Jon Couture

Executive Vice President of Principal Global Services & Chief Human Resources Officer, Principal Financial Group

Search every verified Jon Couture interview, podcast appearance, and on-the-record quote — each transcript cross-checked by AI and human review to confirm speaker identity. Jon Couture, executive vice president of Principal Global Services and chief human resources officer at Principal Financial, discussed workplace flexibility and hybrid work models during an October 2020 panel discussion led by Deidre DeJear. He noted that data suggests a significant portion of employees will expect hybrid work arrangements after the pandemic, involving a fluid mix of office and remote work. Couture said that while some employees will prefer fully remote or fully in-office roles, the largest segment will likely adopt a hybrid mode. Couture also addressed challenges for employers with workers who must be physically present, such as those in retail or manufacturing, saying his company is exploring ways to apply flexibility to those roles, including adjusting shift structures. He described an experiment at Principal Financial to design work around employee needs, similar to how companies often design services around customer needs, and called this approach a potential long-term talent strategy. He characterized the pandemic as having a "silver lining" in prompting companies to rethink how work is done and how employees are supported.