Strategic HR Leadership Operating in A Hands-On Capacity

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Skillful employee relations are based in engaging employees at the team and individual level in the way that they need and when they need it. 

In 2014, while working for a Business Unit President who was responsible for folding two businesses together, I developed a specific employee relations plan. A specific plan was necessary due to the angst created in the organization by the pending restructuring. We openly committed to the organization to share all information and decisions as quickly as possible. The plan required “drop in” office hours for all key managers, regularly scheduled group communication meetings, and skip level meetings conducted by the President. While restructuring 20% of the employees out of the newly formed business unit, we maintain sales and service levels. 

 The key underpinning of effective talent acquisition is the timely selection of needed talent based on competency match (requiring competency based job profiles) and organizational fit (requiring experiential interviewing to determine candidate alignment with the organizational values). 

In 2011, while leading the HR organization of a Dubai based Shared Service Center, I led the development of a new competency based recruiting strategy to support a quickly growing organization in a highly competitive talent market. After implementing the plan, where able to reduce the recruiting cycle time for professional staff from 20 weeks to 12 weeks. 

Efficient  benefits management is rooted in delivering market competitive benefits while  demonstrating transactional excellence. 

In 2012, I managed the successful migration  from the existing under-performing health insurance provider to a new provider  for 200 employees based in Saudi Arabia. I successfully managed the selection, vetting, negotiations, and the migration to a provider that was perceived as  preferred by the employee population, while improving the service levels and maintaining  the existing company cost level. At various other points in my career, I have also successfully administered detailed benefit programs within the guidelines provided from the corporate organization. 

Similar to benefits administration, well planned compensation administration requires a deep understanding of the market, the overall compensation program guidelines, and what, if any managerial discretion is available. 

In 2015, I successfully managed the team that drafted the new compensation structure for a Mexico City Shared Service site.  The project required migrating two separate compensation structures into one structure while maintaining equity and fairness. The program was accepted and approved as submitted. Additionally, I have a proven track record of administering executive compensation programs within the tightly controlled guidelines of a corporate organization. 

Policy design and administration requires drafting policies that take into account local market practices, legal standards, and the organization’s beliefs & values. However, well constructed policies do not completely erode managerial discretion.

In 2010, I led the drafting of a policy handbook for a recently acquired business. A particular challenge - we needed one handbook for two distinct employee groups that were collocated in the same facility. One group was a customer facing support team and the other group was a software development team. Based on customer needs, the support team required a high level of rigor and discipline related to work hours and attendance, however the local market practice was to give software engineers a high degree of flexibility in that same area. I was able to construct policy statements that relied on core standards but allowed managers the discretion they needed to manage the needs of both teams.