Faces of HR: How Klinton Miyao is Building a Better Workplace
Klinton Miyao’s journey is both personal and inspiring. During WWII, Miyao’s family was interned as part of the Japanese American internment, a history that instilled in him a profound sense of justice and resilience. Starting his career in the food service and retail industries, he quickly learned the value of hard work and the importance of connecting with and supporting others. These experiences ignited his passion for HR, driving him to help others build secure and fulfilling careers.
As both Chief People Officer and General Counsel at Human Interest, Klinton brings a unique perspective to shaping a company culture that values employees and empowers businesses. His journey from representing a diverse clientele, from individuals to Fortune 100 companies, to leading people strategies is a testament to his passion for creating positive impact.
At Human Interest, Klinton is more than just a leader; he’s a catalyst for change. He’s building a workplace where talent thrives, and every employee has a clear path to financial security. With a deep-rooted commitment to social responsibility and a strategic mind, Klinton is redefining the role of HR and legal in building a better future for everyone.
“HR is not only a support function; it’s a strategic partner that is essential to organizational success,” Miyao shared with HR Daily Advisor. “Embrace your role as a true partner to the business and in times of disagreement, think hard about and dig into the underlying motivations that might sit at the root of what you’re not able to get alignment on.”
In our latest Faces, meet Klinton Miyao.
How did you get your start in the field?
My career journey has been an exciting blend of legal and human resources experiences, each contributing to my current role as Chief People Officer and General Counsel at Human Interest. I began my career as a corporate attorney, representing a very diverse set of clients, spanning from individuals being discriminated against by the federal government to Fortune 100 companies. Over time, I realized that my passion extended beyond legal to the strategic and empathetic aspects of HR. This shift led me to pursue roles where I could merge my legal expertise with strategic people leadership, driving organizational success through talent attraction, development, and workplace culture.
Joining Human Interest was a natural progression. Our mission to make retirement benefits accessible to all employees resonated with me. Here, I have the opportunity to shape policies and practices that directly impact employee well-being and organizational growth. I also get to work with an amazingly talented and driven group of people who are committed to solving one of America’s largest problems. It’s incredibly rewarding to work at a place where my dual expertise in law and HR contributes to a meaningful cause.
What’s your best mistake and what did you learn from it?
I’ve certainly made more than my fair share of mistakes (as my mom will be more than happy to tell you) but one of the most valuable lessons I learned came from not fully appreciating the impact of working in environments with bad cultures. Early in my career, I underestimated the impact that toxic work environments can have on employees’ mental and physical health, career development, and overall well-being. Working in such environments can lead to high turnover and low morale, which in turn affects the overall success of the business.
Toxic cultures create a ripple effect, leading to disengaged employees, increased absenteeism, and reduced productivity. These environments undermine trust and collaboration, essential elements for innovation and growth, which is particularly important at a startup. Companies with unhealthy cultures struggle with retaining talent, which incurs high costs for recruitment and training. This directly affects the bottom line, as disengaged employees contribute less effectively to achieving business goals.
From these experiences, I learned the importance of actively fostering a positive workplace culture. This involves promoting transparency, inclusivity, and support for mental, physical, and financial health. At Human Interest, we prioritize creating an environment where employees feel safe, valued, and empowered. We not only offer, but promote, a generous suite of benefits and 401k match that supports each of the three pillars of employee well-being: mental, physical, and financial. These lessons shaped my approach to leadership, reinforcing the belief that a positive, supportive culture is not just beneficial for employees, but also crucial for the long-term success of the business.
What’s your favorite part about working in the industry? What’s your least favorite part, and how would you change it?
My favorite part is the ability to align HR strategy with the company’s commercial goals and drive tangible business results. A properly situated HR team sits at the heart of any thriving business. By building strong cultures that align with overall business objectives, HR can enable significant growth and expansion. This involves creating a high-performance culture, fostering accountability, and ensuring that HR initiatives are designed to support the company’s strategic priorities. One of the most impactful aspects of this approach is how it drives employee engagement and productivity. When employees understand how their roles contribute to the company’s success, they are more motivated and invested in their work. This alignment between individual contributions and organizational goals is crucial for achieving high levels of performance and innovation.
On the other hand, my least favorite part is the tendency to adopt practices simply because they are trendy, rather than because they align with the company’s specific goals, mission, values, and industry needs. Over the years, we have seen numerous HR trends come and go. For instance, the open office layout was once heralded as a revolutionary way to boost collaboration, but it later revealed significant drawbacks, such as increased distractions and decreased productivity. These “HR fads” are akin to fashion trends that quickly become outdated and are as plentiful as the styles and cuts of jeans tucked into the back of my closet – acid wash, cuffed, baggy, skinny, high waist, low rise, selvedge, ripped, etc. Just as not every fashion trend suits every individual, not every HR trend suits every organization. This approach is not only inefficient but can be detrimental if the adopted practices do not support a company’s specific needs and objectives.
To change this, there should be a more tailored and programmatic approach to HR strategy. This means critically evaluating trends and best practices through the lens of a company’s unique context. It also means bringing the various “pillars” within an HR team together into a single loop. This thoughtful, strategic alignment ensures that our initiatives are not just fashionable but functional and effective. By focusing on what genuinely supports our company’s growth and success, we can avoid the pitfalls of blindly following trends and instead create a strong, cohesive culture that drives long-term business results.
It sounds like through your experience you really care about people, and you want to help them feel safe and comfortable, which is important in the industry. Please elaborate here.
Creating a supportive environment is at the heart of effective HR. This extends beyond physical safety to include psychological safety, where employees feel valued, respected, and heard. At Human Interest, we prioritize open communication, inclusivity, and comprehensive support systems, and prioritize providing regular feedback and, at a minimum, semi-annual performance reviews so that there is little room for employees to worry about how they are performing in their role. Additionally, as a remote-first company, we have created ways for employees to regularly interact and engage with those outside of their immediate teams, such as with regular “Stop Everything and Laugh” sessions, “Buddy Breaks,” “Weeks of Wonder” during the holidays, and “Engage and Connect” fireside chat-style small group meetings with executive team members.
How can HR most effectively demonstrate its value to the leadership team?
First, recognize and embrace that you are part of the team, not a group that only appears when something goes wrong. All too often, I have observed HR distance itself from the business by not becoming enmeshed in how the business operates and its success metrics. HR teams need to invest time and energy in learning how their company sells, revenue and profitability drivers, how its technology works, and other key aspects of its operations, which will enable them to effectively counsel and guide employees and leaders.
Second, align your initiatives with the company’s strategic goals, set and deliver on aggressive deadlines, and provide measurable outcomes. Regularly presenting data-driven insights on how HR initiatives—such as talent management, employee engagement, and retention strategies—contribute to the bottom line is crucial. At Human Interest, we ensure that HR is seen as a strategic partner by actively involving leadership in HR planning and showcasing the direct impact of HR policies on overall business performance.
Where do you see the industry heading in five years? Or are you seeing any current trends?
There’s little doubt in my mind that HR will be transformed – much faster than in five years – by the inevitable adoption of generative AI and machine learning-based tools, as well as the integration of technology and analytics. There will not be a single aspect of HR – recruitment, operations, investigations and compliance, business partners, L&D, etc. – that will be spared from the need to quickly learn about these emerging technologies. Businesses will continue to search for ways to realize increasing amounts of margin and shift scarce resources to sales, engineering, and product teams, and HR will need to figure out how to produce even better results with fewer people, but more powerful tools. Talent acquisition has been at the forefront of AI adoption, in part because it is volume-based, but consider how much something like Open Enrollment will be transformed when AI tools educate and provide individualized recommendations to employees and their families about their coverage choices (potentially using the face and voice of someone on the HR team!). AI is not a trend – it is here and pretending otherwise will only result in quickly getting left behind.
Importantly, as these technologies develop and become more integrated into HR processes, there must be a concerted effort to prevent the infusion of existing biases into AI-driven decisions. This includes areas such as hiring, background checks, and other critical aspects of the candidate and employee experience. Ethical considerations and bias mitigation must be at the forefront of AI development and deployment. Thoughtful selection and deployment of these technologies will be crucial. By doing so, HR can not only improve efficiency and effectiveness, but also enhance the overall candidate and employee experience.
Do you have any advice for people entering the profession?
A few things – first, do not lose sight of what motivated you to enter the profession, which likely relates to wanting to help candidates, employees and company alumni (i.e., the people!). HR is hard and can often feel thankless, but if you remain true to your passions and are intentional about your career choices – especially who you choose to mentor and train you – your career will be much more fulfilling than if you let your career “happen.” Second, embrace adaptability and continuous learning. The landscape is ever evolving, so remaining intellectually curious about trends, technology, and best practices will put you in a powerful position to decide whether they apply to your company. Finally, build a network, which can sound daunting, but it doesn’t have to be more difficult than trying to meet one new person at an event, conference, or other industry gathering. Don’t think of it as networking – think about it as a way of exploring and expanding on a mutually shared curiosity. We all have more in common than we are different, so say hello to someone you don’t know and take time to find those commonalities. There is no faster way of up-leveling yourself than by having a few trusted people you bounce ideas off without risk of judgment.
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