement and employee well-being: Psychosocial support to build engaged human capital. Routledge.

Krzyżak, J., & Walas-Trębacz, J. (2025). Application of the SCARF model in building work engagement. In Supportive organizational culture (pp. xx–xx). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781032715407-5

Schaufeli, W. B. (2017). Applying the Job Demands–Resources model: A ‘how to’ guide to measuring and tackling work engagement and burnout. Organizational Dynamics, 46(2), 120–132.

Szydło, R., Tyrańska, M., Wiśniewski, K., Rynduch, I., & Adamczyk-Kowalczuk, M. (2025). Organizational culture and climate that shape engagement. In Work engagement and employee well-being (pp. xx–xx). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781032715407-4

U.S. Department of Health & Human Services. (2023). Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA). 

U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. (2020). Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. 

U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. (n.d.). Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA). 

Spector, P. E. (2021). Industrial and organizational psychology: Research and practice (8th ed.). Wiley.

Venkatesh, V., Brown, S. A., & Sullivan, Y. W. (2023). Conducting mixed-methods research: From classical social science to the age of big data and analytics. Virginia Tech Publishing.