At ezCater, we take immense pride in creating an environment where our people can perform to their best potential and do amazing work that will enable our business to thrive. 

We know that when employees feel valued, respected, and empowered, they shine brighter and bring innovation and creativity to their roles. Most importantly, we hire leaders who embrace these values and are committed to supporting our people.

With this, we are thrilled to announce that Robert Kaskel joined us in January as our new VP of People. Robert brings more than 20 years of experience in the HR space. Most recently, he served as the Chief People Officer for Remitly, an international payments company, and Checkr, a background check organization. He has also held leadership roles at Amazon, Microsoft, and Mattel. 

Throughout the interview process and in his first few weeks, it became clear that Robert leads with humility, authenticity, and kindness. He has a passion for creating impactful employee experiences that drive engagement and organizational success. To help everyone get to know him better, we decided to have a virtual sit-down and ask him a few questions.

What excited you about joining ezCater?

I found an ezCater job post on LinkedIn that emphasized culture and employee experience, and it really grabbed my attention. While I was not actively looking for a role, ezCater seemed like such a unique and exciting company that I was encouraged to apply. Two main aspects stood out to me after researching ezCater and going through the interview process: 

ezCater’s people leadership team is incredibly impressive and I wanted to work with leaders who valued collaboration, trust, and mutual learning. ezCater’s job descriptions and interviews highlight these principles, showing that the leaders genuinely care about their people and culture.

ezCater is innovative. I sought a role focused on creating and innovating rather than maintaining existing processes. More importantly, I wanted to surround myself with people who embraced this same innovative mindset, and would encourage me to try new things, move thoughtfully, and fail-and-learn quickly. 

Can you tell us a little bit about what it was like to interview with ezCater?

The interview process was a terrific representation of who ezCater is at its core, and it was the best candidate experience I’ve ever had. I met a wide range of people at different levels, and learned a ton about the business. I was never asked the same question twice, and every interviewer genuinely wanted to get to know me and my background. They were also transparent about some of the potential challenges, but this further deepened my interest in the role and the rewarding work that lay ahead. When I received the official offer, I was ecstatic and my experiences as a new employee over the past two months have only reaffirmed that I made the right decision to join. 

As a People Team leader, how do you ensure that a company’s values are reflected in its day-to-day operations?

First, you’ve got to make sure that you’re a steward of those company values yourself. Personally, I keep ezCater’s culture recipe next to my computer and review it regularly to remind me of how I want to show up to work everyday. 

As a People function, we integrate these values into every stage of the candidate and employee experience and it influences how we show up — whether it be in our hiring practices, in our engagement with customers and catering partners, or in our daily interactions with each other. 

How do you approach change management, coming into a new organization?

Our goal is to introduce necessary changes that align with the company’s long-term needs and deliver new changes with scalable and sustainable practices that support our values. We aim to bring maturity, consistency, and predictability to our processes. That further brings our culture to life. 

At ezCater we also believe in the importance of supporting and developing our leaders, as they play such a key role in guiding their teams. For these values to truly take root across the organization, it’s important that our leaders reflect them in their own actions first. This involves leading by example, holding everyone accountable to our high standards, and acting in ways that support our workplace culture recipe, including our efforts to ‘own it,’ ‘figure it out,’ ‘aim higher,’ and ‘make it better.’  

What’s your leadership style? 

I focus on empowering my team members to make decisions. Earlier in my career, I experienced environments where micromanagement was prevalent and teams operated in silos, which I found to be unempowering, uninspiring, and boring. 

This lack of autonomy and visibility hindered my learning and growth. I wanted to know what my boss’s boss was doing and I wanted to learn from her, too. I always told myself that if I was ever fortunate enough to be in a management or leadership role, I would do things differently. 

I believe in giving my teams the freedom to make decisions while offering support and guidance where necessary. I appreciate the variety of perspectives and feedback from my team. I strive for open and honest communication and prefer to be straightforward rather than use indirect language. I’m always open to being persuaded by compelling arguments or data. This approach fosters a culture of respect, where team members treat each other with kindness and grace, even when delivering difficult feedback.

Transparency and open communication are crucial to my leadership style. Even something as simple as sending bi-weekly slack messages to the larger team, highlighting exciting and important work or weekly open office hours can be game changing. It increases connection and visibility into others’ work and it creates excitement for the work we are doing, all while fostering necessary recognition. I also believe the best leaders take ownership of misses and give team members the recognition they deserve for the work they’ve done.

What is something you wish you could tell your younger self that you know now?

I would tell my younger self to not sweat the small stuff. I used to get so wrapped up in minor things that I can’t even remember now, obsessing over matters that, in the long run, weren’t important. It’s crucial to put things into perspective, focus on what truly matters, and be kind to yourself. Don’t bring mistakes home with you or let them upset and worry you. It’s wasted energy and negativity that can affect your day or week.

I would also tell myself to focus on building relationships. Coming out of graduate school with a PhD in organizational psychology, I felt equipped to do important work. However, while I may have been good at functional tasks, I wasn’t as adept at building relationships. 

For instance, years ago when I worked at Mattel Toys as an HR Business Partner, one of my clients was the CFO. I often communicated with the CFO’s admin to schedule meetings or discuss various matters and my emails were very straightforward. 

One day, she reached out to me and mentioned that I never used her name or said “please” and “thank you,” which made her less inclined to help me. I was crushed and embarrassed. I reflected on my approach, realized I needed to be the kind of person I’d want to work with, got a mentor to help me be better, and of course, reached out to her to humbly apologize. 

She saw the change in me and we actually became friends, and even commuted to work together in the ever traffic-jammed Southern California freeways. This humbling experience taught me things I should have already known: the importance of bringing your whole self to work, treating others how you would want to be treated, seeing kindness as a critical professional skill, and owning mistakes.  

What is a hobby or interest you have outside of work?

I’m a big time baseball fan. I played it as a kid and all five of my kids have caught the sports bug too. I once read that the drive home after the game is crucial, so I always made sure to praise my kids for their hard work and effort and focus on the positive. 

My 16-year-old son is living the dream, jetting across the U.S. and abroad for tournaments. I coached all my kids through their little league years and guided my son through his travel teams until his skills surpassed mine when he was just 12. Then, I switched gears to become the official scorekeeper for the high school team. 

I also umpire about 150 games a year and with my wife, run an adaptive baseball program for kids with disabilities. These things help me to stay connected to the game I love so much.

Interested in exploring ezCater’s culture recipe? Our Careers page has all of the ingredients, including perks & benefits, company values and open positions at ezCater.