Dayforce, Inc. (DAY) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Please welcome to the stage Ceridian's Chief Marketing and Communications Officer, Eric Glass.

Well, welcome. It feels so good to be here. How are we doing? I'm not quite feeling the energy. How are we doing? Yes. I like whistles. Well, listen,I can feel the energy, it feels so good to be here. Thank you for being here, and we are here together from all over the world, different industry, different size of companies, it is fantastic, and we're all here because we believe we can make work life better. Now before we dig in, let's give a very big thank you to our partners and our sponsors that make this week so exceptional for us. We couldn't do without them. So please spend some time with them, go say, hi, they're going to be in the Inspiration Expo and everywhere. So let's spend some time. Now we do have a lot to unpack this week. We are in a time where we are grappling with big challenges, big opportunities in this new world of work. And while we're doing that, we're breaking the old paradigms of pay, of culture, work life balance, it is all up in the air. And at the same time, we have an opportunity, a once in a generation opportunity to shape this new world of work. And so there's a question before us. What does this generation want to be known for? That's what we're here to talk about. And we are so grateful that you took time away from your organizations, your teams to unpack this with us and not just those of us in the room, but all of those that are joining us online, let's give them a shout out. Hey, you guys. We see you. Thank you for being here. Because we're going to dive deep into this once-in-a-generation moment together, a very full agenda, there's a lot to talk about. INSIGHTS to uncover, connections to make in this community to get even stronger. It's also we can learn from each other. So what's coming up? Well, you're going to hear from our Co-CEOs today very shortly. In addition, of course, we're going to hear from actor, philanthropist, musician, Kevin Bacon, who's going to talk to us. Yes. Who's going to talk to us about the power of community, tomorrow our innovation keynote, David Ossip, Joe Korngiebel, members of our product and technology team to uncover incredible innovation. And then Thursday, we have another incredible customer keynote hosted by Steve Holdridge, we're going to get into this topic around the new world of work, what are the challenges, what are the opportunities. And of course, in between and through all of that, we have our incredible breakout sessions. We're going to connect. We're going to learn. We're going to collaborate, and you've got to also check out the Inspiration Expo. We worked really hard on it. I think we up-leveled it from last year, got to get your passport stamped. You can check out Dayforce up close, we've got the amazing race, you can challenge each other, hands-on labs, partners that I mentioned. And let me also say we've got some very cool customer activations this year. We've got a giant shoe, courtesy of our incredible customer, Caleres. Is that Caleres back there? Cheering for their shoe. You got to check it out. It is very cool. And there's also a lot to learn about the quantifiable value that they have achieved, so it is a lot of fun. And of course, all of this is going to build to our big closing party on Thursday, which I got to say, I know it's only Tuesday, but I'm looking forward to boogying with you. All right. We're making these connections, building the community, and that's a big part of also what we do here. Making work life better is also how we show up in our communities where we work and where we live. We have a partnership with Clean The World. We're going to pack some kits. We're doing it all week long in the Inspiration Expo. And we have a goal to pack 4,000 kits. So any time that you can commit and spend some time with us, packing some kits, it's going to go a long way because our promise about making work life better. It's not just words. It's the actions that we take. So, we are a community, a Dayforce community of 6,200 customers around the world. And our customer community has effectively doubled over the last 5 years, incredible growth. And what that means is our commitment to you is as strong as ever. And there has never been a more important time than now for the work that we're doing together as a global community. And on that point of community, we are taking a big leap, a huge leap, and I couldn't be more excited about it. Let's take a look. [Presentation]

Hey, we are so excited to announce what we did today, our plans for Ceridian to become Dayforce and we're doing it. Yes, what do you think? An extraordinary team has worked across the entire company, has worked so, so hard and we just truly believe this is emblematic of the community that we are. So starting in January 2024, we are transitioning our brand, our name, everything top to bottom around the world to Dayforce because it's bringing us even closer together, one platform, one product, one promise and of course, one incredible community. It's a brand new Dayforce. And that is the theme of INSIGHTS 2023, you're going to see it woven in every session and all the experiences. Hopefully, as you've already spent some time with us today, you have seen it and what that means for you is every step of the way, you know you have a partner who is doubling down on making work life better for you and with you for your organizations, the transformations that you are driving, we are in this together. That's what we want you to know. That's what's at the core of this. And I can't think of anyone better to unpack this a little bit more than our Chair, our co-CEO and our founder of Dayforce, help me welcome David Ossip. Here he is, okay, well, David, let's -- first things first. I love that logo. I mean, maybe I'm biased, but I just, we got to clarify. You know that D doesn't stand for David, right?

Yes. Eric, it's been 10 years in the making.

So maybe it does?

And my wardrobe was getting stale. And so I thought, let's take the C, increment the letter by 1.

And there it is. There it is, very good. Well, David, let's start with a little history. Where did the name Dayforce come from?

So, the origins of our story came through a lot of careful research. And what I did is about 10 years ago is I looked at the HCM industry, and what I found is, I think most of you know was, that the separation of data that was leading to really inefficient workflows and a lot of anxiety. And so when I thought about building a product, I thought about 3 components that I was looking at. The first was I wanted to be able to calculate instantly, and everyone has heard us talk about this continuous calculation engine, bringing pay in time and benefits and core HR and talent altogether. So you have this always-on aspect of the system. And the benefit of that, many of you have realized was the saving of a tremendous amount of time in what it took to do those types of activities. Some have benefited from 80% to 90%. The second component, I look at the construct of that pay period. And I just didn't get it. I just did not understand why people were waiting for a week, 2 weeks, monthly to get paid. It made absolutely no sense when we could calculate instantly. So I wanted the ability to pay immediately after the hours were improved. And then you saw the Dayforce Wallet that we launched several years ago. And then the final aspect was this whole construct. It would be wonderful if organizations could find people instantly. And if people could find work immediately, take the friction out of it completely. And that was the element of the word Dayforce. And that's where it came from.

I'll say it's remarkable because when I joined, I certainly didn't know that there was the way you thought about the innovation built into the design, into the name, which is really, really cool. So talk to us a little bit more about the growth journey from there?

So we started off and our focus at the time, we're talking about suppose 2010 to 2012, detailed analysis, hundreds upon hundreds of outbound calls, typical type of field rate resource types of questions identified the opportunity, bring it all together, one database, always on build a particular type of product. We then moved into the compliance aspect, which was pain point of organizations, way to differentiate, let's do the hard stuff, first, let's do the hard stuff well, payroll, benefits, time, global. Do that very, very nicely. Tremendous growth of the organization. Around 2015, we started to work on the activation of accounts. How do we automate it? How do we make the cycle time of implementation smoother. How do we improve the employee experience? 2018, we take the company public out on NYSE, very successful IPO. And at that point in time, we start thinking about scaleablity, how do we continue to grow? And how do we grow without heroics? How do we move from that founder-led culture into one that is sustainable on the long term where people can learn and grow in the organization? And you saw Leagh join us, and Leagh joined the organization two priorities. Organizational design and processes so that we could continue along their growth journey without having to rely on a very small group of people, and that's been tremendous. Journey continues. Around 2019, we look at the product, and we said wonderful on compliance, really, really well, ranked #1 payroll on time. But let's look at the user experience, and let's also look at talent and let's look at data. And we started to bring in wonderful people like Joe, our Chief Product and Technology Officer, focused on those three aspects and we lifted up our capabilities in terms of talent. So you're talking about recruiting, performance, comp, learning, document management. Looking at the overall experience, great advances like the Dayforce Hub, meeting people for where they actually were, focusing on global, and again, on the use of data, how do we embed AI into everything that we do, how do we make the reporting easier to actually access power beyond visualizations and as such, which brings us, I suppose, to this point.

I mean, a remarkable journey. So as you think about this community, you think about this moment, this generational moment, why is now the time to unify the brand behind Dayforce?

So I look at our organization. This year, we'll do about $1.5 billion of revenue. Almost all of it is Dayforce. Put that in perspective, 2012, when we started the journey, revenue on Dayforce about $100,000. So just tremendous, really, really tremendous types of growth. And when I looked at forming kind of our culture and at the end of the day, all organizations comes down to your culture and to your brand promise. And we selected, built a brand promise around makes work life better. Defines everything that we do. It's who we are. It's how we interact with people, it's how we build our product. And when we define that we constructed our values around our brand promise, and we called that combination of the brand promise, making work life better and our values our way. And we chose the word our way, which at the time was a collection of 20 stories about how living our brand and our values led to success. And it was called our way because we had brought Dayforce and Ceridian together. We didn't want it to be the Ceridian way, and we didn't want it to be the Dayforce way, we wanted it to be the our way. And obviously, it's worked very, very nicely. But when I look at us today, we have a community surrounded around our Dayforce product. We want to have simplicity in our messaging, so that we can align and we can build and we can grow across a single vector, which becomes Dayforce. And as I say this, I have to say it was a difficult decision. I have so much respect for the Ceridian name. I have so much respect and I'm so grateful for our tenured employees and our customers who have been with us for decades and all of the knowledge that they have that's allowed us to build this great product, Dayforce, and to develop this great community. The singular brand of Dayforce allows us to communicate with our community. It allows us to align on build. It makes it easier for our customers and our partners and their employees to understand who we are, and it makes sure that we don't have the questions. Are you Ceridian? Are you Dayforce? Are you ready Ceridian Dayforce? It gives clarity to message. And that's very important because what we're all about is really simplicity at scale, making the hard easy.

That's fabulous. And I can say certainly speaking for myself, the power of that brand promise and how you articulated it, so many organizations, particularly over the last few years have had to really sort of take a step back and think about that and possibly define it for the first time, but the way that you and the team defined that right from the start, and it's been so central to who we are. I mean I can certainly say it was such a big piece of what brought me, and I know so many others into the organization, and it's just, it's so grounding to be able to come out and talk about that as the cornerstone still for how we move forward and now behind this brand. So needless to say, I mean, it sounds like my team and I, we got a lot of work in front of us here to get some, we got to get some T-shirts. We got to get some gear. I mean, I mean it's like the top of the action list.

It's a new day. And I've got to tell you, my T-shirts were getting a little bit worn out. So this, I think, it's not all about the wardrobe. It's mostly about the wardrobe. And we have to start thinking about what e we could use, eDayforce, e something, I'm sure we can work out, but that's 10 years into the actual future. But let me thank everyone. And Eric, I want to thank you and your team for putting together such a fantastic event. It's all about community. And as I walk around, please, I encourage you, come up to me. The more conversations we have, the more interactions we have, not just with me, but with each other, strengthens our community, allows us all to grow or to benefit. Thank you very, very much, and thanks again for hosting us.

Thank you, David. I'll tell you, I told the team, I said, if we can get David in that new branded shirt, it really is a brand new day for us. So we did it. We got there. Okay. So let's take all this warmth, let's take this energy and community and connectivity up a few degrees. And let's please welcome to the stage, our co-CEO, Leagh Turner.

Hi, everybody. I am so ready to like dance, and I'm going to refrain, because you'll all be put off and you will leave. I'm just going to say, I love how Eric opened up by acknowledging what an unbelievable community this is. I'm looking at it your faces, and I feel super humbled to be here. Because the reality is we are all super connected, right? You wouldn't be here if you weren't connected in some way. And we're just a few degrees away from someone. Oh gosh. What happened? Did I do something? What did I do? Something funny happened that I missed. And oh, I know, is it the Kevin Bacon joke? It's the Kevin Bacon joke. See I'm not in the setup yet. You've got to let me get there. I have a little exercise before we get there. Here's the exercise. Every single one of us know some people in this room. We came with people or we have company behind us that supported us in coming. But you may not know the person next to you or the person in front of you or the person behind you or the person adjacent to you. And at the end of the day, this is all about. So I'm going to ask you to do me just a tiny little favor. It's like a 1-minute favor before we get to Kevin Bacon. And I know you're all really excited because you're busy laughing about something that I'm like, "Oh, gosh, I didn't even know I made a joke." So we're going to play this one little game. We're going to say who we are, and we're going to say what company we work for. So as an example, I'm Leagh, I work for a brand-new Dayforce. Okay. You'll entertain me by doing this, all right? So let's get ready. All right. Go. Look at you. I don't even know what to do about this. Good job. Good job. All right. You guys are like so into this activity. I can't stop you. It's like a hive. I got to tell you. I got to tell you. My favorite person in this room, and I don't know her, and she's going to be embarrassed, is the woman over there in the yellow. As soon as I said, we're going to do this, yes, you, you got up. You are like up across the alley, shaking hands, you're like the best friend of everybody in this room. I love you. I love you. That is how that should have been done. Really good. So here's what you guys did. Okay, you just made your world a little bit bigger, and you just made our world just a little bit smaller and more connected. And that's what INSIGHTS is all about, and that's what a brand new Dayforce is all about. It's about building your community and building your knowledge and building your network and in so doing unlocking the power of people. And who better to talk about, don't ask, who better to talk about that than our next guest. I'm going to introduce you to him now. Now I'm officially in the ramp-up. Let me introduce you to someone whose name is known, not only because of what he's done in his day job. But because of what he's done in communities around the world, by focusing on compassion and philanthropy and making a difference. Kevin Bacon has captivated us for decades. With award-winning performances, showing diversity of the human spirit and even becoming part of pop culture, which you all acknowledged. Thank Footloose and right, I know. And A Few Good Men and Apollo 13 roles that pulled us into another world for a few hours and made us feel joy and sadness and conflict and resilience and triumph. But in all of his work, it's actually his philanthropy, his philanthropic spirit that truly sets them apart from everybody else who does what he does. Because beyond being a really remarkable actor, he is such a complete beacon of goodness and kindness. And among the many causes he supports, he's a voice in the fight for civil and human rights, in the fight against hunger, for active focus and funding of climate change, and a real advocate for the hardworking and hardly paid people in the entertainment industry. And together with his wife, Kyra Sedgwick, he is an ally for all identities and expressions of good people with good hearts, the world over. But for everyone here in the room, and online today, he brings to life something that is so super relevant to why we're here and why INSIGHTS exist in the first place. And that is the essential need for human connection and community. And as you know, about 30 years ago in the university dorm, somebody came up with the idea that there was a concept called the six degrees of Kevin Bacon, which is a unique social phenomenon that all of you clearly knew the minute I said it in the first place. And ever since he has connected with us, highlighting the intricate web of relationships that bind us together and reminding us that we are so much closer than we think. And that it's not about us, it's about all of us. And the social phenomenon that sparked that concept actually turned into because of Kevin, something called SixDegrees.org, which is a not-for-profit organization built by Kevin that supports initiatives in communities around this entire world. Now there's also a podcast, which I listened to last night. You should try it out. It's a good one, where he features people we all know. But instead of talking about the things that we all know, he talks about what they do to give back. He is a husband. He is a father. He is a singer and a song writer, he's a hobby farmer. He's a social media favorite with millions of followers. He's an award-winning actor and a producer and a director and an activist, and a philanthropist and an unbelievable reminder that we all have the capacity to create a better and more compassionate world. And he's going to make all of us winners in the six degrees of Kevin Bacon game. You remember that, you can take that home to your family. So everyone, please join me in welcoming Kevin Bacon.

Thank you. Thank you, everybody. Oh, boy. Very, very big and exceptionally good-looking crowd.

There you go. Thank you. Please join me.

Are we sitting?

Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. So and you're going to have to excuse me, somebody used to word goober today, and I'm going to turn into one right now. I really am, because I said to Kevin actually in the back like the minute that I saw him, please tell me, I'm not the only one. I was like immediately transposed to like my 13-year-old self with like my Footloose poster. And the sand truck playing on a record player. I was dancing in front of the full length mirror. And I was wearing my mother's work-out close with like the head band and the leg warmers. Like please tell me, I'm not the only person in the world that does this.

That movie had a very, I mean, that was probably the biggest, certainly, up until that point in my life, that was the biggest movie that I've ever been in. So obviously, a lot of people remember it. And it's actually had sort of a second life in a way because what I find a lot now is they did a stage show that went to Broadway. And after the Broadway show closes, it then becomes available to do in regional theater, high school productions, junior high school. And there's not that many, certainly not that many musicals or plays that have that many parts for young people. So everybody comes up to me and says, "My son just played Ren or my son played Willard and my daughter, did this or whatever. And I got a lot of requests I mean, probably weekly, if I would just wouldn't mind going to Des Moines public high school and showing up and, and a lot of times, I'll end up just sending a video and telling the kids to have a good time and rock on or whatever. Just some kind of lame support.

That's not lame, that's super awesome for the kids in Des Moines. Yes. It's a really big deal. Let's spend a few minutes getting to know you just a little bit, like a quick rapid fire a series of questions. You're ready for me?

I am.

Okay. Role you'd say yes to again.

Well, I think I would definitely say yes to most of them just because I don't want to change any, because the ones that were terrible I learned so much from, I think, I don't think I would change a thing. I think I would take them all. And you have to do some stinkers. I mean I often say I've been in, I don't know, over 100 movies and I'd say about 4 of them are good. But I just, I'd like to work and, I'd like to walk in another man's shoes, and that's just what I do. So I don't -- I think I'd take them all.

Love that. I think everybody would agree there's more than 4 good ones out there.

Well, okay.

Okay, role you haven't played, haven't played, that you would say yes to?

I've never done Shakespeare. And I've always thought that, that was, in the back of my mind, it was always because nobody really wants to see Kevin Bacon in tights. Just something about me that I think is, I think I've only gone back in time up to a certain point, maybe to like the 40s or something like that. I've never done anything that's like historically any older than that. So when I see something like that, I think to myself, well, that's a challenge that I haven't yet faced and it's something that would sort of terrify me. So if it's something that terrifies you maybe you should do it.

I think you got like 4,000 people who would go see that. So just like if you want that to happen yes, there you go. Role that stole your heart?

Stole my heart? There was a part that I did a long time ago, which was called Murder In The First, and it was one of these movies that like not a lot of people saw, but it was a really, really hard movie to do. And it was I felt really for some reason, connected to this guy. He was a guy that got locked into a cell in solitary confinement at Alcatraz. And I was kind of starving while I was doing it. It was a really bad place mentally, but I think I left a little piece in my heart with that one.

You know what, you and I are not good at? Rapid fire. We're not rapid.

All right. I always forget that. I always forget with that rapid fire thing. You're right. I'm not.

I want to know. Don't be more rapid. Do not.

I'm going to get better.

No, don't, don't. Okay. You can't name your wife. Favorite co-star?

Meryl Streep.

Yes. I mean like me too, Meryl Streep. It's like a very big deal. Actor whose work you truly admire?

Meryl Streep.

You're getting good at this rapid fire. Favorite animal on your farm and why?

I really like to play favorites with the animal. So hopefully, none of them are listening. I have a, but actually, my horse is sadly injured. Yes. So I haven't been on him for at least a year, and I adore him, but we love, during the pandemic, I've got Kyra two miniature goats, and she named them, and one's name is Louie, and he's great, but he's very, very independent. And the other one's name is Macon, and the reason we named the Macon was that Macon was actually my first idea for what we should name my son Travis. And I pitched it, you know where this is going, right? I pitched it to my wife and she was like, Macon, Macon, I like that, Macon, she was like, are you out of your mind? Why would we submit a kid to a lifetime of being called Macon Bacon? That's just, that would be a terrible move. But, we had no problem naming the goat Macon, and he's an absolute gem of an animal.

Look at you, you know what I really like is that llama who's like super, super shy, she won't be touched. Do you know that one? Is it a llama? Is it an alpaca?

Alpaca. Yes, Alpaca. Yes. Yes. In Sharon.

Okay. Let's go to another one. You can imagine because I'm a big, big fan and I know I'm one of many. I rewatch some of your movies over the course of the weekend. I was like leave me alone, to my whole family. And may we think like what is it about like movies and like the experience of, I don't know, the whole thing like binds people together and create such a motion. Like why do they do that? Why does that happen?

Well, I think that we want to be emotionally transported to another place to turn out the lights and feel something, scared laughing, crying, feeling amorous, romantic, on the edge of your seat, it's just about feeling. And that's what movies do, is they make you feel something. So I think that when we get together as a group of performers, cameramen, directors, editors, musicians scoring later on, all of those incredibly important jobs. We're really just trying to make people feel something.

Yes. And so you do. For anyone who doesn't know about the origins of six degrees of Kevin Bacon, which I understand you weren't like the most massive fan of originally.

No. I was not.

You are going to have to tell us about that, because we, I think it's a real binding effect, right? We all love it. And everybody laughed like when I was trying to introduce you, I said six degrees, and it was like, everybody erupted. You can't even say two words without reminding everybody.

Well, people will come up to me just randomly like on the subway or something and go "on one degree" and they feel that somehow the actual touch is the thing that's going to make it happen. I mean, just to be clear, the idea is that you're supposed to -- we're supposed to have been in a movie or together.

Or like on a stage.

Or on a stage. If you say so. I'm actually, as far as I'm concerned, I don't. I'm not sticking to the rules anymore on that particular game.

We did it happen, like why do people care?

You know what the thing about six degrees is it's not about me. You take me out of the game. It's about wanting to be connected to other people. That's what's cool about it. That's what we, I think we are all kind of hungry for. We've spoken about this before. I mean, I think that, if you put 2 people that don't know each other in an airport lounge and they've missed their flights or whether it's weather or something like that. They strike up a conversation, they're going to immediately start to go to what connects them. Where are you from? Well, I'm from Boston. A friend of my wife's cousin once drove Tom Brady. You're kidding me. And it's, that's what we all go to. We have a global pandemic. And what do we do? We start to reach out, connect with friends and family, and we start to use these platforms that didn't really hardly exist before, just so we could see people, and it's just a basic human needs. I think that something about the game taps into that. And the other thing about it, which is amazing to me is that, you can't, there was a time when I was thanking to myself, there's got to be a way to monetize this, right? So there was a book, and I put my face on the book and the book was kind of like how to play the game type book. And then there was a board game, and I put my face on the board game. I mean you can get these on Amazon now for probably I think they would pay you to take them. There was no, and the reason that you couldn't do it is because it was just an idea. You can't sell it. It's just who we are.

Let's go the other way. Let's talk about monetizing for the sake of good. Let's talk about what happened? How did you come to SixDegrees.org? What is it? Why does it matter? What does it do? And how did you turn like a desire for a monetization into like real impact in value?

Yes. Well, I mean I think when I started out, like, which is something that I think you really, really need as an actor. I was incredibly self involved. I mean as a child, I wanted to be famous. I wanted to be rich. I wanted to have girls. I wanted to be on magazine covers and see my name in lights, this is a very strong driving force for me. When I started to study acting, then I started to look at acting as a skill as a craft. And I came a little less into the same thing, but I was still super, super driven. And so to be that kind of driven, I mean, you have to be so self involved, so focused just on me. And then you have kids, you get married, things happen in the world, 9/11, people that you know are getting sick, you lose loved ones, things like that. You start to go, well, maybe I need to think a little bit less only about me. So I started to say, well, again, maybe I should do something and I was such an admirer of Paul Newman and I opened up the refrigerator and there's tomato sauce with his face, false face, and he raised hundreds of millions of dollars for all kinds of causes. Just because he liked to cook and he was there and had this drawing of him, and he was like, "Yes, I'm super famous and this is what I'm going to do with it." So I thought what do I have? And well, six degrees. That's it. I mean I had a friend this is so early in the days of the Internet that I had a friend that said, well you got to get the domain. I had no idea what a domain was and I said, "How do I even do that? How do I get SixDegrees.com? He went to SixDegrees.com that was gone. And he said, "Well, maybe it should be .org, .org was available. So not knowing what even to do with it, we got it. And then I started just kind of talking to people in the world of philanthropy. And eventually hooked up with an organization called Network For Good, and then we launched it at the Sundance Film Festival. And it's taken on all sorts of different kind of iterations. Part of the issue, besides the fact that I'm, this was a new thing to approach for me. This was not in my skill set, was that I have a lot of different things that I'm interested in. Every time I pick up the paper, I go, yes, but there's that. And I think a lot of people feel this way. Yes, but there's this, there's whatever. Whatever it is, human rights, the climate or children or animals. I mean, it just goes on and on and on. And so I didn't want to just pick one thing. And do it. And while I think that's a good thing for this particular organization, it's also challenging because it's sometimes hard to explain to people exactly what do you do. So sometimes you have an organization to say, what do you do? Well, I feed the hungry. That's what it is. That's all I do. And there's a lot of celebrities that kind of have that focus, which is great. I love it. Our thing is not that. We are, we've had a lot of different kinds of iterations. And it's really about trying to again take Kevin Bacon out of the Six Degrees. Think about what -- how we are connected. Think about the fact that what we do in our neighborhoods or in our cubicle or whatever it is, affects the people down the block or the people in the next office or whatever, and on the other side of the world as well. We're all riding this boat together. And we need to make sure that it doesn't spring any holes.

I love that. I'm going to like think about that. We're all riding in this boat together. I love that, I do. I'm happy to be in the same boat as you. Interconnectedness. Let's talk a little bit about that. So, and you're bringing me there. You don't know these people. I know some of them. But they're really, it's a really strong community. I don't know if you could see from backstage, but the woman in the yellow shirt, when I asked her to introduce, asked to introduce ourselves to people. She sprung out of her chair and ran across the aisle and started shaking hands and like, how do you engender that? And I'm like, look at this woman. I just said, could you please and there she was. She's made 50 friends. And i just wonder, when you think about like the communities that you've witnessed or been part of building, like what makes that happen? What's that ingredient that makes it successful?

Well, I think that, certainly, if we mentioned before the film community, you have to -- you have to set an example of generosity and compassion. And it has to kind of come down from the top and spread. And in any kind of situation like, for instance, I'm making a film, we don't -- we want to believe that it's, we're all kind of equal players, but the truth is that there is a director. There is a producer. There's a studio, there's a star. There's the second star down, and then it goes down, it goes down. So if the only times that I've seen situations where there wasn't a good feeling is when it just wasn't good from the top. But if it's good from the top, then it's -- you can't -- of course, the hours get long and people get their feelings heard or things can happen, you could say the wrong thing, whatever it is. But if the energy from the top is good and is trying to create a good positive, safe environment for people to work, then it will generally go pretty well. And I was thinking about. I hear sort of stories about nightmare film shoots and bad behavior and all kinds of things, which I'm sure you can read about. And I kind of thought to myself, I just haven't had that many like experiences like that. It's just most of them have been good and enjoyable to work with people. And my wife said to me, well, that's probably because that's what your, the example that you're saying. And it hadn't really occurred to me. And I haven't always been, and I'm still not always the biggest star or the #1 person on the set oftentimes. But I do think that I try to lead by example in terms of having a good, safe and positive workspace.

I love that. Every single person in this room who is here on behalf of the company that they work for and the people that they represent would feel that way. I'm 100% sure and I hope that they go home feeling like, you know what, I'm going to be responsible for that even just a little bit more than I was yesterday. So thank you. Let's talk about social media. So you and I talked in the back, you know that I have teenage children. And I think like most parents of teenage children, or I feel torn about the impact that it has. Sometimes I feel like it's so isolating. I'm like, look at me, I am talking to you and like heads are buried, it's isolating experience. And other times, it opens a world that like when you and I were growing up wasn't accessible to us, right, it teaches us things that we could have never ever learned. And you have chosen, I'm sure it was a deliberate choice to use this platform for good. And I'm wondering why. Why did you do that?

Yes. When I first heard about social media. It was at the very, very early days of it. And somebody said to me, there's this great thing called Facebook, where a lot of -- you can find people from your past. I was like, "That's my worst nightmare. I don't want that. I can't imagine." They said, but that's -- but the really cool thing is that you can also talk about what you made for dinner. I'm like, what? No, No. And so I reluctantly got into it because of SixDegrees.org. Because we were social media with a social conscience. That was one of the first kind of iterations of it. And this was really early on. I mean my space whatever. And I eventually was kind of flirting around with it, you know what I mean. And I heard an interview with someone who said, you can do it, but if you're going to do it, you might as well try to do it well. And if you're not going to do it well, just don't bother. Just don't do it. I mean there's plenty of people that don't do it and have careers. So it's not like you're never going to act again. I can -- I know a bunch of actors that I know who are fantastic actors, and they just are like, no, it's just not for me. And I totally get it. But I'd like to do things well. So I got in touch with this woman, I had a meeting with her and I said, "So tell me about what that is," and she gave me the names of some other people and I started to talk to people. And unlike my younger self never wanted advice for anything at any time about anything. That was part of who I was. From the time I was a child, I didn't want to be taught. I didn't want teachers. I didn't, I didn't want like authority, even when it came to directors, I felt like I knew better when I was like 17, it was crazy. As I've gotten older, I've realized that there are people that can help you out and give you advice and be supportive. And so I reached out to people. I brought some people under the team and we talked about how to do it. And what I realized is that for me I'd like to keep making stuff like I'm very -- I always have some kind of creative mind that's going. Whether I'm writing a song or even long before social media, I would make little movies, I'd send them to the kids if I was on the road, shooting a picture. I always had video cameras. I would send them back to Kyra. I got early editing platforms and we do all this crazy stuff. And so, to me, it's just kind of an extension of something that I was already doing. It's just that it's way more public. And is it dangerous? Absolutely. And is it, am I glad that my children are in their 30s? Yes. It's a -- it is, I can see that it would be a very, very challenging thing beyond just social media, just the fact that kids are so in their devices now. And smarter people than me have the answers to that and how much you're limited in how you do it. I really, I don't know. But what I found the group that I started working with, it's very, very young women, and she said to me, "just try it out for a while" we're going to make some suggestions, you're going to make some suggestions. And if it keeps being fun, then keep doing it. If it doesn't keep being fun, then stop doing it." And I just have a good time with them.

And are people's reactions like consistently super favorable?

Well, I can tell you I shouldn't say this. I don't look that much at the comments. I do have people looking at the comments for me. I haven't read reviews of my own work for probably 25 years. I don't, I just can't go there. I mean I just, I don't know why. I just feel like it's, I've never read a bad review and learned something from it. It's only just been pain. So, and I also think that on the flip side, if you get too wrapped up in your good press, you're going to eventually shoot yourself in the foot. But I can tell you that just anecdotally, Kyra and I, it's almost, it's almost gotten out of control because we'll go some place and people will come up and say, can I just tell you, I love, and you think they're going to say Footloose or Tremors or Apollo 13 or something and they say, "your songs with the goats." And I'm like I've been an actor since I was like 18 years old. I mean like all of a sudden, it's -- there's a part of me because now you're reduced to the guy that sings to his goat. So there is a -- but that being said, it's a lot of support, and it's -- and people really like it, and they especially like it when other family members are involved like Kyra or the kids.

Yes, yes. I saw you TikTok dancing with your daughter, that was super cute too. I think we all love it. I do. I think it's so human and so real and so easy to connect to.

Cool.

Let's talk about other things that you've thrown your weight behind. There's been a Writers Guild strike and a SAG strike and people who weren't being paid equitably needed people like you to stand up for them and lean in and you did. And your wife did. And while one of the two is no longer going on that's good. The reality is like, at the end of the day, what matters is that like lasting change happens. Not just that there's a little pivot and incremental change happens. Talk to us a little bit about how to drive lasting change in an industry or a community?

Yes. I mean I think that this has been a pretty monumental strike, and I think that Obviously, it's part of a real strong movement across all kinds of industries to have fair and equitable wages and good working conditions. The way that entertainment is created and shared is, has changed so dramatically so that in the past, you had three television stations and you had 4,5 major movie studios. And every 3 years or 4 years, you get in there and you try to get more money for this. But it's all the same way that the content was being shared. It was on TV or in a movie. And that has just gone completely turned upside down. So what the SAG and the Writers -- what the Writers really won was a conversation about, not to get too into the weeds, but, but how to deal with these new technologies and how to make sure that people are paid for the work that they do. That's what it is. I mean that's really what it is. If you want to boil it down. If you do the work, if you use your heart, your voice, your mind, your body, your time, your creativity, you should get a fair wage to be able to do that. And as I've said many times, I walked that picket line with the screen actors guild, the things that I'm picketing for probably are not going to have a super direct effect on me because what we were, are striking for is the base pay, the base wage. And some of the other stuff are things that can be negotiated in a contract. But we're talking about the rank and file actors who are, of which we have 160,000, I think, in our union. They need to be able to go to work and know that their image isn't going to be stolen and reshared, that they're going to be able to work a good day and get paid a fair rate.

And does lasting change come from people like you forgetting that it's about I don't know, you or base pay, but just about like allegiance and the common good and better quality and?

Yes. I'll tell you what, I think it's, there's an interesting dilemma that comes when you talk about people like me. And that is that it's very easy when someone is as well known and has a life that looks as so perfect from the outside. To say, what do you know about human struggle, right? What do you know about the political situation, let's say, what do you know about climate change. A perfect example is when people go after people who are climbing activists who also have to have private jets. That's a perfect example of that. And so you kind of get a little, I'm always a little bit sort of torn between I don't want to be fodder for what I consider to be the other side looking at it and saying, you, you're an overpaid buffoon. So shut up and stay in your lane, right? It's the same thing that they say to successful sports players who try to speak for human rights or whatever, stay you in lane, just play the game, whatever that is. On the other side, I think to myself, yes, but I'm also a human being, a father and husband, and I have a family, and I pay taxes and all the stuff. So don't I have a right to express how I feel about, say, the SAG strike to be there. But I can honestly tell you that it's something that I always, I feel like it's a, there's kind of a fine line to walk, and I kind of flip flop sometimes about it in terms of how vocal to be about certain things. On the other side, I would say that when somebody really devotes their -- fearlessly devotes their life to just being using their fame 100% for activism, I really do admire it.

And in the nicest way, you do that, too, right? I realize that it's not your entire purpose every day, but it's the reason, all of us are sitting here. It's the reason people lined up outside the door to get in here and when the door opened, they raced to the front of the stage. Like that's why, that's why because you're just so human. Yes. Tell us maybe shift to your podcast. So I turned into like a Kevin Bacon wacko this weekend, trying to get ready for you. And I was listening to you talking to Thomas Rhett. And I thought to myself, okay, so what you doing now like why? Why? Why more? What's this about?

Yes. Well, everybody, I'm a little late to the podcast thing. I read all these things about how podcasts are over. And we just launched ours. But we, as I said, when we were talking about SixDegrees.org, we're always thinking of new ways with new things to do with the idea and with the organization. So we came up with the idea of doing a podcast that would be celebrity based. And in the first half of it I talked to people, Mark Ruffalo, Matthew McConaughey, Thomas Rhett, Jule, Bear Grills, a lot of people. And we just kind of shoot the breeze and talk about what you might hear on another celebrity-driven podcast. And then we bring in the person who helps with their foundation because most of these people, if it's not their actual foundation, then they have a cause that they care deeply about. And it gives a microphone to these hard-working men and women who don't get the spotlight. They don't get the podcast. And they get to talk about the work that they're doing. But I also like to talk to them about what it is that makes them want to be that person because I know that for myself, when I was starting out, I didn't want to -- I would never have lived the life of service. I just wouldn't. Let's be honest. I mean I lived the life of Kevin. And so I'm really fascinated by someone that really chooses that path and what it is maybe in their childhood and their upbringing. So that's really what the podcast is about. And it's been great. It's also been very, very challenging for me because I'm used to being on the others. I'm used to sitting here and not there. I'm not used to asking the questions or having to keep the conversation going or whatever that is. And.

You do a really good job. I can teach you.

Well, I'm trying. I mean, I think I'm getting better at it, but it has been a learning process. And, but as I've said before, I like challenges.

I would tell you, when I was listening to your podcast, I had that moment where I was like, "Oh, okay, well, it's kind of cute, and I'm going to learn about these people, this is kind of fun, Kevin is funny and it's good and connected." And then it makes us like pretty hard cut to like, and here's what they're really doing. And honestly, I was like trotting around my house, my air pods and the eyes welling up with tears. And honestly, it's really, really heartwarming and real.

Yes. Well, it does take a hard turn because generally, the things that people support are things that are painful and difficult. We just had Rob Lowe on the other day and Rob brought on a guy that Rob is a big supporter of Wounded Warriors and he brought on this guy and the guy who now works as is one of the outreach directors for Wounded Warriors. Told his story about his injury, and it is an absolutely moving and terrifying and, but also incredibly inspiring story. So it's both end. Because you can, like I said, I got a lot of connections with people that are fun to kind of talk about actors that we're working for and not work with and I can talk to Thomas Rhett about music and the process of songwriting and then he has this very personal connection to Uganda. And if you want to know more, listen to the podcast.

You got like 4,000 people running out of here to go get, download that podcast. It's available where your podcast can be...

Wherever you get it.

Yes. Right, exactly. Yes, exactly. Okay. I'm going to let you go, but I'm going to ask you one final question, which is, I mean, your younger self may have been really focused and focused on you and focused on success and super driven. But you've turned into like this unbelievable beacon of connection and community and love. And it's really, really beautiful. And as I said, it's the reason everybody is here and they care. It's not because you're some fancy actor, winning all these awards. It's because you're like genuinely so good. And I wonder, when you think about like the importance of connection and community, which you foster every single day, like you're working it to try and make sure that it grows, not for you, but for us, why does it matter?

I think that it's, I just think the connection is how we feed ourselves. I think it's fun. It's important. It is a -- it's like I don't know, it's like eating or breathing. It's like, we just want to find reasons that we are, I think we're, it's very easy to think these days that we're looking for all the reasons that we are different. There's a lot of that sentiment, I think, going on certainly in America right now. But I think that the basic human need is to find the things that are similar about us. And I mean we all kind of climbed out of the same swamp, and I think that you really, it feels good to make a connection with somebody, even if they have a different point of view than you do. It just feeds you, it just feels good.

I climbed out of your swamp. I did. I just -- you're being here. That means we do these things, right? You never really know what you're going to run into. And I want you to know, I think I speak on behalf of everybody here. You made me feel more connected by just being here. And you're super awesome. I'll never ever, ever watch a movie that you've been in again and not feel differently than I did the last time. And you've made us stronger and you've made us feel more connected. And we are so grateful. Thank you.

I'm grateful to you. Thank you.

That was so good.

Oh my gosh, Eric. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. For as long as I live, I work for Eric Glass.

I want to actually just have some truth to talk here for a second. So we were, Leagh and I, here earlier this afternoon, going through this part right now. And we're going to do like, I want to like rewatch Footloose. And I said...

I practiced the dance.

But what I said at that point was I got to tell you, like, I'm a Murder in the First kind of guy. And then he said that backstage, I was like...

It's like kind of not the kind of movie that you want to be like, oh my gosh, you said it. But I knew you had said it, which is why I did that and then it was like, "How do I walk that back? That was embarrassing." I did squeal. Anyway, that was super, super exciting, and I thank you for that. And I know that you thank him for that.

Okay. So look, I picked up some gear. I know I took it actually right off of David. No, I did not do that. So founder mentality. We just passed the same shirts around. No, that's not what happened. My team makes more than one of these.

So here is a thing, right? It's a thing. And it actually sort of binds us a little bit, like I'm not used to wearing the Dayforce T-shirt. But I will say I feel much more connected to you as a result, because like we're twins.

We are.

Yes. So I think that that's a thing to leave everybody with. I would want you to know that there is one last thing to do before this comes to an end, Eric, and that is.

Well, it's going to be after it comes to the end. But we're going to make sure all of you get some gear so that we can all be in the Dayforce community together, and that is going to happen outside the Inspiration Expo, you probably noticed you didn't get the normal gear that you get when you hit registration, and you're like, where is my stuff?

We were waiting.

And we wanted to keep the brand a surprise, so you're still getting your stuff, but it's going to be branded Dayforce.

I'm glad. Listen, it's a big deal. Grab it, wear it with pride. I'm going to go get mine and I thank you much.

All right. Awesome. Okay. Thank you, Leagh. Thank you to Leagh, our co-CEO. Okay. I'm going to wrap us up, community, connectedness, finding new degrees. You guys were so awesome when that kicked off. I mean, it was hard to get you back from all that connecting. So, it's almost a wrap here. I have a little bit of housekeeping left to do. So as I just said, don't forget to pick up your new gear, which is outside the Inspiration Expo. And of course, we have the welcome reception that is going to happen right after this. So let's all get together. And then tomorrow morning, we're going to kick it off with our innovation keynote at 8:15 a.m. I know, but it's, it's going to be amazing. We've got David, we've got Joe Korngiebel. We've got the team. It is going to be great. Okay, to get us in the right spirit of celebration and inspiration before the welcome reception. We have asked for a little help, come on out gang, let's have a little celebration.