New York Times HR chief shares the 3 relationships everyone needs at work

Like many, Jacqueline Welch changed jobs in 2021. Unlike many, she wouldn’t describe her move as merely a job change.

“To be on the side of an institution that really is doing its best to uphold the public trust feels like a high calling,” says Welch of her role as head of HR and wellness at The New York Times. “Journalism is the only industry protected by the constitution. It doesn’t feel like a career anymore now, it feels like a calling, which at this age and stage in life is what I want from my work.”

Welch’s esteemed career has spanned Rock-Tenn Company, Turner Broadcasting System, and prior to the Times, Freddie Mac, a company whose mission of making home ownership possible was one Welch personally identified with.

“I remember my parents planning and saving for our very first home and the difference that made to us in every way that home ownership can make to a family. I say that to say that there was no pull and there was no push, except you get the call from ‘The Gray Lady’ and being a born and raised New Yorker, you just kind of go, ‘say that again?’”