Human resources is considered a cautious sector by practitioners and outsiders alike. But there are those people in the industry dedicated to pushing it forward with innovative people-management practices. Here at Workforce, we call those innovators Game Changers.
Workforceâs editorial staff selected the 30 winners of the fourth-annual awards program based on professional accomplishments and other achievements. They are a diverse group representing some of the best HR practitioners and strategists under 40 years old.
This yearâs class hails from arguably the most diverse and unique set of trades and backgrounds in the four years of Game Changers. Each year the Workforce editorial team has identified a trend that characterizes the group of award winners. Last yearâs group seemed to be full of practitioners focused on employee development.
This year, however, there is no clear trend to identify, no definitive stamp. Instead, like the practice itself, our winners cut a broad swath across HR. This international group of HR talent is making its mark in benefits, rewards and recognition, employee communications and a variety of HR practices. They come from a variety of industries such as technology, auto manufacturing, social services, academia and the federal government.
That these individuals are able to effect change in a field often criticized as being adverse to risk-taking truly makes them Game Changers.
The human capital management industry has lost one of its leading voices. Norm Kamikow, president and editor-in-chief of MediaTec Publishing, died on July 14, after a sudden illness. He was 70.
For more than four decades, Mr. Kamikow was a leading figure in the publishing industry and in later years built MediaTec Publishing’s Human Capital Media Group, which includes this magazine, into one of the largest media companies in the human capital industry.
But for many, he will be remembered not for the scope of what he achieved or the impact it had on the professions he covered but for being a dedicated friend and colleague.
“In our journey through this industry we meet people that not only have a profound impact on our business but also on our lives. They become family,” said Bob Mosher, a consultant, former Microsoft executive and current editorial advisory board member of Workforce sister publication Chief Learning Officer. “Norm was that guy for so many. Yes, we have him to thank for lifting an industry … but he also helped many of us on a personal level.”
Born on Dec. 25, 1943 in Chicago, Mr. Kamikow moved as a young boy with his family to Los Angeles where according to friends he made an appearance on “Kids Say the Darndest Things” with TV host Art Linkletter. That turn as a TV celebrity was just one early example from a life filled with many more colorful and entertaining stories of which Mr. Kamikow was a master teller.
After graduating from Drake University with a degree in journalism, Mr. Kamikow moved back to Chicago and began a career in advertising sales at the Chicago Tribune. He went on to work at Seventeen magazine, Internet World and Web Week magazines and played a critical role in the launch of Omni and Spin magazines in the 1970s and 80s.
In 1999, Mr. Kamikow, along with his business partner John Taggart, executive vice president and group publisher, started MediaTec with the launch of Certification Magazine, which was aimed at career development for IT professionals. On a shoestring budget financed out of their own pockets, Kamikow and Taggart, along with Gwen Connelly, Mr. Kamikow's wife and MediaTec senior vice president, grew MediaTec from a single magazine into one of the largest media companies in the human resources and human capital industry, including four magazines, a series of national and regional conferences and events, dozens of webinars and virtual events as well as industry research and benchmarking programs.
The company’s Human Capital Media Group includes Chief Learning Officer magazine (launched in 2003), Talent Management (2005), Diversity Executive (2008) and in 2013 acquired Workforce magazine, a 92-year-old HR trade publication, from Crain Communications, Inc. Diversity Executive was recognized by American Business Media as one of the top three new magazines of 2008 and Chief Learning Officer was named “Best New Publication” by the American Society of Business Publication Editors in 2003.
Allison Rossett, recently retired as professor of educational technology at San Diego State University, recalled early conversations with Mr. Kamikow about what would eventually become Chief Learning Officer magazine.
“Norm was chewing on this idea about workforce learning and the executives who lead it. What did I think about a magazine that would be devoted to them and to their enterprises?” she recalled. “We talked. Soon he pulled together a meeting. More talk. The amazing thing is what happened afterwards.”
“Norm and John created something, many things, special things,” she said. “Responsive to that original audience, growing to include conferences and special events, growing more to include other publications, growing to use technology to extend key messages.”
For Cedric Coco, Chief Learning Officer magazine editorial advisory board member and senior vice president, learning and organizational effectiveness at Lowe’s Cos., Mr. Kamikow’s vision shaped how many define human capital management and his ongoing work pointed the way forward for the industry.
“I believe he was on the verge of redefining the holistic role that talent plays across an organization,” he said.
Mr. Kamikow received the 2005 Innovation Award from Media Business Magazine which honored him as its publisher of the year. He was nominated in 2008 by President George W. Bush to serve on the Board of Visitors for Defense Acquisition University, the federal government agency responsible for training and development of the 160,000 members of the U.S. Department of Defense’s acquisition workforce.
An avid golfer and Chicago sports fan, Mr. Kamikow split his time between his home in Chicago and Boca Raton, Fla., where he was a member of the Broken Sound Country Club.
He is survived by his wife, Gwen Connelly; sons Jeffrey Kamikow and David Kamikow; stepdaughter Kendra Chaplin, MediaTec vice president of development and technology; stepson Wesley Chaplin, and four grandchildren.
The National Business Coalition on Health appointed Brian Klepper as CEO. Klepper, a longtime health care analyst and entrepreneur, has been involved in a wide range of health care activities. Most recently, he was chief development officer of WeCare TLC, a Lake Mary, Florida-based work-site clinic and medical management firm. He succeeds Andrew Webber, who resigned from the NBCH last year.
D. Sangeeta
Nielsen Holdings appointed D. Sangeeta to the role of chief diversity officer. Sangeeta will be responsible for ensuring that Nielsen, which provides information about what consumers watch and buy, aids innovation by using diversity as a competitive advantage. She previously served as the executive sponsor of the Asian American Advisory Council at Nielsen.
Nathan Christensen
HRAnswerLink named Nathan Christensen as president and co-CEO. Christensen comes to HRAnswerLink, a Portland, Oregon-based HR technology company, from the law firm Perkins Coie. Christensen has also been recognized by theSuper Lawyers publication as a “Rising Star.”
To be considered for People Moves, email a brief announcement and a high-resolution photo to editors@workforce.com. Include People Moves in the subject line.
Which is the best company for HR? Itâs a thorny problem to tackle. But finding an answer starts with asking a relatively simple question: What does âgoodâ look like?
That basic question raises a whole set of additional questions. A dizzying number of factors creates the foundation of a workforce management leader. Of the hundreds of things that HR organizations do for their parent companies, how do you determine which are the right ones to consider when comparing Company A to Company B? Just because a question is difficult doesnât mean we shouldnât try to find an answer.
To find out which companies are the best for HR management, Workforce editors, along with researchers from the Human Capital Media Advisory Group, the magazineâs research arm, created a statistical formula to sift through publicly available information to separate the best from the rest. The result of that analysis is the inaugural Workforce 100 list.
For 2014, Automatic Data Processing Inc. came out on top. Consulting companies Deloitte and Accenture duked it out for the second and third spots, followed by fast-food giant McDonaldâs Corp. and consumer products-maker Procter & Gamble Co.
While weâve come up with one answer to the question of which companies are best for HR, we look forward to the conversation with you that results in furthering the discussion.
METHODOLOGY
The Workforce 100 chart indicates the rank order and scores of the 100 companies that performed best in seven core areas: workplace culture; employee benefits; diversity and inclusion; employee development/talent management; HR innovation/management; leadership development; recruiting and talent acquisition. The working assumption is that high performance in these categories would provide a reasonable proxy for overall HR excellence.
To create the Workforce 100, researchers collected available data from a representative list of benchmarking and ranking programs in the identified categories (see component lists) and generated a score based on indexed performance in two areas: breadth of recognition and depth of recognition.
The reason for this method was to create a ranked list that made comprehensive HR performance the primary focus rather than excellence in one core area. Using this method, organizations that are recognized on multiple lists but do not perform perfectly will be ranked higher than organizations that are ranked in one area but perform better.
To generate the score, researchers averaged and weighted overall representation on lists across the seven core areas. For example, ADP, the top-ranked company, was recognized on five separate component lists and therefore had a higher possible score than McDonaldâs, the fifth ranked company, which was recognized on four component lists. That measure of broad participation was then indexed to overall performance of the company on the component lists.
The top ranked company was given the highest indexed score on a scale of 10, and the others were then ranked according to their performance against that benchmark.
COMPONENT LISTS:
Best Companies for Healthy Lifestyles (National Business Group on Health)
Best Companies for Leadership (Hay Group)
Best Company Retirement Plans (Wall Street Journal)
Employees: 40,000Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Performance Index: 5.398
90. Navy Federal Credit Union
Industry: Credit union                                    Vienna, Virginia
Employees: 11,000Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Performance Index: 5.347
91. Four Seasons Hotels Inc.
Industry: Lodging and hospitality                               Toronto
Employees: 37,200Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Performance Index: 5.296
92. Apple Inc.
Industry: Computer and electronics-maker Cupertino, California
Employees: 50,200Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Performance Index: 5.245
93 Jiffy Lube International Inc.
Industry: Automotive services                                   Houston
Employees: 20,500Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Performance Index: 5.194
94. American Specialty Health Inc.
Industry: Health care and wellness                         San Diego
Employees: 900Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Performance Index: 5.143
95. Assurant Inc.
Industry: Insurance (various)Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â New York
Employees: 16,600Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Performance Index: 5.092
96. BD
Industry: Medical technology      Franklin Lakes, New Jersey
Employees: 30,000Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Performance Index: 5.041
97. Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals Inc.
Industry: Pharmaceuticals   Ingelheim am Rhein, Germany
Employees: 47,400Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Performance Index: 4.990
98. Campbell Soup Co.
Industry: Consumer products                Camden, New Jersey
Employees: 20,000Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Performance Index: 4.939
99. Chrysler Group
Industry: Automotive manufacturing Auburn Hills, Michigan
Employees: 73,700Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Performance Index: 4.888
100. Compass Group
Industry: Food service                      Surrey, United Kingdom
Employees: 500,000Â Â Â Â Performance Index: 4.837
Sources: Publicly available company information, compiled by Workforce staff.
Notes: Employee numbers are global unless otherwise noted. All numbers are approximate.
Top Five by Region
Workforce 100 companies represented every region in the U.S. as well as eight international locations. New York/New Jersey came out tops followed by Northern California and the Chicago region.
20 New York/New Jersey
10 Northern California
8 Chicago/Northern Illinois
7 Washington, D.C., area
6 Minneapolis area
Largest by number of employees:
Wal-Mart Stores (No. 32)
Top Five by Industry
The Workforce 100 list is a good barometer of broader economic activity. Health care and financial services had the most companies on the list, followed by technology, insurance and consumer goods.
As the Society for Human Resource Management opened its annual conference in Orlando, Florida, this week, members of the professional organization are expressing confusion over its newly unveiled certification designations.
The big question on SHRM members’ minds: What does the creation of a new certification system mean for their current HRCI certification designations?
The new certification names, announced June 19, are the SHRM Certified Professional, or SHRM-CP, and SHRM Senior Certified Professional, or SHRM-SCP. The certifications are based on the organization’s HR Competency Model. The first exam for the new credential is planned for mid-2015.
The establishment of the certifications means SHRM will be competing with the HR Certification Institute, which SHRM created in the early 1970s and which many of its members are currently certified under.
HRCI offers three credentials: the Professional in Human Resources, or PHR, Professional in Human Resources, or SPHR, and Global Professional in Human Resources, or GPHR.
In an effort to assuage concerns from members on its new certification designation, SHRM held a “town hall” gathering June 23 on a stage near the conference’s exposition floor. SHRM is planning other “town hall” events during the conference to answer questions on the credentialing program. The conference runs through June 25.
Elissa O’Brien, SHRM’s vice president of membership, gave a 20-minute presentation to explain the details of its certifications. She took no questions from the audience of 40 to 50 members during the session.
Afterward, O’Brien, who said she is HRCI-certified, was surrounded offstage by SHRM members who peppered her with questions. Most members expressed confusion over what SHRM’s new program meant for their current HRCI certification standing.
SHRM has said those currently credentialed with HRCI can be grandfathered into its designations, pending they take part in an online tutorial.
Still, members afterward expressed frustration and confusion at the change.
“There are still a lot of questions that need to be answered,” said Jack Smalley, director of HR learning and development for Express Employment Professionals, in an interview following the impromptu question-and-answer session. “It looks like SHRM wants to have control of their own version, which they probably should have control.”
Smalley said he plans to keep his current HRCI credentials, adding that he had to recertify at the end of 2013. “But I’m suspecting that after people run out of their current certification with HRCI, it’s probably going to die a slow death,” Smalley said.
Other SHRM members, who declined to be interviewed for attribution because they said they still did not fully understand the details of SHRM’s new credentialing model, said they feel somewhat uncomfortable with the SHRM-HRCI rift.
SHRM effectively ended its partnership with HRCI in May after announcing it was developing its own certification program. HRCI has since moved out of its space in SHRM’s headquarters in Alexandria, Virginia. HRCI said SHRM did not allow them to exhibit at the conference and instead is holding its own event nearby at the Epcot theme park in Disney World.
In a June 22 press briefing on the new competency model, SHRM officials said they approached HRCI last year with a proposal to partner on its new certification designations, but talks became “unproductive.”
HRCI officials, in a meeting with Workforce editors at a nearby hotel following the SHRM briefing, described SHRM’s approach in the talks as one of “control.” Once HRCI offered a counterproposal for a partnership with SHRM, HRCI officials said talks broke down.
Smalley said without a partnership with SHRM, HRCI may struggle to reach human resources professionals looking to attain new certifications.
“It’s going to be hard to get your HRCI credits in the future with less and less providers,” he said, “since SHRM is not going to be a provider of HRCI credits. It’s probably my guess that in five or six years it [HRCI] may not exist.”
I like a good drama as much as the next person, but this SHRM-HRCI kerfuffle is turning into an episode of “The Brady Bunch.” Jan said this; Peter said that. Blame it on Tiger? Ugh, where’s Alice to police this thing?
If you haven’t been following the dramedy, here’s a quick recap:
SHRM announced its own certification program earlier this week and that the organization will start converting HRCI certifications to SHRM certifications on Jan. 1, 2015, as my colleague Rita Pyrillis first reported. What that means for the relevancy of the PHR, SPHR, GPHR, etc., credentials is unknown at this writing, but my guess is thewriting could be on the wall. In the end, employers will decide which designations are important in their recruiting efforts.
Big revenue-generator, credentialing is, so this makes total sense for SHRM financially. But …
But there already is an HR credentialing organization, which, by the way, was created by SHRM back in the mid-'70s. HRCI, that is.
Cue Bill Cosby: “I brought you into this world, and I can take you out of it.”
For the record, HRCI said it will continue to develop and administer the credentials, but … Yes, there are a lot of buts.
So here’s where the story gets good or not so good depending on your perspective. HRCI, in a jaw-drop moment for them I’m sure, said it wasn’t consulted about the changes SHRM announced. SHRM, on the other hand, retorted with: “Uh, yeah you were,” only a bit more eloquently. Then HRCI took umbrage and said, “Oh no you didn’t.” Articulated better than that, of course.
So it’s a game of “He said, she said …”
Ahem.
I said … Let’s put an end to this now. Let’s be professional and discuss our differences in an open forum. If it has to wait until the gathering SHRM is hosting in Orlando next month, so be it, but the people in HR need to hear from both sides.
What’s lost in all of this is, of course, the humans in human resources. They are the ones with the questions. They are the ones whose lives will be affected by the decisions and changes that are forthcoming. What does this mean for them?
At some point soon who knew what and when will become moot, but before we get to that point, someone needs to set the record straight on what really transpired.
And make it snappy — before those Brady kids start singing again, please.
In the past it was common for human resources professionals to stick with one industry for an entire career. But times have changed, and today such longevity can be seen as detrimental.
“More companies today want HR leaders with diverse experiences that will help them make decisions in ambiguous situations,” said Diane Youden, a partner in professional services firm PricewaterhouseCoopers’ HR transformation group. “It shows that they can apply their knowledge in creative ways.”
Youden and other HR professionals offer this advice on how to land a job in a new industry.?Make moves early. When younger and in the early stages of an HR career, it’s easier to take risks. It’s also easier for companies to take a risk on you, said Jim Flanagan, chief human resources officer at auto parts store chain Pep Boys.
“If a job comes along that looks interesting, take it,” he said. “And if it doesn’t work, use it as a springboard to something else.”
Choose organizations that value HR. Especially early in a career, aspiring HR leaders want to work for a company where they can develop skills and be tested, said Tony Fogel, chief human resources officer for IT consulting firm Ciber Inc.
“To be employable, you have to continuously grow your skills, abilities and experiences,” he said.
Look for complementary industries. When trying to move across industries, consider the talent management issues of the current role and identify other industries that face similar challenges, Youden said. Common themes that span industries include regulatory compliance, labor unions, recruiting for service-driven industries and global growth.
Know the business and industry. It’s not enough to be great at HR in general. Aspiring talent leaders also need to understand the unique talent management challenges facing a potential employer and be able to speak about those issues in business terms.
Help recruiters see the connections. Unless being recruited, talent leaders will likely have to demonstrate how their experience can apply in a new field to land a job in a different industry, said Kim Shanahan, managing director of the HR practice for Korn Ferry.
Share examples of specific programs or tasks performed. Also, discuss how those experiences are relevant to the new company.
Be thoughtful about each position your take. When aspiring to be a CHRO, plan a career path that provides a diverse experience — both in industries and roles. In considering a new position, think about how it will help develop new skills. Will it provide new experiences or opportunities to take on leadership roles?
Granted, I’m some 1,200 miles away from the American Society for Training & Development’s annual conference, but the Tuesday, May 6, announcement that the learning and development organization was changing its name to the Association for Talent Development had some odd fits and starts.
As the rumor mill cranked up on Monday, we got wind that ASTD was merging with the Society for Human Resource Management. Now, that sure got my attention. But as Tuesday wore on and after a few emails to sources provided no confirmation of an agreement, we speculated that if a merger was coming, it would be done on SHRM’s terms, not ASTD’s.
Then came the announcement of a briefing. Or, more accurately, the lack of an announcement. The conference schedule teased it, but I’d expect that the communications crew of a 40,000-plus member association would pump out an email blast to interested media regarding a major statement coming later in the day. Or perhaps an embargoed news release. As of this writing, there wasn't even a news release posted on the newly named ATD's media website.
And, strangely, the briefing would take place after Day 2’s conference events wrapped up at 5:30. Hello, 5:30 p.m. is officially after hours in the East, and it was near quitting time here in the Midwest. Not exactly prime time for a blockbuster announcement.
I’m sure the announcement was met with a collective yawn by SHRM officials, who I am guessing did not stick around the office to watch the briefing and see if merger rumors carried any weight. But the relationship between the associations was on the minds of ASTD members.
After ASTD President and CEO Tony Bingham spent 30-plus minutes explaining the rebranding, the first audience question had to do with SHRM. Asked if he expected a “bouquet of flowers” from SHRM and if the rebranded association was stepping out of its traditional role in learning and development to challenge the behemoth HR association’s turf, Bingham stated there would be some “refinement” of its role based on member input, but that it wouldn’t delve into talent acquisition or comp and benefits.
There was also a question as to who would be picking up the tab to rebrand the chapters, but Bingham explained that costs would be negligible and the national organization had no definitive plan for funding. And an attendee griped on Twitter that members weren’t consulted about the rebrand. Revises in a vacuum don’t often sit well with membership. That whole silo thing, you know?
Again, I was watching online, but it seemed like the announcement was met with polite skepticism by a pretty small crowd. Applause from the audience seemed lukewarm at best, and the Q&A was not overwhelmingly positive.
The midconference briefing, the lack of a formal announcement, and the late hour it took place just strikes me as somewhat slapdash and hastily executed. And while I have my qualms about SHRM’s relationship with the media, I’m pretty sure they would have handled it in a much more professional manner.
I wish the newly christened ATD good luck with its rebranding. Now that the secret is out, here’s hoping its bizarre rollout will still lead to a successful future.
The plaintiff in Demyanovich v. Cadon Plating & Coatings (6th Cir. Mar. 28, 2014) suffered from congestive heart failure. He returned from his latest Family and Medical Leave Act leave in 2009 with a no-overtime medical restriction. The employer, however, ignored the restriction, kept assigning overtime hours, and denied an early-2010 FMLA request. Demyanovich’s doctor advised him to quit his job and apply for social security benefits. Shortly thereafter, the company terminated him for excessive absenteeism.
In the subsequent FMLA lawsuit, the employer claimed that Demyanovich could not prove his FMLA claim because he could not have returned to his job at the end of the 2010 FMLA leave, had it been granted. The court, however, disagreed:
Although there is ample evidence that Demyanovich might have had difficulty returning to work within twelve weeks of his February 23 request for FMLA leave, it is not indisputable that he would have been unable to do so. Dr. Mussani, Demyanovich’s primary physician, “advised [Demyanovich] to quit work” and seek Social Security benefits, but he did not draft any documentation stating that Demyanovich was categorically unable to continue working. We may not draw the inference, adverse to Demyanovich, that because Dr. Mussani had always cleared Demyanovich to return to work after past examinations, his advice to quit on this occasion demonstrates that Demyanovich was no longer capable of working.
According to the FMLA, employees who, at the end of the 12-week leave period, remain “unable to perform an essential function of the position because of a physical or mental condition … [have] no right to restoration to another position under the FMLA.” Thus, if Demyanovich truly could not have returned to work at the end of the FMLA leave, then he would have a claim. In this case, the court concluded that the employer could not measure that inability prospectively, since Demyanovich presented no medical paperwork to that end.
What are the takeaway from this case?
When dealing with medical issues under the FMLA, get it in writing. In this case, it appears that the employer was attempting to justify its decision based on information in learned after the fact — that Demyanovich’s doctor recommend that he quit and seek social security benefits based on a total inability to work. Had the company learned this information at the time of the termination from medical information provided by Demyanovich at that time, this case likely would have turned out differently.
Don’t forget about the Americans with Disabilities Act. Just because an employee cannot return to work at the end of an exhausted FMLA leave does not mean you can always terminate the employee. Instead, you have an obligation under the ADA to explore, through the interactive process, reasonable accommodations such as temporary light duty or an unpaid leave of absence. Even if you are on solid legal ground to terminate under the FMLA, ignoring your obligations under the ADA will still buy you a lawsuit.
Rowing through crocodile-infested waters in a flimsy canoe is not everyone’s idea of a dream vacation, but for Ashley Goldsmith it was the trip of a lifetime. She describes her experience on a safari along the Zambezi River in Zimbabwe as “the most exhilarating, frightening and slightly crazy thing” that she has ever done.
It wasn’t a trip for the faint of heart.
“Hippos are very scary,” said Goldsmith, chief human resources officer at HR software vendor Workday Inc. “They’re right there giving you all the signs that they don’t want you there, and then they go underneath the water and you just don’t know where they are. I had more adrenaline in an hour there than in a month in my normal life. It was fantastic. I can’t recommend it enough.”
She applies the same derring-do in her career. The word “crazy” has also been used to describe some of her job moves, according to Goldsmith, who joined the Pleasanton, California-based company last November. Among them was her 2007 decision to quit a key executive position at The Home Depot Inc. for a job as head of HR at a small medical company in Tucson, Arizona. She had started as a temp at the home improvement retailer in 1995 and within 12 years had worked her way up to vice president.
‘I remember going to my boss and saying that I’m going to a 600-person company as head of HR. … He looked at me like I had lost my mind, and he said, “You’re going to a popcorn stand.” ’
— Ashley Goldsmith
“I remember going to my boss and saying that I’m going to a 600-person company as head of HR,” she said. “He looked at me like I had lost my mind, and he said, ‘You’re going to a popcorn stand.’ But it turned out to be a wonderful career move.”
Later she jumped industries again and went to Polycom Inc., a Silicon Valley-based developer of video conferencing systems. She now lives in San Francisco with her husband and their two French bulldogs.
Goldsmith, 41, has surprised many in the course of her career, like her co-workers at a Home Depot store in Georgia where she was assistant manager. At the time, she was part of the company’s new executive leadership program, which rotated high-potential employees through a variety of roles. At age 24 with a college degree but no retail or home improvement experience, she joined the company’s ranks of orange-aproned workers.
“I was in my 20s and I didn’t know anything about home improvement, and yet there I was in a leadership role and you can imagine,” she said. “They looked at me like I was crazy.”
Growing up as the only child of a single mother in Marietta, Georgia, Goldsmith seems to have inherited her work ethic from Mom, who she said “worked incredibly hard to create a positive future for me.”
The Outsider
Goldsmith, at a petite 5-foot 3-inches tall, stood out immediately among the burly tradesmen who made up most of the sales staff. Adding to her outsider status was her psychology degree from Vanderbilt University. Most of the employees had high school diplomas only, she said. Today, Goldsmith also has an MBA from Northwestern University.
“Back in those early Home Depot days, if you had a college degree we were told not to ever talk about your education because most of the employees didn’t have it,” she said. “It was really a good thing to work your way up. So the fact that the only way you could get into the leadership program was with a college degree, made people look at you with suspicion.”
So Goldsmith made it her mission to earn the respect of her colleagues, working in every department and volunteering for the overnight shift, which frequently entailed restocking merchandise and rearranging displays — a job that is much harder than it sounds, Goldsmith said.
“You crawl out from the racks looking like you just walked out of a chimney,” she said. “So they’d be walking in in the morning, and I’d be walking out at 6 a.m. dirty and looking like I had worked really hard. By far, that was the biggest credibility-earner.”
By the time she left six months later for her next assignment, she made some good friends and earned a traditional Home Depot farewell.
“One of the things they do whenever someone leaves a Home Depot store, and I hope they still do this, is that everyone in the store signs your orange apron,” she said. “They gave me an apron and it had so many signatures — there were probably 200 people in the store. It was such an overwhelming feeling.”
That kind of initiative was no surprise to Cindy Lubitz, the supervisor who hired Goldsmith while she was a temp. Lubitz was in charge of launching Home Depot’s leadership development program and in need of someone to help her organize printed materials when Goldsmith arrived. When her temp assignment ended, Goldsmith called Lubitz at home and invited her to lunch.
“When she was leaving she said, ‘I’m just out of school and I’d like to talk to you sometime about what you do,” said Lubitz, who now runs her own talent management consulting firm in Atlanta. “A week later she called me at home. I had just had a very busy day at work. She asked me to lunch and I said, ‘Sure, or what if you come back in and help me full-time? That’s how she ended up with her first job.”
She worked with Lubitz for two years as a talent management analyst, and when Home Depot launched a leadership program for high-potential employees, Lubitz nominated Goldsmith.
“Ashley has a really nice balance of qualities,” Lubitz said. “She’s really bright and, relationally, she’s very strong. She’s someone people like working with.”
But one of her biggest career challenges lay ahead in 2005, a year after Goldsmith was promoted from head of HR for HD Supply — a distributor of industrial building supplies formerly owned by Home Depot — to vice president of HR for Home Depot.
Hurricane Katrina had struck the Atlantic Coast and traveled to the northern Gulf Coast, causing death and destruction in New Orleans and Mississippi and other areas. The Southeast had endured several hurricanes the year before, so the company was well-stocked with essential materials like sandbags and plywood, but no one could fully prepare for Katrina, she said.
Home Depot booked hundreds of hotel rooms in the region for volunteers from other stores and for local employees, many of whom manned the stores with skeleton crews until the last possible second, according to Goldsmith. Because banks were shut down and workers were unable to cash their paychecks, the company deployed armored cars to the stores to dole out cash. Meanwhile, back at company headquarters in Atlanta, Goldsmith and other company leaders coordinated workforce and rescue efforts. All told, Home Depot donated millions of dollars to Katrina recovery efforts.
Goldsmith had proven herself in a time of crisis, which is not hard to imagine given her eagerness to consort with crocodiles and other wildlife. It is that cool head that makes her a good leader, according to former colleague Elisa Gilmartin, chief human resources officer at Polycom, where Goldsmith worked before joining Workday.
“Ashley is incredibly consistent under times of stress, and she was consistent in her leadership,” Gilmartin said. “She doesn’t get ruffled. She’s also incredibly smart, agile and a benevolent leader.”
In Stride
Goldsmith describes her leadership style as collaborative and agrees that she usually takes things in stride.
“I don’t tend to fly off the handle,” she said. “It doesn’t mean that I’m not stressed out internally, but there’s no point in letting that emotion run rampant through the organization. I don’t think it helps get you where you need to go.”
It is precisely those qualities that make her an ideal fit for Workday, said Grant Bassett, the company’s vice president of global talent. The developer of cloud-based HR software has been growing rapidly since it was launched in 2005 by David Duffield, the founder of PeopleSoft Inc., which was acquired in 2004 by Oracle Corp. in a hostile takeover. The company has been giving its competitors a run for their money ever since, becoming one of the fastest-growing HR technology vendors in the country. Its most recent quarterly statement reported revenue of nearly $128 million.
‘She’s really bright and, relationally, she’s very strong. She’s someone people like working with.’
—Cindy Lubitz, Home Depot
“We’re proud that we hire people who are great at what they do, but they are also really great people,” Bassett said. “We look for humility and humanity. Culturally, this place is built on bringing your whole self to work.”
“What’s interesting to me about Ashley is that she grew up grounded in HR principles at Home Depot, but she also has a business presence that gives her a seat at that proverbial table. She’s extremely sophisticated about business. She doesn’t see HR as a transaction.”
Goldsmith said that although she “fell into” HR as a Home Depot temporary worker, she developed a fascination with the power of people to help a company succeed.
“HR is such an interesting part of driving the business, and to me it is the most complicated variable,” she said. “Humans are challenging, and I like the complexity of trying to figure out how to harness this incredible asset, all these talented people, and help them not only achieve business goals but help them feel satisfied with their work. It’s an intriguing problem to solve.”
The idea that HR might have to fight for a seat at the executive table seems odd to Goldsmith. She has never thought of HR as anything less than a critical and strategic part of any business.
“What’s more strategic than how you leverage one of the most expensive variable costs in a company — your people?” she said. “I think we have an opportunity now more than ever to be strategic with technology. It allows us to not spend on low-value transactional items and gives us ample opportunity to do strategic work by bringing us more analytics and data.”
It was that passion for the potential of technology to transform HR that drew Goldsmith to Workday, a company that she said has “changed the game for HR.”
She met co-founder and CEO Duffield while she was at Polycom. Workday was seeking new business and had invited Goldsmith and other executives to spend a day at the company. The technology impressed her, but she said that Duffield’s business philosophy inspired her.
“He said, ‘Happy employees mean happy customers,’ ” she said. “I loved that it was the first thing he would say to a customer, that their employees are that important. I thought this was great coming from a CEO and a founder.”
The message resonated for Goldsmith, who still remembers the lessons learned working on the sales floor at Home Depot.
“That’s where I learned about the importance of the customer and the importance of the people that you work with,” she said. “It doesn’t matter if they went to Harvard or never went past eighth grade. If they’re the ones helping the customer, then they’re the ones that matter.”
It’s a lesson that she’s unlikely to forget. She has her signed orange apron to remind her, which hangs in a frame over her desk.
