In this digital era, the struggle to keep an empowered workforce is continual. High achievers nowadays are well aware of their worth, and it is simple for employers and rivals to screen for and identify them. Digital labor platforms have made it possible for rivals to choose the finest personnel from their firms and have given workers new means to make their presence known. Employee onboarding and engagement are essential components of the digital transformation process, and human resources (HR) has a significant role to play in it. The customer-centric approach that promotes a transparent and agile process must be at the heart of the business culture of a digital corporation.

Both a Certified Human Resources Leader (CHRL) and a Certified Human Resources Professional (CHRP), Laura Salvatore (CHRL) works as Vice President of Human Capital at Centurion Asset Management Inc. and Centurion Property Associates Inc.

She has consistently shown a real enthusiasm for human capital management and development since joining Centurion in 2012, immediately aiding in the company’s expansion from fewer than 50 to over 300 employees across Canada and the United States. She is in charge of managing all facets of Centurion’s human resources on a national level, such as employee welfare, talent acquisition, performance management, compensation and benefits, training and development, and employee engagement. She also acts as a member of Centurion’s Executive Committee, where she builds purposeful relationships to influence decision-making and deliver business results.

Becoming an HR Professional

After graduating from Ryerson University, where she studied human resources, Laura began working at Centurion as an intern. She received her Executive Master in Human Resources Management (EMHRM) from Cornell University in 2021. She also received certificates from Cornell University in executive leadership and strategic human resources leadership.

The Canadian HR Awards named Laura a finalist for Rising Star of the Year in 2019. She and her team won the Silver Award for Best Talent Management Strategy at the Canadian HR Awards in 2020. In 2021, she was chosen as one of HRD’s Global 100, which honors the industry’s top thinkers and doers from six markets: the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Asia-Pacific, and the UK. Only 19 Canadian HR executives were chosen for their exceptional dedication to their organizations and their employees during a 12-month period, and Laura was one of them. At the HR Tech Summit hosted by HRD Canada Magazine the same year, she was also given the Most Innovative Use of HR Tech (Learning) award.

Most recently, the University of Waterloo Award for Next Generation Employment Innovation was won by Laura and her team. She has also participated on a number of panels, including the Employee Engagement Summit, the Learning and Development Summit, and UKG’s roundtable discussion on Leaders at the Center of Innovation. She also served as a guest speaker at Georgian College throughout the last year.  Finally, Laura serves as the Chair of the Cornell University EMHRM Alumni Board.

View Over Industry and Current Developments

Laura notes that the field of human resources is viewed in a much different light now than it was when she first entered the profession. Senior management frequently failed to see the value that HR professionals might add to a business and frequently saw the department as a cost center rather than a driver of innovation. But as more and more research has been conducted throughout time, it has become more difficult to ignore the strong link between economic earnings and human capital. According to a Gallup survey, employee satisfaction and company success go hand in hand. The study discovered that contented employees do better work, which in turn creates happier consumers, who are more likely to make repeat purchases and promote your goods and services to friends and family. Therefore, if the organization takes a comprehensive approach to this, it all starts with the employees.

Laura states, “As HR leaders, we make sure that the company is supported in such a way that we are able to attract the best talent, develop that talent, and retain that talent for years to come by keeping them engaged, motivated, recognized, and rewarded.” She further adds, “So our influence or impact as HR practitioners is really much greater than a lot of people think, and we truly do have the ability to help the organization drive revenues and increase profits.” She also thinks that great employers and great businesses are starting to realize this. And HR teams around the nation are feeling the impact of this recognition, particularly during the epidemic when they were counted on to guide businesses and their employees through uncharted seas. Centurion’s HR staff has undoubtedly felt this, as evidenced by their selection as one of the Most Innovative HR Teams of 2022 and 2021 by Canadian HR Reporter and Human Resources Director Canada.

The Significance of Building a Digitally Advanced Team

With employees dispersed around the nation, Centurion must make sure that it is implementing policies and procedures that cater to everyone’s requirements, taking into account both the potential opportunities and the obstacles that come with a geographically diverse workforce. For instance, the organization has access to a wide range of distinctive viewpoints and experiences thanks to the diversity of cultures, which also reduces the risk of group think and enables a huge flow and transfer of information. Centurion must also be cognizant of the difficulties that come with having teams dispersed across the nation however, such as those associated with different time zones and the need to make sure that managers who may be in charge of teams spread across several provinces, are able to effectively manage their time in order to avoid burnout and loss of work-life balance.

According to Laura, doing so aids in ensuring that common standards and procedures are followed throughout the sites, ensuring that all of the company’s employees feel supported no matter where they work. Last but not least, Centurion is able to foster cultural transfer thanks to these digital technologies, which ultimately improves employee engagement, retention, and performance.

Challenges During the Journey

Centurion didn’t have a human resources department when Laura started working there more than ten years ago, much less any ability to assess the effectiveness of employee programs. As a result, getting management support for new HR initiatives was extremely difficult., This all changed shortly after Laura launched the organization’s first HRIS, which allowed her to start tracking many of the standard HR metrics.  As a result, she was able to show that just 90 days after the introduction of summer Fridays and flexible working hours, employee absenteeism dropped.  She recalls, “Within six months, our voluntary turnover rate had fallen.  Surely this couldn’t be a coincidence. And so, it was from there that I was able to build the business case to implement other HR tools, so that we could begin doing a deeper analysis and measure employee engagement and culture.”  Once she had access to these analytics, it became easier and easier to show the return on investment that each program she implemented generated.  She now illustrates the positive impact on key success drivers such as employee engagement, job satisfaction, team morale, corporate culture, and ultimately job productivity.

Constant Approach to Achieving Success

To promote transformation throughout the business, Laura collaborates closely with the Chief Executive Officer and the Chief Financial Officer, as well as the rest of the Executive Team. She relies on them to help champion and promote new HR initiatives from the top down. Having said this, she also recognizes the importance of involving different employee groups in the change management process in order to secure company-wide buy-in and ensure that new initiatives are successful.  Before she ever considers making a change, and then regularly throughout the implementation process, Laura makes a significant effort to get input and feedback from these groups. Of course, she also does so after the change has been implemented, in order to measure its effectiveness and determine whether or not adjustments need to be made to the current strategy.

According to Laura, communication is key during this process, and it is crucial for her as a leader to ensure that the team is aware of why this change is taking place, what management hopes to achieve from it, who it will affect, when these changes can be expected to occur, and how each team member can contribute to its success.

Building a Needed Work Environment

Working from home is no longer considered a “nice to have,” but rather a “need to have,” as top talent has come to demand it from prestigious businesses. With this in mind, Laura believes that the top three advantages that employees are seeking are work-life balance, chances for learning and career progression/growth, and great workplace cultures. She also observes that many workers request more difficult tasks in an effort to develop and broaden their current skill sets and knowledge bases. She asserts, “Things like stretch assignments and job shadowing are being made available to our employees, as well as people manager training sessions focused on equipping our leaders with the skills they will need to better support employees today; we recently held a 3-hour training session on employee emotional and physical wellbeing.” 

Fostering a supportive working atmosphere is a priority for Centurion. Many businesses have found it extremely difficult to uphold the culture they have established in a distant setting during the past 2.5 years. For the company’s benefit, employees have always been dispersed around the nation, so over time, it has learned the best approach to guarantee that its positive culture is experienced regardless of physical location. The difficulty, according to Laura, was making sure that the new hires who were brought on during the pandemic were able to experience Centurion as a terrific place to work, despite the fact that they were only familiar with us from the comfort of their own homes. She asserts, “With the job market being as tight as it is, the need to foster a positive workplace culture is critical.” 

The Pandemic’s New Normal

The business sector learned from the epidemic that people can work effectively from anywhere and are no longer tied to a desk at corporate headquarters. According to Laura, having access to some of the world’s most creative minds would help businesses gain a significant competitive edge and completely transform their respective industries. Laura is aware that this will result in heightened competition for talent in a market that was already quite competitive to begin with.  That is why Centurion is committed to ensuring that it continues to be seen as a Great Place to Work, promoting a positive workplace culture that supports its employees in growing alongside the organization.

Attributes of Successful Leaders

Laura believes that a good leader must be able to communicate successfully with everyone in the company, not just the C-Suite. She continues by saying that these leaders cultivate deep connections with people on all levels by demonstrating empathy and compassion, always being conscious of when to talk and when to listen. She believes that many leaders overlook how crucial it is to actively listen, and be aware of the energy that team members are emitting. Just because things have always been done a certain way does not mean that is how they should be done moving forward.  Empowering employees to bring suggestions forward and then implementing that feedback is key to being an effective leader.  She asserts, “Leaders today need to be agile and flexible.”

As a leader herself, Laura believes that being transparent and making sure that employees understand how the work they are performing is meaningful, how it contributes to the company’s overall mission and objectives, are key.

Building the Best Workplace

In 2022 alone, Centurion was named by Great Place to Work as one of the Best Workplaces in Canada (100 – 999 employees), as well as one of the Best Workplaces for Women, the Best Workplaces for Professional Development, and the Best Workplaces for Mental Wellness.As per Laura, gathering employee input is crucial when a company wants to be the best place to work. This is one of the ways the organization strives to achieve this and to bring about this good change. Laura shares, “At Centurion, we send out anonymous surveys to our employees every single week.” She further adds, “Without asking your employees to provide their feedback, you will not have a true picture of how the organization is perceived, where you need to go, and just how far you have come already. It’s also important to remember that we need to collect feedback regularly, as the needs of our employees change over time.”

To put it into perspective, Laura notes that working from home was a nice to have before the pandemic, but it wasn’t a necessity. Today, employees have come to expect it, and if businesses tried to operate based on what they knew two or three years ago, they would never be able to stay relevant in the job market.  As Laura states, “It’s important to constantly be looking to evolve and grow yourself as an employer, just as your employees continue to grow themselves.” As per her, the team’s goal at Centurion, and what she strives to achieve as an HR leader, is to ensure that the company has the right tools in place that enable and encourage its employees to continue growing with the organization.

Website: www.centurion.ca